Wow! What a journey we have been having trying to get Deon's left femur to heal along with his psyche. Three days shy of his 8 week post surgery we discovered on a routine x-ray that the pin in his leg was backing out which caused one of the rods next to his femur to slip up - putting pressure on his siatic nerve. He had been so miserable for the preceeding week, I thought that he had lost the will to live. This is what makes trying to communicate with your pet so very difficult. He couldn't tell me that his leg was killing him and to get him to the doctor. Poor guy! Well last weekend he had another surgery to remove the pin and replace it with a screw as well as removing both of the rods in his leg. So 8 weeks post-op and we are back to square one. Since his leg is pulling all of his strength and energy to heal - his kidneys are remaining status quo (which is not a good thing). Having bad kidneys totally restricts the types of medications he can be on for pain. The only available pain meds to him are a synthethic based morphine derivative. This causes him to be nuts! He moans and complains nonstop - in particular all night long which means one of us does not get much sleep. This time the doctor also gave him some valium which has helped some. Try having a life when you dog needs a variety of medications at least 6 times per day. Gosh do we love him.
He still prefers to not to use his broken leg (the good news is that the bone is basically healed) so he looks like a giant rabbit hopping around. We have a long hard battle with physical therapy and I hope that at his follow up appointment Monday, we get the go ahead. Although his leg has lost most muscle tone and strength - he can get around if he wants to. I think half of the physical therapy will be healing his head while the other is to gain strength and functional use of his leg again. He is such a sweetie - but at times my life is only about caring for dogs.
My baby Diva will have her 2nd birthday next month and is doing very well in finally starting to mature. She has not eaten any furniture is the past few months. We have been walking about 22 miles per week and then coming home to get our special needs - Avalanche and doing another mile or so per day. What a family, but I couldn't imagine life without them!
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Hello from France of Sylvie and he's Estoril, magic, 11 years old, doesn't walk any more since 2005 (spinal surgery, 2 hernia Hensen type 2). Daily love, massage, gym, and God because Esto is full of life. I express his bladder too. Had something special helped Avalanche in his way of recover ? Congratulations and Thanks for your next advice, see you soon !
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