The tale of the bum stick and the homeopathic vet

In the three weeks since my last post, I've learned a lot about the importance of Lady's diet to her healing and longevity. Since I am careful with my own diet, this should be a no-brainer, right?

Not at all - the experts who do the marketing for commercial dog food make us think that we are giving our pets what they need when, in fact, it's really the opposite.

After the last scare with Lady, I took her to see Dr. Jeff Feinman. Dr. Jeff has a fabulous web site chock full of links and resources. He and I spent a lot of time talking about Lady's behavior and diet and he explained to me that commercial dog food is mostly carbs, which a dog's body isn't built to process. We also talked about keeping a journal of Lady's behaviors - this reference will help me see any changes that may be an early warning sign of something we can treat before it gets out of control.

Specific to Lady's leg, Dr. Jeff gave her a homeopathic remedy - symphytum. I've given her three doses in the past three weeks and he felt that the diet combined with the remedy would give Lady's body the kick in the ass it needed to start healing and lay some new bone on that bum stick of hers.

The diet change has made a tremendous positive difference in her energy and her coat is so shiny and soft. I am feeding her Nature's Variety raw diet. I also have Dr. Harvey's power patties. They smell disgusting but are SO HEALTHY for Lady. She gobbles them right up. Dr. Jeff also gave me some anti-oxidant supplements.

Some other things Lady loves to eat: tomatoes, bananas, blueberries, apples, peanut butter (and she's even eaten a peanut) carrots and celery.

If you've ever wondered if you can do better for your pet, you most certainly can. I highly recommend finding and working with a homeopathic vet and getting your dog OFF of commercial dog food. There are plenty of great books and resources on Dr. Jeff's site for you to check out.

This morning I dropped Lady off at Dr. Palmisano's - it's been 8 weeks and they will x-ray and see if they can begin taking apart the fixator and de-stabilizing the leg.

Keep your fingers crossed!

Fixator +5 weeks

After Lady's bandages were changed, we noticed that she wasn't using that leg as much anymore. The new bandages were very snug to the pins and her leg, so I just figured that there was some rubbing/irritation. I didn't want to disturb her leg, so I gave it a week. When there was no improvement - in fact, it got so bad she would just walk outside and sit down, I grabbed my scissors, cuticle nippers and tweezers, and started trimming the bandage back. I found one pin spot very swollen and another starting to get red. Nothing was oozy, so I took that as a good sign. However, I was paranoid that the fixator had stopped working and her leg was out of alignment again.

Tuesday after Labor Day, I called the VR&EC - they said to bring her in ASAP. So, Thursday, Sept. 8, we hauled her down there again. She was examined and x-rayed. Everything was still aligned, but at 5 weeks there was no sign of new bone growth. Dr. Palmisano said he wasn't surprised, since she is an adult dog and her leg has been through a lot of trauma. He said in 3 weeks they would check again and begin to de-stabilize the leg to stimulate healing.

In the meantime, I've been researching therapies to complement her course of treatment. I've consulted a canine acupuncturist/chinese herbalist and a homeopathic vet. I think the right choice is homeopathy, so I'll be taking her to see Dr. Jeff Feinman (homevet.com).

More to come...

So far, so good!

Lady got the thumbs-up today from Dr. Palmisano! After a strenuous car ride to Norwalk - road construction has started on Rte. 7 and it is a MESS - and a lengthy waiting room sit, Dr. Palmisano removed Lady's sutures and gave her a good interim report. He feels there is a chance for complete recovery! We will continue to take it easy and encourage her to bear weight on the leg.

We go back in two weeks for our first set of x-rays. Fingers crossed!

Strict instructions needed.

Lady doesn't get it - why is she restricted to an x-pen with an e-collar on 23 hours of the day? I try to tell her that it has SOMETHING to do with the 4 pins and contraption attached to her leg, but all she cares about is FOOD! BIRDS! RABBITS! FOOD!

Well, she's a dog, stupid! Based on previous experience and realistic advice from Dr. Palmisano, I asked him to provide me STRICT instructions for Lady's post-operative nursing care. Thankfully, he took my request seriously. Each time I think that she can go a little bit further, I snatch up that sheet of paper and re-read it. Here's an excerpt:

Lady does not understand the nature of her injury and may become very active in a short period of time compared to the same injury in a person. Therefore, restriction of activity is of paramount importance. When take out doors to...., Lady MUST be on a short leash and, when finished, return IMMEDIATELY indoors. The degree of confinement...must be continued for the entire convalescent period.

This is her last shot. It's confinement or lose the leg. I would like to have those instructions painted on the wall in Lady's recovery room. I would like to have them ironed-on to a t-shirt. I would like to hang them from Kelly's nose ring. Seriously, this is 8-12 weeks - I should start counting the times I read them.

It's easy for humans to get the wrong idea when our animal companions are energetic and playful, even with 4 pins holding their leg together. I can't let my guard down.

No wheelchair needed, thanks.

Lady was so happy to see us last night when we checked her out of the hospital! The vet tech, Dawn, was so helpful and talked us through those first few nerve-wracking minutes. The external fixator is quite amazing. She has 2 pins above her ankle and 2 pins below her knee and the fixator has her break stabilized.

Dawn explained and showed us how to walk Lady and how to pick her up safely to put her in the car. She went beyond the call of duty and gave me her work hours in case I needed to talk about anything.

So, off we went, with Lady resting in the back seat with me and Freddie up front as our driver. Lady has a pain patch on, so she was kind of whacked out - she "talked" to us for about 20 minutes and then settled down. She was very happy to be scooped out of the car and take a short walk around her yard.

I truly believe this is the best thing for Lady because:
- The break is very stable, yet she is being encouraged to use the leg when we take slow, short walks. This will encourage blood flow which will aid in healing.
- Her paw is out and I don't have to struggle with her to wrap any bandages - we don't have to worry about the morning dew!
- Her leg is exposed to the air which will let the dermatitis she got from the wrap heal
- She is on meds, but will be off the pain meds in one week. This is good - if she feels pain from any movement she'll learn to take it easy.

She is resting comfortable in her x-pen with her e-collar on, I don't think it's too big of a deal for her since she's been confined for so long already. She's had her breakfast - supplemented with some parsley for a nutritional boost.

Thankfully, I am able to work from home today to keep an eye on Lady and make sure she's comfortable. I'd better get to work now!

Surgery +1

Lady is walking and bearing weight on the leg - a great sign! She is still in the hospital, we'll pick her up tomorrow night. With the external fixator, she is more mobile that with the splint. The Dr. said to walk her very slowly for 5-10 minutes, 4-6 times per day.

Because the fixator is external, we'll be able to see her leg, which we couldn't do when it was splinted. Now I'll be able to more closely monitor the leg. The spots where the pins enter her leg need to be monitored and kept clean. She has a bit of dermatitis where the leg was wrapped - that will now be able to heal since the leg is exposed to the air.

In about 10 days we'll trek back to Norwalk for suture removal and her first checkup.

AND - she doesn't have to be confined and isolated. She can hang out with us as long as she's kept quiet. :-).

The leg is stable!

I just got the call from Dr. Palmisano. Lady's leg is stablized. The external device he's used has 2 pins above the break and 2 pins below and comes to just below her little knee. When he did the surgery he found evidence of the bone trying to heal, so he thinks that is a good sign. He wanted to send her home tomorrow but I asked if they would keep her one more day and he agreed. This is an 8-12 week recovery and we'll take a set of x-rays in about 6 weeks.

I did find another vet, Dr. Dattner of Brookfield Animal Hospital. I explained to him what was going on and he agreed to take Lady as a patient.

I'm glad she's stable but I'm so nervous to bring her home. She is such a happy little girl and when she sees that she's going to go outside she gets really excited. We need to keep her quiet.

Freddie and I have set up the infirmary and I will make up her walk, med and feeding chart. Aunt P wants to bejewel her e-collar :-). A little color and sparkle would be nice...

The recovery begins...again

I'm going to use this blog as a place to journal the recovery of my dog, Lady. Lady is a Shetland Sheepdog. I first met her in April of this year when she was unloaded from a transport van full of dogs from Bowling Green, KY. You see, I am a volunteer with the Danbury Animal Welfare Society (DAWS), in Danbury, CT, and Lady was one of the dogs we saved by bringing her to Connecticut.

Lady was going to be adopted, but when the family brought their other dog in to meet her, she got scared and somehow mangled her left hind leg. The break was really bad, just above her ankle. This was late April. I knew then that I wanted to adopt her and help her heal and give her a happy life.

The first attempt at repair was with wire. Didn't work and it turned into a compound fracture. Three weeks later, the second attempt at repair was to use a rod. She was on bed rest at the vet clinic for 2 months and we brought her home right after July 4 and finalized our adoption of her on July 12. Her splint was removed July 19 and when I took her for what I expected to be the final checkup on July 30, an x-ray revealed the leg had broken again. I was told that the vet could no longer care for her, actually, the words were, "We're done." I think they wanted to just tape up her leg and kick me out the door. I had a meltdown right there in the vet clinic.

The vet placed a call to Dr. Palmisano at the Emergency Clinic & Referral Center in Norwalk. We rushed Lady there on Friday afternoon for a consult. He said there was one more shot at saving her leg - to attach a KE device, an external skeletal fixation device. There were no guarantees, but he said that he considered amputation to be the last option, and I agreed. He said the bone quality may have deteriorated beyond the point where it was viable, but it was worth a shot. We decided to get the surgery and try one more time to save little Lady's leg. The surgery would be Monday - today.

My to-do for the weekend: Give Lady lots of kisses and hugs and find a new vet.
Lady's to-do for the weekend: Sit there looking adorable, wondering why she's confined to her x-pen and why she can't go sit by the pool with her Aunt P and why her mommy is flipping out.

This was the longest weekend I have ever lived through. I didn't want Lady to move and all she wanted to do was give me kisses and play with the bunnies that run around our yard. She was confined to her bed and everyone who came by gave her lots of attention and treats.

This morning we took her back down the 16 agonizing miles of Rte. 7 in Connecticut to Norwalk and checked her in. She tried to jump in my lap which made me completely lose it. That was 8:30 a.m. I came home and dove into my work and waited for the phone to ring.

It is now about 5 p.m. The surgical liason at the hospital just called and said Lady was being wheeled out of surgery. She was very positive about the surgery and said that Dr. Palmisano was also more positive than he had been during our consult. I hung up the phone and burst into tears.

The new meezie.com

For all of you crazy kids who have been asking (for two years now) when meezie.com is coming back online, I'm going to try blogging for a while and then figure out my overall plan for a new site.