Little Faith on 7/25/06

7/25/06  Morning

Doesn't she look great this morning?  :-)

7/27/06

Faith is recovering at a good pace.  The only time she acts like she is in pain is when I pick her up to take her in or out.  She prefers to move by herself.  She still loves to be outside, just lies there and looks around.  She eats well and likes to be where the other dogs are.  She wants to snuggle with Bunny, but Bunny says “no.” 

Faith didn’t like the thunder this morning at 6:00 a.m.  She thought she could scare it away by barking at it.  My dogs started to bark with her, then realized it was just thunder, and went back to sleep.  She finally quit and went back to sleep.

She has thrown her pill out of cheese a couple of times.  She works it around in her mouth and then spits it out.  So we now use a hotdog bite and she gobbles that down very quickly without checking to see if there is something in there.  She doesn’t like any treats that we have here ---- the usually Yorkie snob thing.  LOL  Okay, fine, don’t eat the treats.  I don’t care.   She acts like she wants one, but then, oh no, I don’t like that kind!  Jax and Dexter do that with some of the treats also.  I got some sweet potato treats that no one will eat. 

So we are getting along fine at day 8 after the surgery.  We’ll go in maybe next Monday to get the staples out.  He said 10 – 14 days.  Then I think we will start the physical therapy part.  That will be fun!  Hope she likes water!

Faith is feeling very snuggly this morning.  Doesn’t want me to do anything but hold her.  She is sitting on my lap right now with her head resting on my arm.  It’s a little hard to type this way, but she doesn’t mind.  She ate a good breakfast.  Actually, she was yelping for me to fix it faster.  But it takes awhile to get all 5 bowls filled with our concoction.  I have to chop the chicken into tiny bites so it will mix in with the dry food and the canned food.  I usually add a few canned carrots or green beans also.  She likes those; all my dogs do. 

I am anxious to get started with her physical therapy.  Her left leg is getting stronger each day, but she won’t put the right leg down.  That ‘s the one with only the hip surgery.  It had lots of soft tissue swelling, and maybe it hurts her pelvis to put it down.  Anyway, she doesn’t and she hasn’t since I’ve known her.  So the physical therapy should help with that.  I’ll let you know as soon as we get back from the staple removal.  Probably Sunday or Monday.

7/31/06

Faith went to see Dr. Speiser today and he pulled out all of her staples and sutures.  I didn’t count, but there must have been 30 or more staples on the three sites.  He said her left leg is doing great, both hip and knee.  That is the leg she walks on.  Good thing we didn’t get it amputated, isn’t it?

Her right leg needs lots of physical therapy. (Dr. Speiser said that is “pain” and “torture”.)  He said it might cause her pain, but it won’t make any of her injuries any worse.  She is supposed to “swim” for 15 or 20 minutes at least once a day, two times is good, but no more than that.  He said if she gets tired at first to take her out sooner.  He fiddled with her right leg and then took her in the back and fiddled some more and then took another 2 x-rays (no charge for x-rays) to make sure everything was okay on that leg.  He said there is a small fracture in her pelvis behind the place he put the pin and that it may be pinching her sciatic nerve when she moves it.  But she has to start moving it.

I can tell it doesn’t hurt as much when I pick her up now as it did last week.  I think she is improving a tiny bit each day.  So tonight we’ll start the physical therapy I think she had enough pain and torture when he was manipulating that leg in the office.

8/1/06

Faith is happy to have her staples and sutures out.  She is moving around a little more; she likes to be wherever I am.

Her physical therapy is not moving along well, though.  I should have realized it, but I can't lean over a bathtub for 20 minutes, even once a day, which is what Dr. Speiser recommended bath tub therapy 20 minutes twice a day.  I have been taking it slowly to get used to the water since we have no idea whether she has ever been "swimming" before.  I just put her in the tub and ran warm water and let her get used to it.  But, of course, I have knelt there beside the tub to reassure her and to keep her from trying to jump out. 

She doesn't mind the water.  But she may not like to actually have to swim in the deep water for 20 a minutes, which is what the doctor prescribed. 

  8/6/06
 

Faith is now back at Suzannes!

FAITH is now doing great with her physical therapy...2 days ago she put her right foot down while in her water therapy session...this morning as she was waiting at the door to go out she put that foot down on the floor...this is a huge step for her and we are very excited about her progress.
 

8/7/06

I am so excited!!!!  Faith actually  sat on the floor with both of her hind leg under her instead of laying side ways...She sat for just a minute the way a dog should sit.....I know to some it may sound like nothing big ...but it is such a big step in the right direction that I just had to share it will of you....None of this would have been possible for her without all of you!