Two weeks down, eight to go

We are officially at the two week mark and Moxie continues to improve. She's been enjoying chewing on bones to pass the time in her hallway hideout. She's taking longer walks-two blocks up and two blocks back. Her PT is going well-there is more flexibility in her leg and a greater range of movement. We've let her hang out on the couch with us a few times. She gets a bit wiggly initally but then calms down. Last night she lay with her head on my laptop, helping me type emails :)

Day 11

Moxie continues to improve. Her hair is growing back and her stitches are dissolving and her leg is no longer swollen. We watched a movie last night and she got to hang out on the couch with us for part of it. I can tell that she's getting a little bit bored in the hallway but I've been saving a bone for her that she'll get later today if she's a good girl. We've been increasing the length of her walks-she walked up and back two blocks this morning and pulled Eric all the way home!

Day 8

It's hard to believe that we passed the one week mark for surgery yesterday and Moxie came home one week ago today. She is continuing to improve. She's getting more demanding-barking if she needs to go out or needs water or some attention. She's taking longer walks, we're not only walking down the block, but around the corner, too. See some photos from last night-Moxie thought Eric needed his face washed by her tongue :)

Day 5

We're almost through Moxie's first full week post surgery. Just like last time, we're amazed at how well she's recovering. She's gotten over any dazed and confused moments she might have had and is very clear all the time. While she will always be able to pull us around, she's able to do it with four paws on the ground now. We think that she's putting more weight on the foot earlier this go around. Perhaps she knows the deal? She's walking with all four paws at a good clip now. Yesterday she would only do so when walking slowly, but now she can carry a good speed with four legs. She's just as demanding as always. Where before she would come and lick us if she needed to go out or wanted food, now she barks. Both methods are effective. We're looking forward to having her out for more walks and some couch time so we don't have to sit on the floor.

Day 3 post surgery

Moxie is doing great. She's putting a lot more weight on her leg (not full weight of course) and stretching the leg out when she lies down. She gets up to greet us at the gate when we get home or I come downstairs in the morning, tail wagging, grinning. Her appetite has still not completely returned but I know that will come. Her leg is pretty red and swollen around the incision but it doesn't seem to be bothering her or getting any worse. We'll keep an eye on it, though. We've had some great weather in Cville so when I took Moxie outside in the front yard after work she just wanted to sit in the yard and watch the world go by. I joined her for about 10 minutes before we returned to the hallway hideaway. She's got her head on my lap as I'm typing her updates-she would help but she doesn't have thumbs!

Moxie's TPLO #2: Left leg surgery and homecoming

Moxie went back to VRCC on Tuesday March 31 for TPLO #2 on her left leg. We had noticed limping and favoring the leg for a month or so and thought it was a good time for surgery-warmer outside so Lynette won't freeze on the early morning outings. Also with Eric's new job we have some extra cash flow (we are now calling Moxie the new motorcycle). Plus, she would recover by June and be able to enjoy all of her favorite summer activities i.e. swimming and fetch. Most importantly, she'd be ready to walk down the aisle in August at the wedding.
Eric took Moxie to see Dr. Broaddus. Moxie got x-rays and it looked like though the ACL was frayed the meniscus was still intact, a good thing. And, they had lowered the cost of the surgery by $500 since the first one seven months ago. Surgery went well (the meniscus was in fact intact though there was some signs of arthritis in the knee) and Moxie spent the night at VRCC.

Lynette called Wednesday morning (1 day post op) to check on Mox and the tech said that she'd experienced some vomiting overnight and wasn't eating. They thought it was due to the IV pain medication so Moxie was no longer getting that, but instead some antinausa drugs. They said she could probably come home but to call back later and check. Lynette's second phone call at 2:30 brought good news-Moxie had eaten some high reward food i.e. chicken (yum!) and could go home!
Eric picked Moxie up after work as she pulled the lab tech on 3 legs excited to greet him. That's our girl! They had an uneventful ride home and Lynette had Moxie's hallway hideaway ready to go-comfy blankets and pillows to rest on. Gracie was happy to see Mox and sniffed her shaved leg. Moxie seemed a little out of sorts, still drugged up, but she ate some dinner (wet dog food-a special treat) and rested. Lynette hung out with Moxie in the hideaway grading papers for a good part of the evening. See pictures above of Moxie's evening outing to the front yard and hanging out in the hideaway.
The nice thing is that we've done this before so we know what to expect. We know that Moxie is a strong girl and she had such a great recovery on the first leg we are super positive. Plus, Moxie knows what to expect and hopefully she remembers that it was worth it!

This morning (day 2 post op, April 1) Moxie was standing up waiting for Lynette to take her out at 6 am. She pulled all over the front yard and started to use her left leg a little bit, too, for weight bearing. Moxie ate a little bit of breakfast and appreciated a warm compress and some attention. Lynette started Moxie's exercises and Mox responded very well to having her leg moved. She even pushed back a little bit on the straightening. Moxie was definitely more alert-if Lynette wasn't petting her Moxie nuzzled closer :)

Week 3, long walks

We've made it to week 3, that's 25% of the way there!! Nothing much has changed. Moxie is still showing improvements and is becoming increasingly frustrated with being locked up downstairs at night. We've been able to extend her walks and this morning we took her to La Taza, the local coffee shop. This has been her normal morning routine and she was very excited to go again. I had taken her most of the way there in the beginning of the week so she was ready to go, distance-wise. We'll start walking her there every morning and will take her on shorter walks later in the day and increase those over the next two weeks. In about two weeks she'll be able to do 20-30 minute walks which will take us up to the downtown mall and back.

We're still letting her on the couch in the evenings, by far her favorite part of the day. In a few weeks we'll start devising plans to bring her upstairs while assisting on the stair climbs. Going up will be the easy part, going down will be harder as it'll be harder to assist her.