1 Week Post-Op

It's technically been a week and 3 days since surgery, but who's counting? In my last post I was concerned that Heidi was mostly holding up her leg and walking on 3 legs, but that has gotten much better since then. She now always walks on all fours. She still has a limp, but I read on some vet website that the limping was expected for 4-6 weeks, so that made me feel better. Several days ago, she was using her leg a good bit, but when standing still, she would just barely touch it to the ground, oftentimes just resting the top of her foot on the ground with the toes curled under, if you can picture that. Today I was taking a good look at her and realized she is now putting some weight on that foot when standing still, so that's a definite improvement. She is also VERY energetic. For probably the first 3 days she was very quiet, but now she is back to her old self and then some! It's hard to keep her quiet. She can be quite wild at times, especially when we come home from work. I just have to sit on the floor and pet her to make her settle. Otherwise she would be running around in circles and that's not good! We carried her up and down the steps for probably the first week, but have stopped now. It's not like her bone is healing, she just had a piece of cartilage removed. It's HARD for me to carry a 74lb dog up and down the stairs safely. I mean, that's more than half my weight! I was always scared I would fall, so I'm glad we decided that wasn't necessary. Her stitches come out sometime between Monday and Thursday. I like to wait closer to the 14 day mark, but if she starts messing with them before then, I'll take them out earlier in the 10-14 day range. Other than that, I don't have much to say. She's doing well, and I hope she will continue to limp less and less and gain back that muscle mass in her left leg. Poor thing is so scrawny compared to her "Hulk"-like right leg. I'll try to snap a picture at some point because it's funny. Anywho, I'm off to enjoy this gorgeous day- 71 and sunny! I'll take it! Check back soon for an update :)