Wow, what a great week it has been for Belle! She has overcome so many hurdles in the last 21 days. I wanted to share 2 videos to show a Tripawd CAN do ANYTHING!!!!
Belle had a pretty good weekend, lots visitors, and lots of love. Yesterday, day 5 post-op, was the first day I have seen the spark back in Belle’s eyes. We are increasing the time intervals between the Tramadol from 3 every 6 hours to 3 every 7-8 hours. She seems to be doing very well with it. We had a pretty good nights sleep, only a short panting period around 2am. Today, we are going to try decreasing the number of pills to 2 every 8 hours. Keep your finger crossed she does well. I really don’t think she is enjoying being in a drug haze, but I also don’t want her in any avoidable pain!
She was so proud of her boy as he was sworn in to “officially” become a lawyer. Brett received his Bar results last Tuesday, just as Belle was getting taken back for her surgery, it was a bitter sweet day for all of us. But yesterday, she smiled as his feet as he took his oath!
We had, such a better night last night! We did another camp out in the family room and we all finally got a few hours of sleep. At 10:30pm, after watching the Tampa Bay Rays make an incredible come back, I gave Belle her pain meds and turn off the lights. She slept soundly even snoring like a bear until 12:30 when she got up, paced and panted a little and finally settled back down. To help calm her down, I applied a cold compress for about 10 minutes. The compress have really helped! Tomorrow, as per the surgeon’s instruction, we switch to warm compresses. She moved around a little after that but had no more of the pacing and the panting.
We have finally begun to see signs of our adoraBELLE back. When the alarm went off at 5:30am, she got up and gave her daddy his morning kisses. You just can’t imagine how much that warmed my heart and reassured me that we did the right thing! Gordy sat with her out front while I took Apollo for a short stroll, he still does not want to venture far from his sister. When we came back, Belle was tapping her tail, so happy to see her mom and brother! We all sat out front for a while in the grass and finally she went potty! I know, it is the little things in life that make us happy. It is not a pretty sight to watch a 3 legged dog poop for the first time, but she will get the hang of it! Now she is laying at my feet, sound asleep having a wonderful dream. She is chasing something in her dream and doing it on 3 legs! I am still a little concerned how much a trip outside exhausts her, but I have to keep reminding myself she is less than 72 hours out of surgery.
We have a big day planned, a very dear friend is coming for lunch, minus her lab Molly. I know if Molly comes, the wild woman will be back and it would be too hard to keep her calm and OUT of the pool. We plan to have Molly come out for a short play date once Belle is cleared by her surgeon Oct 2.
We have a quite weekend planned, our son Brett plans to come up from Naples to see Belle. She will be so happy to see her boy!
Jingle Belles is doing great just 48 hours after she had her front right leg amputated. I turned my back for a minute today and caught her heading to the pool. It is hard to keep a wild woman down!
I do have to admit, yesterday was heartbreaking. We pick her up at 11am and she was doing great. Thanks to the support and advice of Zeus’ mom, I did not panic when she came out with the vet tech. I looked her straight in the eyes and gave a big hug. NO TEARS! She wagged her tail and give me a big wet kiss! She went right to the truck and up the ramp her daddy built for her. We had practiced with the ramp before surgery, her big brother Apollo showed her how to do it. Since she LOVES car rides, she was nice and calm on the way home. When we got home, she went out the truck and right down the ramp into the grass and went potty. Boy did I get overly optimistic! By 2PM, she was in a panic, pacing and panting and not finding anywhere comfortable for her to lay down. I could tell she was in pain. Finally, she found a spot in our bedroom and Gordy and I sat with her holding an ice pack on her wound. The vet said we could give her some pain killer, Tramadol, and after about one hour she seemed comfortable again.
Last night was not great, but for what I have heard from others, it could have been a lot worse. She moved around three or four times, did a great deal of panting but never whimpered or cry. I do think that would have broke my heart. I put the ice pack on her two time in the night, it really seems to calm her down.
This morning we were up and going at 5:30! Apollo can not miss his walk, so I got dressed and took him while Gordy stayed with Belle and took her out for a potty break. Apollo loves his sister, our normal 2 mile hike was cut short, he wanted to get back to Belle and I was not going to change his mind!
We have spent most of the day being lazy. She did come outside for awhile and lay in the grass, it is a beautiful Florida September day!
Keep your fingers crossed we have a good night tonight!
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