It is hard to believe that we are only on the third week of Gracie’s post-ACL surgery. It feels like it has been more like two months. But, things have gotten much easier since we invested in the indoor exercise pen, so, that is good news.
The big development this week was that Gracie was able to start the underwater treadmill therapy last Friday. She was less than thrilled when she learned this news.
Since the only water activity that Gracie has ever been into is lounging in the shallow end of a pool, I figured that she was going to be plenty nervous. My prediction was correct and she spent the entire introductory session freaking out.
This picture pretty much sums up water therapy Day 1. You know it is a serious meltdown when Gracie refuses peanut butter because she is too nervous.
We had our second session in the water today. I gave her a pep talk before we headed in and it seemed like things went a little better today. Since she was still apprehensive about walking on the treadmill, the therapist suggested that we fill the tub up and let her swim.
She flailed about and managed to get all three of the humans that were in the room with her soaking wet. But, she also seemed to stop panicking a little. By the time they drained the water down some and started the treadmill up again, she started walking on it. I was able to coax her with peanut butter this time, which was an improvement over last week’s session.
Before heading into the office, she hit the locker room for a quick shower. We also made a stop in the rehab room for a laser therapy session. She doesn’t mind those at all which is good because I think that we are going to continue with a once a month treatment to help with the arthritis that the doctor found in her hips during the surgery.
Her leg muscle is working hard in this picture. She can bear all her weight on it, but, it still shakes pretty badly due to the muscle loss.
The other big news is that today our therapist gave us the ok to start increasing Gracie’s walks to 20 minutes (we had been doing 5-10 minute up until this point). Gracie has been lobbying hard since Day One to walk more, so, we were both pretty stoked about this development.
After work today we set out on our longest walk since before the surgery. I think that Gracie was kind of shocked when I didn’t make her turn around earlier. When we got home, we were both pleased (the monkey was happy for the exercise and I was thankful that no catastrophic injuries occurred).
I love this picture. Gracie hasn’t given me a smile this big in months. She was totally amped about finally getting a longer walk.
Next week is another big one as we have the 4 week check up with the doctor who operated on Gracie. It will also mark the halfway point of the (initial) recovery. Maybe we will get through this after all!
