Surgery #2 is scheduled

Rudi will be going in for his 2nd surgery on January 15th. Just like the first surgery, we will drop him off at 8am on the 15th and pick him up Friday, January 16th around 5pm. We will nurse him back to health over the next 16 weeks of recovery. This time I've taken some time off work to spend with him so he's not alone immediately after surgery. We will have the entire weekend after surgery then I'm off that Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. He'll have a good week home with me taking care of him around the clock. We'll be a pro at this before we know it.

Oops I did it again!

Two weeks ago, Brian and I noticed some issues with Rudi's left leg. The leg that was NOT operated on. We kept hearing a clicking sound but was unsure what is was. Over the past two weeks it's gotten louder and accompanies some intermittent limping. Today I took Rudi in to see Dr. Stallings. I just had this sick feeling that we were headed down surgery lane again with his other leg.

Sure enough, 5 months exactly since the day his first leg was operated on, we find out that he has partially torn his left CCL and will need another surgery. I don't have to remind anyone how hard it is with the economy these days. We thought spending the money on the first leg was bad enough. Now here we go again. At first we thought we'd manage him very quietly and keep him restricted without any activity. It hasn't done him any good. He's getting worse and Dr. Stallings confirmed it today. We will most likely schedule something at the beginning of the new year. We can't do it before Christmas nor do we want to.

Rudi is still out of it right now. Sleeping peacefully next to me on the floor. He got sedated today for xrays and it always takes him some time to come out of it and back to normal. His leg is also a little sore from the examination. By tomorrow he should be feeling a little better.

We hate to go through this again and hate to put him through it again but once it's done he'll have two perfectly strong legs and we won't have to hold our breath everytime he goes flying out back.

Stay tuned...I'm sure we will have more updates in January.

Week Thirteen Post Op

Rudi is at thirteen weeks post op today. We decided to let him start having the freedom of the entire house while we are at work. He's done a great job of being the "man of the house" while we are away. Three weeks from now and he'll be at full recovery and also one year older. He'll be the big 4!

Enjoying the great outdoors

This weekend was the perfect fall-like weekend! The weather was extremely gorgeous. Rudi has been able to venture out back by himself but of course under my supervision. We still want to make sure that he doesn't start running around the yard like a mad man. As you can see here, he is just taking in the sunshine and gazing through the back fence at the yard below where he used to run. He probably won't get that priviledge for quite sometime seeing as how his leg was injured from all the running in the first place. I think he's just happy to be off lead at the moment.

Week Twelve Post Op

Three whole months have passed since Rudi's surgery. I simply cannot believe we have come this far. It has been a great success and we still have 4 more weeks to go until final FINAL recovery is considered over. Rudi and I are still taking our nightly walks to build his muscle in his leg back up. Tonight, especially, he was tired after our walk so he took a nap in the office while I worked on the computer. This is the precious picture I got when I looked over at him. He's such a sweet boy....and a tired one too.

Back in the saddle again

Well we questioned whether or not we were going to allow Rudi back on the couch again. As you can see, he made the decision behind our backs. This is what we found when we came into the living room tonight. He's been allowed to wander from room to room for some time now but he hasn't had much interest in jumping on the couch. I guess he changed his mind. We watched a movie tonight and he stayed up there without any jumping up and down constantly so I guess you can say we caved.

Week Eleven Post Op

Rudi is at his 11 week mark today. Still going strong! I was going to wait until 16 full weeks to let Rudi off leash to go potty but I decided to let him go out on his own this morning. That may sound like a kind gesture on my part but I have to be honest....it's because it was very windy and rainy and I was too lazy to go out with him. haha! He did very well. He went potty then came right back in. I'm not too sure he wanted to stay outside anyway because of the bad weather. Either way, it was yet another piece of freedom for him....and for me as well!