surgery and recovery of our best friend
How Lucy Became Family
Lucy was a year old when we got her from a local rescue on Christmas Day. I wasn’t looking for another dog as we already had two. Cyrus woke up one morning and insisted that we go help dogs that day. It was super cold out but he was persistent. How can you say no when your 5yr old wants to do something good? So we called Denkai Rescue and they told us what they could use and we bought them. Cyrus asked if he could walk one of the dogs and they gave us Lucy. She was really sweet until we parted goodbyes and wished her a good home. Few days later, I saw an Instagram post that she was the only dog that didn’t have a foster home for Christmas so we brought her home on Christmas Eve! Long story short, she found her “good home” with us!
Lucy’s Torn ACL
Lucy is the most gentle loving dog, and also the most active and energized one. She is one solid muscle and can jump a 6 foot fence. Recently, she started limping and holding up one of her back legs. But despite of that, she never cried, whined, or complained, she still kept on running. I kept thinking it’s just a sprained leg, but it did not get better. We finally brought her to the vet and she was diagnosed with what we know as a a Torn ACL. In dog terms, it is a torn left cranial cruciate ligament. The danger of waiting that I had not thought of is blowing out the other one. This, unfortunately, is very common even after surgery. I should have taken her sooner, but did not know or was just afraid to know.
LUCY’S SURGERY AND RECOVERY PHASE
Surgery is 2.5 hours long and full recovery is a 12 week process to getting back to full speed. I am going to blog daily on how she is doing and what the days entail.Â
LUCY’S X-RAYS
We looked at Lucy’s x-rays and it’s crazy how this new technology for dogs works. They completely took out her ligament that was torn and stretched, and re-aligned the knee with a plate and screws. Now she can never blow that knee out again… just the other one (please no!!!). Â
Day 1 – Surgery Day
Today is the day! Poor Lucy has to go get her knee done. She has a 2.5 hour surgery and 12 weeks of recovery. We took her to the vet at 8am, had a quick briefing and a kiss of good luck through the tears, and Lucy was off. I think the hardest thing is thinking about her and how she woke up so happy, and ends her day to be so miserable. We picked up Lucy at 5pm and she was home for the night.
Day 2 – Recovery Begins
Let the day begin! We had a rough night. Dr Liz said it probably would not be easy and it wasn’t. My girl is a tough girl and never whined except for the cone. She completely freaked out! I ordered a different kind so we will see how that works instead, but she just had a hard time getting comfortable and I am sure it hurt. Today, she had her first laser treatment. We have 3 or 4 days for this treatment to the vet. The laser is supposed to help heal faster and keep the swelling down. Now doesn’t she look so cute in her glasses? Â
Day 3 – 4 Sleeping Lucy
Recovery has continued and is going ok. She had a little too much swelling, but after 5x a day of massaging it out and extra icing, she has ankles again! Overall her pain level is ok, but she sure does sleep a lot… Not like my normal Lucy. Â
Day 5-7
All good with Lucy now. The swelling of her cankles went away. She has finally figured out how to go potty in an area that she in unfamiliar with. I never knew how hard that could be for a dog. She is always let loose to go in the back yard at her own time and NEVER monitored. Now after she is in unfamiliar territory she could hold everything for SOOOO long. (Why can my little dogs not do the same????). After the last laser treatment and she had not gone potty for a day they “checked her” and went to give her an enima.  They gave her a chance and she went outside first….Who says dogs can’t understand? NOT ME… she got it and has been good ever since. 🙂
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DAYS 8-9
Lots of activity this week. Lucy thinks she’s healed! But she’s not…. Snuck outside in the backyard with all the steps but my mom got her stopped. She is feeling so much better but the healing process really hasn’t even started. HOW AM I EVER GOING TO KEEP THIS DOG CALM FOR 12 WEEKS!!! So glad she is feeling better though. Off all her meds and hair is coming back…
Day 10
Well….so much for keeping her down. I have a temporary gate in front of the door and the stairs. Since she has to go out front I need it to keep my 2 little dogs still in the house. My little shadows (Tango and Hope)think they can go anywhere with me and I don’t want them getting out front. Mom and Cheri came over to pick us up for breakfast and she jumped the gate. She used only 3 legs but we could not stop her. She is fine but plan b on the gate.  She also has 1 stitch to come out on Tuesday. Well supposed to be Tuesday but I think she took it out herself. Â
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Week 4
We went on vacation to Las Vegas so Lucy could not stay home with Andy. She had to stay at our vet/kennel with the cats and Tango. Tango and her can share a run so it made Tango’s first stay since we had him better. He was a big confused I think. Lucy had her 4 week check up while there and her muscle tone is great and she is putting weight on her leg. All good so far. She can walk 20 minutes 2x a day now and more each week. This was a good time for Tango and her to bond. He absolutely loves her!