Finally Friday

I've been immersed in work and Izzy.
Let's start with Izzy because I like her more than work.
Here is a pic of her incision.

Yesterday when we brought her home she was very loopy. It was sad and funny at the same time. Looking at her shaved hip and leg I keep thinking how itchy that will be when the hair grows in. Rick said maybe it won't be like that for her.
I am confident it will be. See below how much they shaved from her leg. They also shaved her front legs where the IV's went in. Poor thing is going to be an itch machine. Her skin feels weird to me. I told Rick it looks like she needs moisturizer. He about died. He laughed and said, "Margaret you are nuts!"
Yes, I may be but I still think she needs moisturizer. So pffff.... 

Yesterday she attempted to scratch her chin area but just couldn't get the leg up there to scratch. We watched her try two times. Then I got up and scratched it for her, I felt so bad for her. She was happy now. Why the dummy didn't think to move to the other foot I am not certain but I helped her and she was content with that.

She can't do stairs for 2 weeks. I live with nothing but stairs. They suggested we sleep downstairs or get a baby gate to stop her from trying to be with us. I am going shopping for a baby gate this evening or tomorrow. In the meantime, we alternate the sleeping downstairs to every other day for one of us. This way someone gets good nights sleep on the "other" day. Last night was my turn to be on the sofa and to not get much sleep. She was incredibly restless. Then at 1:30a, she stood upright in her bed and high tailed it to the front door like her ass was on fire. Fastest we've seen her move with 3 legs in months. I open the door and she goes to the tree lawn and pees the longest pee in the history of pees. Oh, my goodness. I am standing outside in nothing but a night shirt which is actually an old shirt of my husbands that comes to my knees. I am praying no one is out at 1:30 am to witness this attire.

After Izzy was done she wanted to walk a bit. What the hell? No, you aren't allowed to walk. Come inside you crazy dog. The last thing I wanted to do after my knee surgery was a walk. What is the deal with her? She is obviously in pain but wants to go smell all the trees in the neighborhood in the wee hours of the morning. I assumed all the drugs have worn off now and she was awake. 

I get her inside and make her go to her bed. She sat in it and then stared at me. I closed my eyes but could feel her staring at me. I opened one eye and sure enough...that made me laugh. So there we were at 1:30ish, her tail wagging, and my tail dragging but I rubbed her and relaxed her back to sleep. For a little while anyway.  

This two weeks is gonna be difficult keeping her so still and quiet. She can only walk to do her business. No walking for fun. No fun period. For any of us, it appears.

Here are some x-ray photos that were cool. Well to me anyway.
You see Dr. Blue Eyes (yeah, I named him -got a problem with that? ) had a piece of equipment for lack of a better word that showed the dog's legs/hip. The parts were moving but not 3 dimensional. He put the dog legs in the position that Izzy's were and why this was causing pain. I saw the tiny threadlike piece that was torn off that connects the two bones and makes them move. The front bone went too far forward with it torn. So they put in a plate and cut some of this bone so that it will now move as it was meant to without this ligament. The plate moves the bone in place and the rods in her leg, of course, keeps this all in place.
There is a slight bone fracture that occurs and that too will heal and grow together over time.

This first one shows you how far forward the bottom bone is at the knee.

 This one shows you how it is moved back so they connect and work properly without pain after surgery healing.

 This is the side view where they are all in place and hopefully stay in place.
Ah, my bionic dog. 

Because she is not to move about a great deal and be sedentary we were told to cut back her food again. So she gets 2/3 cups of food for each meal. At 11 pm when she woke up she came to me on the sofa and put her face on my leg. Oh, I know that look, that look is begging for food. While she was sleeping we heard her belly growl and we laughed. It wasn't funny now that she was awake.
Because pooping is so difficult for her because of the way she must squat I didn't want to give her broccoli or any of the other things we give her for treats to keep her weight down. Finally, after an hour of begging, I gave a treat - only 4 pieces of kibble. Nothing really. But she took them and then laid down. Whew, I fooled you and you fell for it. YIPEE for me, I outsmarted a dog.

Because our first floor is all wood floors this has proven a bit difficult for the dog when trying to get up only having one back foot. She was slipping all over yesterday. I had visions of her tearing her other leg right then. So I put down some old rugs all over the place. It looks crazy when you come in the house but I don't care. She will walk on the rugs to avoid slipping and that is all that matters. If you ring my bell and find this disgusting because nothing matches, well you can just leave. 

The good news? Insurance sent me an email today. With the exception of $95 for the initial exam which is never covered,  I have been reimbursed 90% for all of this. It is being deposited into my account today the email states and sometimes takes up to 5 business days for some reason. Then, of course, I turn around and pay my charge card which I had to use to pay for this. It was $3921.15. 

Rick is seldom right as he likes to say, but I'm telling you this is by far the best thing I have ever done by listening to him telling me we must have dog insurance. I thought he was so full of shit. But now, not so much. We couldn't have paid for this otherwise unless we did the Care Credit that was offered. Basically, that is a loan that is offered for veterinary care and you pay a monthly payment to pay it off. 

Here's to an uneventful quiet weekend. I am throwing a few back to celebrate Rick being right on doggy insurance and saving our asses. 😃