6 Weeks Post-op

Well, I've slacked off a little on my updates.  The good news is, there has been no bad news to report, so that's why I haven't posted in a while.  Friday marked 6 weeks after surgery and little miss Heidi is doing great.  Her limp is barely noticeable.  In fact, if you didn't know she had surgery, I don't think you'd notice the slight hitch in her gait.

laying in Dad's lap while he plays video games

 Since my last post, we did get the go ahead to increase her trazodone.  She now gets 200mg 3 times a day and it seems to have made a little bit of a difference.  We haven't had any more couch jumping, so that's always good.  We've also started going on walks twice a day.  Week 4 we did 5 minute walks, week 5 we did 10 minute walks, and this week, we're up to 20 minute walks.  Her first one was Saturday morning, and she LOVED it.  One of Heidi's favorite things is sniffing and when we're outside, she just can't get enough!

Beautiful day on the porch!

 Also yesterday we had our first bath since surgery.  The vet told us to keep her off slippery surfaces because if she slipped she could re-injure her leg.  Finally, I decided I'd had enough of her stinkiness!  I put a towel down in the bottom of the bathtub so she could stand without slipping and it worked like a charm.  No more stinky dog :)  It's funny... Heidi hates getting a bath but she loves being dried with a towel.  She gets so excited when I throw the towel over her and start rubbing her with it.  She prances all around just loving it.  It's really cute. 

I just set our final appointment at the vet school (assuming all goes well there).  We go for X-rays on February 16th and will hopefully get the all clear to begin working up to normal activities.  We still plan to take it slow so we can build back up the strength in her operative leg.  It seems all too often, dogs with ACL injuries tear their other ACL.  From the research I've done, I think this is because they are allowed to run wild and free before they have regained full strength in the injured leg.  If that leg isn't as strong as the other, they may still have a tendency to use the "good" leg more than the operative leg, putting more strain on the good knee.  That extra stress could cause another ACL tear which we honestly cannot afford!  So we must do everything in our power to prevent it! 

Well, that's all for now.  I hope everyone has a FANTASTIC week!  And as usual, here's one more precious picture!

Wearing my scarf and LOVING it!  Can't ya tell?