Friday morning (Day 3) was the most challenging one yet. Although I did manage to sleep a solid 6.5 hours the night before (thanks to the wonders of Acepromazine), Gracie was not happy with my plans of crating her for awhile and heading into work.
As I was pulling out of the driveway, I opened up the Gracie-cam app on my phone (the Gracie-cam is a webcam that we originally bought to keep tabs on Sherlock when we first got him and has now been repurposed for Gracie’s use) and noticed that she was paying a great deal of attention to her stitches. Up until this point, we have not had to use a cone of shame, and, the goal is to avoid that if at all possible. I circled the block, headed back in the house and was met by a very pissed dog.
I got her settled down, left the house again, fired up the Gracie-cam and saw that she had her teeth wrapped around the wires of the crate and was shaking it violently trying to get out. Once again I headed home, got her settled, left for work, checked the cam and saw that she was still freaking out. After that I got the message that maybe I should just plan on working from home.
After I decided to stay home for good, I lifted Gracie onto the new air mattress and she promptly fell asleep. I fired up my laptop, clutched her leash tightly and did as much work as one can possible do while laying on an overinflated air beside a convalescing dog.
Friday afternoon I loaded Gracie into the car for the first time since surgery. This was quite the ordeal as I had to put a crate in the back of my car and convince Gracie that riding in the crate in the back of my SUV was not a big deal. Strangely enough, she was totally cool with this arrangement. Really, Gracie? You can’t deal with a condominium sized crate in the house, but you will flop right down in a tiny crate in the back of the car?
Our Physical Therapy session went really well. Until she gets her stiches out we are are doing laser therapy two times per week. According to the pamphlet that the therapist gave me, the laser therapy stimulates cells which leads to reduced pain and inflammation and increases healing speed. It also requires that everyone in the therapy room wears these awesome goggles:
Gracie did really well during therapy. It must have felt good to her because she laid there and let them give her several different doses.
Once the stitches come out we will start on the underwater treadmill. The therapist said that she thought that Gracie was doing really well and that everything looked good. Our next session is on Tuesday and it is a huge relief to have a professional checking in with us a couple of times a week (we don’t see the vet again until week 4) to make sure that things look ok.
We spent Friday night hanging out on the sofa. You cannot tell from the photo, but, I have that leash wrapped so tightly around my hands that there is no way that she was budging. She just seemed relieved to be anywhere but the crate.
Saturday morning (Day 4), I loaded up Sherlock and headed into work. Since it is the end of the month and my hours were very limited earlier in the week, I had some things that needed to get done.
We also managed so sneak away to K38 for lunch with friends for some much needed time outside the house. Danny has had time away because of work, but, I was starting to go a bit stir crazy.
When we got home, as per the therapist instructions, I took Gracie for a short walk. We are supposed to take her out for short, 5 to 10 minute walks a couple of times a day. They said to try and incorporate as many different surfaces as possible so today we headed into our driveway and cul-de-sac. Gracie was totally pumped about this as she has not had a walk in over 3 weeks. She got huffy when I wouldn’t let her go past the cul-de-sac, sat down and refused to walk back to the house. I am sure it was a sight for the neighbors as I picked up my 43 pound, half shaven dog with a freakish scar and carried her back inside.
Danny went out for awhile this evening and picked up ice cream for the entire household on his way back. This was not on the therapist list of things to do at home, but, Gracie says that puppy cones promote healing and she was pretty stoked about her Saturday night treat.
As I type this, both dogs are passed out in the office. Keeping Sherlock tired so that he doesn’t harass his big sister has been huge part of this process and, so far, between walks/runs at home and doggy daycare during the week, this has been going ok. Hopefully we can continue managing his energy level over this long weekend.
