She's using the leg!!

Finally had a breakthrough the day before Thanksgiving. It had snowed the night before and, when I took Lady out for her morning walk, she USED THE LEG. Yes, that's right - she put the foot down and took actual STEPS!! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

It was a long weekend, so I worked with her each day, doing the massage, the weight-shifting exercises, the cork, and taking her around the block. She continued to use the leg.

Lady had a lovely Thanksgiving - I think Auntie P fed her turkey under the table.

On Friday, I walked Lady over to the golf course - to the flag of the 12th hole. On Saturday and Sunday, Freddie and I lifted her over the stone wall and had more walks around the golf course. After all this time, to see her use the leg is unbelievable.

With the good comes the bad. The movement of her leg in the cast has caused skin inflamation, breakage, oozing and bleeding just below her knee. I almost had a meltdown last night - instead I got pissed at Freddie when he said I was being irrational. Ok, the dog is bleeding, in obvious discomfort. I don't know if it is an emergency or not. I do know that we've been mucking around with this leg since April and I don't want anything to go wrong.

Before tossing her in the car and speeding to Norwalk, I took a mental step back and thought about conversations with Dr. Feinman and the homeopathy books I've been reading. In referencing the text, I found there were plenty of things I can do to treat her wound until I can get her to Norwalk tomorrow to have her leg rewrapped. Dr. Feinman told me today that I can use the Aloe and Calendula solution he had given me for Lady's ears.

I cleaned up the wound, put on some antibacterial ointment, and put Lady to bed. Today I will hot compress, massage in the aloe and calendula soluion, and put clean cotton pads on the wound as best I can.

Tomorrow it's back to Norwalk. I'm hoping we take some new x-rays and that they can put a shorter cast on Lady.

No doubt, more to come!

Resorting to the cork

I continue to be a basket case over the dog. It is critical that we get her to bear weight on the leg. We have the set of exercised prescribed by the physical therapist, but last night Lady got scared and peed all over the carpet when we tried to do them. So, this morning, I gave her a lovely massage and then got out the tripe treats - Dr. Harvey's. She did the exercises in exchange for some treats.

I gave Gail, the PT, a progress report and Gail said to try the cork trick. So, I took a wine bottle cork, cut 1/3 off, put it between the pads of her good back foot and secured it there with gauze. Sure enough, it made Lady uncomfortable enough that she put weight on her bum stick. Gail said I could do that 2-3 times/day and that perhaps Lady would get to the point where, when she saw the cork, she would just start walking for me.

More to come...

Lady on Dogster

Check out Lady's Dogster page!

Half healed or half broken?

Lady is now pin-free - GOOD NEWS! Lady's leg is only 50% healed - NOT QUITE WHAT WE WERE HOPING FOR!

Stay calm, stay positive. Dr. Feinman feels we will definitely save this leg. I am now giving her daily doeses of the symphytum. We are taking Lady to the physical therapist on Saturday, because Dr. Palmisano said it is key to get her to start using the leg before the bone deteriorates too much.

So, in the 3 days that Lady has had no fixator (she is splinted) - she is starting to bear weight on the leg. It's been raining, so we are back to putting on her "boot" (IV bag slipped over her splint so her wrap stays clean and dry). The boot is a nightmare. I am going to try to invent a shower-cap like thing to take its place.

In three weeks we take Lady in for another check. Between now and then, we'll work with her to get her to use the leg and give her lots of love.

Freddie and I can tell that she is feeling better - she has pep in her step that was not there in the last few weeks with the fixator on.

A few interesting things from my phone consultation with Dr. Feinman:

• Lady's ear problems are not due to an allergic reaction to the fish oil. He said that allergic reactions are generally to proteins. The ear gunk is an external manifestation of her body trying to tell us what is going on internally.
• Ear discharge and eye gunk is actually a good sign for Lady - her body is detoxing and her powers to heal herself are getting stronger.
• We will work through these symptoms and then start to work through her fear issues.
• He gave me some aloe-calendula solution to massage into her ears.
  

Week 14 report

Imagine having pins through your leg for 14 weeks. Can't run, can't go upstairs, can't play, can't go for car rides, can't go swimming, can't do much of anything. I actually know a person that went through this and his leg was saved, so I am keeping a positive attitude for my Lady. The only other really crappy thing about Lady's situation is that she has to have the damn v-collar (aka lampshade) on her head every night. Could you sleep with one of those things on?

I took her to VREC Norwalk today for a recheck/x-rays and possible *hopeful* removal of the external fixator. It's really time for that thing to come off. The top pin site is getting very irritated - red, inflamed, and the bottom site has been oozing for the past few weeks. Lady is so good about letting me clean the pin sites - she never cries or yelps, she just puts up with it.

I have a phone consultation with Dr. Feinman today and will be scheduling an evaluation with a canine physical therapist. It's been so long since Lady has really used her leg that we'll need to retrain her - assuming she keeps the leg.

I'll know more this afternoon after I get the call from VREC that she's out of surgery and awake.

Personally, I am drained. I will do anything to get this dog better, of course, and no one said it would be easy. In my mind, I see her running across the lawn, chasing the ball, jumping into the pool, and I know I need to remain patient and keep doing what needs to be done to get her there.