Ellie’s TPLO Surgery Recovery: Day 109- Labapalooza returns

Sometimes I think that my dog stole the pin number for my debit card. Either that or she has managed to forge my signature and use one of my credit cards. Since neither of these is possible due to the fact that Ellie does not possess thumbs, and keeping this in mind it must have been me that signed my name for the supplements, pee cultures, antibiotics, special food, water therapy sessions, surgeries, psychiatric evaluations, tarot cards, etc. I almost made a colossal mistake yesterday by adding up every freakin’ receipt that I have in possession since this whole escapade started in February. Fortunately I got smart and stopped myself before I actually started hitting the add button on the calculator.

As promised Dr. Ahmsberry called again yesterday to check up on Ellie. The service from West Hills Animal Hospital is just amazing and very much appreciated. I gave him the “no barf” scenario and we both decided to wait a couple more days to make sure Ellie’s Colitis was cleared up before starting her on the meds to wipe out the possibility of the urinary thingy still hanging around. Ellie is definitely feeling well and her energy levels are way up as well as a return to somewhat nutball Ellie behavior.

Yesterday evening Ellie and I went for a post-dinner walk for about 25 minutes and she trotted the entire time! This was a first since the surgery and she moved along pretty darned smoothly. Her renewed muscles were rippling in the repaired leg, tail was wagging, head was up, and her ears were pointed like a fruit bat homing in on a mosquito. It was very gratifying to see all of this after almost adding up all of the receipts. Even if I would have toted up all of the dinero spent I would have felt it all worth the expense when seeing her trot along for the whole walk. I know that Ellie appreciates what Shandra and I have done for her and we certainly appreciate what she does for us on a daily basis.

This morning Ellie showed very little signs of stiffness from last evening’s trot/walk and she was ready to roll at 5:00 am. No good morning barfing to greet the day and she had slept through the night. She patiently stood guard while I liberated a couple pounds of plums from a tree and I rewarded her with a treat and ear scratch for aiding and abetting. Nothing quite like encouraging scandalous behavior in your dog but I think Ellie likes to live on the edge and she secretly enjoys the Winona Ryder-esque thrill of the whole affair.

Ellie’s TPLO Surgery Recovery: Days 106,107,108: The Jetsons

On Friday I was espousing the fact that every one of the last three weekends has been filled with some kind of Ellie issue. I thought we were safe but Friday afternoon provided an episode of barfing for Ellie after I had updated her Blog. Shandra got to witness the episode and she called Dr. Ahmsberry at West Hills rather quickly. The mutt had not yuked in several days so we were surprised when she walked out in the yard, grazed on some grass, and launched a pre-emptive strike in the mulch. Dr. Ahmsberry suggested we give Ellie some Gastricalm to settle down her upset stomach. I hopped out to West Hills and picked up the beef flavored chewable and started Ellie on them that night. One pill every 12 hours until she goes two consecutive days without barfing. I guess her stomach lining is still a tad irritated from the Colitis and these should help keep it calm. I think we should rename her “Gastro” after “Astro” the Jetsons family dog.

Ellie managed to not barf over the weekend and in all actuality her spirits were fantastic. We took her berry picking on a nice flat trail, she got several walks to the park, had some off leash time, and also a ride in the back of the Jeep with Shandra as I chased them on my bicycle. Ellie seemed to enjoy this game of cat and mouse and she barked at me from the back of the Jeep as we slalomed through the streets. I felt like Lance Armstrong in the Tour de Ellie and she and Shandra played the part of the support vehicle. I don’t know if Ellie was cheering for me or telling me to “speed it up ya loser.”

Today Ellie and I had a fabulous walk at 5:00 am and we did a little recon on three fig trees that we stumbled upon over the weekend. In about five days they should be perfectly ripe and I will dine on figs as if I were the Maharishi. This is week 16 of Ellie’s recovery and by all accounts she is doing well after nearly four months of recovery from the TPLO procedure. At this point the bones should be nearly filled in and the bionic attachments should be permanently affixed. We have not seen any signs of the urinary tract infection reoccurring and our hope is that it stays down. At least the Gastricalm is kind of like a canine Pepto Bismol so it is not as if she is taking another vicious medication that will pillage her insides. This morning at the coffee shop the Hairy Democrat noticed how well Ellie was feeling and she mobbed and mopped his leg when he greeted her. I know that most likely forever and ever the rest of Ellie’s life will be salted with stiffness in the leg and a little hitch in her gait but to have her once again start to experience some normalcy on a daily basis is gratifying for me as well as Ellie.

Ellie’s TPLO Surgery Recovery: 15 weeks- Back to the Ice Age

Ellie has managed to make it through another twenty four hours without barfing and it looks as though the Colitis cooties may have been voted out of office. I have a few concerns that it could show up again just because it seems as though the last three Fridays have all been wrought with something showing up. The last three weekends have been spent dealing with some little flare up so I am hoping that this week will break the cycle. As of this morning on our walk all forms of evacuation that Ellie relies upon were normal.

In keeping with the rollercoaster pattern of late Ellie had a little miscue yesterday. In the afternoon Shandra took Ellie on a nice little walk down to the park and kept her on the leash the entire time. Everything was going nicely and they were both enjoying the walk. After about twenty minutes they decided to turn around and head for home and Ellie suddenly tweaked her repaired leg. She did not yelp with pain but it was evident that she did a little Mr. Twister and something got a little out of whack. She would not put much weight on the leg on the walk back home. When Shan called me and explained the situation I fortunately managed to not flip my wig and we both decided that an ice pack might be in order.

Shan hit the freezer for the gel pack and also a frozen bag of peas and sandwiched Ellie’s leg between the two. Ellie had no problems with the ice and it seemed to have a good effect. When I got home I too put an ice pack on her leg and she enjoyed this. She was already starting to once again put weight on the leg and I also gave her a massage and felt all around her joints and muscles. She did not flinch or act as though I was hurting her and she actually was kind of rolling around like she was having a good time. By 9:00 pm when she went out to the yard to do her business she was moving along fairly smoothly albeit a bit cautiously.

This morning she was a tad stiff as we headed out on our walk but she worked out the kinks fairly quickly. She worked out her kinks a lot quicker than I did since my legs felt like they were filled with pudding. The combination of my age, past bodily abuses, and participating in a 60 minute fitness boot camp yesterday evening on a hill with a bunch of twenty something women served up a nice case of unresponsive legs for me. Even though I could out run all of them which provided for the thrill of victory, this morning made plainly evident the agony of defeat. One of these days I am going to learn not to listen to that little voice in my head that says,”…know your limitations and exceed them frequently.”

I guess Ellie and I will enjoy the ice packs together to ease the pain in aging legs. Actually, I can trump her since my right shoulder needs an ice pack as well. Oh, and my right forearm is acting up again and for some reason I have an abdominal muscle that is feeling like it was run through a meat grinder. Other than that I feel pretty good. I wonder if Ellie would mind sharing her supplements as well? They say that as you get older the roles with yourself and your children reverse so maybe Ellie should start following me around with a plastic bag.

Ellie’s TPLO Surgery Recovery: Day 104- Boogie Shoes

Everyone at some point in time has suffered from the affliction of having a song stuck in their head that plays over and over on a continuous loop. Sometimes, on rare occasions, you may even have two songs stuck in your head. Two things can happen when you have double the noise in your head: The mixture sounds like static or there is a clear separation between the two melodies and each one plays as a soundtrack to your current activity. This morning at 5:00 am Ellie seemed to have two tunes stuck in her big brown head. It seemed as though one moment she was listening to “Boogie Shoes” by KC and the Sunshine Band and then she would switch stations and hear “The Flight of the Valkyries.”

When Ellie and I set off on our walk/fruit poaching mission this morning the disco music kicked in and she set a new standard for movement. She wiggled, she wound up her tail, she barked, and then mule kicked and backfired. Once she tired of this she immediately ran in a large circle and then swooped in to stalk a bush. After a couple minutes of witnessing this activity I was certain that she needed to have a tin foil covering on her head. I tolerated all of this commotion because believe it or not, she never barfed. This was the first time in over a week that she did not greet the new day and the rising sun with a technicolor yawn on the sidewalk or in someones yard. I considered chalking it all up to the fact that Mars is quite large in the sky right now and maybe it has some quirky astrological presence in The House of Ellie.

Yesterday Shandra spoke with Dr. Ahmsberry of West Hills and she gave him the rundown on the morning barfing situation. He suggested splitting up Ellie’s evening feeding by giving her half at her normal time and then giving her the other half near her bedtime. He also suggested not giving her the Fomatidine to see if she could settle her stomach on her own. Well, it seems to have worked! I did not give her the Fomatidine this morning and when I left for work everything seemed to be okey dokey.

Another big event took place yesterday in that Shandra and Ellie went for a hike to pick some blackberries. They went on a trail that was not too steep nor too rocky and Shan reported that Ellie went nuts. This was the first trail adventure for Ellie since February and apparently she just ate it up. Shan said that Ellie stayed close to her as she picked berries and Ellie was off leash the entire time. Ellie loves to eat blackberries and kept wading in looking for a handout but Shan held tough and did not give in. Ellie’s attitude last night was fabulous, even in the heat, and that little trail walk combined with the new dinner schedule really seemed to have a great effect. Let’s hope this continues and that she goes another day without puking.

On our walk this morning I had singled out a fabulous plum tree that Ellie discovered yesterday. I had my headlamp and Ellie actually managed to settle down long enough for me to nab a couple pounds of fruit. We triumphantly made it to the coffee shop and Ellie streaked through some lawn sprinklers along the way. She let out a few more backfires and big yawns but there was no vomiting or diarrhea. Today will be a good day.

Ellie’s TPLO Surgery Recovery: Day 103- Plum Dog Millionaire

Another morning has arrived, another walk has been completed, and once again another puddle of Ellie expulsion hit the ground. The crazy thing is that her other bodily functions are nice and normal and the Colitis seems to have finally sorted itself out. I still just do not understand this whole grass chewing/barfing business in the morning. Ellie seems to feel fine so I have no idea why she continues to do this. She is back on her regular diet along with her Synovi supplement and the only thing different is the addition of the Fomatidine which actually seems to help rather than hurt. Hopefully Dr. Ahmsberry can enlighten me this morning.

We had a terrific walk this morning and I let Ellie off the leash so she could explore on her own. She did her bit by randomly smelling anything and everything in her path and even sniffed out a new plum tree for the poaching. I could not believe it when she would not come to me as I whistled so I had to go over to see what was up. She was standing in the dark just sniffing and lo and behold, when I got to her, she was staring at some plums that were on the ground. I looked up and could just make out the fruit hanging from a tree that was tucked in the corner of a yard. I picked plums by braille and loaded up my pockets with a couple dozen nice ripe fruit. What a dog! Now if I can just teach her to sniff out money then we just might be on to something. Maybe I will let her look at the stock report in the paper today.

It was pretty darned hot here yesterday with temps in the upper 90’s so Ellie’s walks had to be put on hold until the evening when it was cool. She happily trotted along for most of our stroll and she looked great. Her leg is really filling out nicely with rebuilt muscles. Life would be complete if she was not dealing with Barfapalooza every morning and I just continue to hope that this is a passing condition and will completely go away very soon. I do not want her on any more medications as I do not think the mutt reacts well to pills. She has always been such a healthy dog until that whacked out antibiotic a few weeks ago. I just want her to be firing on all cylinders once again so I can have my old Ellie back.

Ellie’s TPLO Surgery Recovery: Day 102- Supermodel

Yesterday I had a good phone conversation with Dr. Ahmsberry of West Hills and we went over things like poop status, burping, vomiting, urination, and eating habits. Fascinated and rapt with attention is the best way to describe my reactions. I was able to answer all of the Dr’s question and sounded like a complete authority on the esophageal and digestive functions of my dog. Just before I spoke with him Ellie had gone on a walk with Shandra and the report was that Ellie nuked a yard with approximately two pounds of completely solid and perfectly formed Nixon. Dr. Ahmsberry was very pleased to hear this and he recommended that we give Ellie a few more days to make sure she continues to have normal movements before we take another look and the urinary tract situation.

The big concern right now is this little scenario of her making herself vomit in the morning. I mentioned this to the doctor and he said this could be a manifestation of the Colitis or even possibly the urinary cooties. This morning was very strange as Ellie and I headed out on our walk. She went a few minutes and then headed to a patch of tall fescue grass and started grazing. We walked another couple hundred yards and she retched in the street. After that she wagged her tail and rubbed against me and that was that. There is nothing quite like having a little dog throw-up smeared on your bare leg at 5:00 am. It dried into a funky zoogleal mass that resembled epoxy. Almost like that stuff in Alien that the creature shot at Sigourney Weaver’s face. I may have to rename Ellie to something like, “What” or “If” or maybe “Oman” or even “Her” so that she has an appropriate name to match her supermodel actions.

Our walk went just fine and she visited with the Hairy Democrat at the coffee shop. When we got back home she munched her food with no problems and drank plenty of water. I gave her the Fomatidine to make sure her belly stays settled throughout the day. I wonder if she gets some stomach acid built up during the night when she sleeps and it kind of bubbles up in the morning. I guess it is possible and maybe I should give her a little Fomatidine in the evening before she goes to sleep. This will probably be my next conversation with Dr. Ahmsberry. At least there is no blood or super nasty stuff present in the expulsion and it just seems to be bile. This is certainly not normal behavior for Ellie and seems to have come about after the whole antibiotic reaction stuff of a week ago. She has always been a grass muncher but it never really seemed to make her barf until now. If it keeps up she may be ready for the catwalk (bad joke).

Ellie’s TPLO Surgery Recovery: Days 99,100,101- Sucking toes

Thank goodness that Saturday was the last round of the nasty anti-Colitis medication. Since the stuff was making Ellie so droopy I decided to give her the last dosage in the evening so that she could just sleep it off. What a genius I am, it worked. She was much peppier the following day and was not dragging tail like the previous days. She transitioned back to her normal dry RD diet which seems to have firmed up the old poop. She is about 90% solid and 10% soup so hopefully the Colitis is passing through. There is some mucous still evident but nowhere near the amount that she had earlier in the week.

I need to email West Hills today and give them a status update on Ellie with regards to the Colitis and also the past urinary tract infection. She shows no signs of the urinary cooties still hanging around but since I paid for the new antibiotics and I have yet to pick them up or start her on the dosage, they need to give me some direction as to which way we should head. I would love it if she did not have to go on another round of meds since the poor mutt has had a lot of stuff pumped into her system over the last three weeks.

Ellie and I tried to re-introduce some of our old habits over the last three days by taking her to my office and also on Saturday she went with me to my folks’ house. She loved the ride and once we got there she proceeded to patrol the yard and meander through the house. She managed to find a five pound dumbbell under a bed and take a few bites. Maybe she is lacking in iron? I tried to tell her that doing so was not the smartest way to put on weight. Ellie has no tolerance for my sense of humor. What seemed to provide her the most pleasure was lolling on their deck in the warm morning sunshine. She seemed genuinely happy to just be a contributing member of society once again and not be restricted to the house and yard.

Shandra and I decided on a direction for Ellie’s continuing rehab which will involve less water treadmill sessions but gradually longer leash walks on the local trails around Corvallis. There are so many great hikes of varying degrees of difficulty and we should be able to continue to increase her strength and start working on her endurance. Ellie will enjoy this, as will we, and the price of admission will be less. There are also several great ponds and lakes with smooth bottoms where Ellie can swim. As long as the Colitis and urinary problem stay in check this should work fairly well.

Ellie seems genuinely happy to be off the medications and her eyes are once again bright and shiny. The only odd thing is that the last two mornings she has licked and cleaned her feet to the point of making herself gag. This is very weird. However, if I licked my feet I would imagine I too would gag especially since I rarely wear socks in the summer. Who knows what is growing in my running shoes?

Ellie’s TPLO Surgery Recovery: 14 Weeks- Poop Inspector

Ninety eight days have now passed since Ellie went under the knife to fix her damaged tendons. Throughout all of the down time, slow walks, physical therapy, rehab exercises, supplements, Vet bills, and now the Colitis and urinary tract infection Ellie has managed to hang in there. I have to say that the development of the Colitis and the effects of the meds seem to be harder on her than the entire TPLO procedure. Ellie has one more day left of the nasty medication and then hopefully she will start to have that bright eyed smile that is her trademark.

In the late afternoon and early morning she acts fairly close to normal and has energy and enthusiasm. Within an hour after taking the medication she becomes lethargic and you have to practically beg her to go outside and do her business or go for a walk. I spoke with West Hills about this side effect and hopefully will get to speak with Dr. Moore this morning. I guess since there is only one more day left of the meds we are just going to have to tough it out with the hope that it has fixed the irritation in Ellie’s colon.

Her appetite has been strong and she drinks water regularly. Yesterday she spent the afternoon at my office and seemed to enjoy herself, while she was awake, as she roamed around and said hello to everyone and found the tennis ball that I keep in a desk drawer. After about thirty minutes of investigation she then laid down on her pad and slept for two hours. She seemed comfortable and it was great to have my girl back spending time with me at work.

I have become an expert in canine poop. I never thought I would attain this achievement but it has become necessary since the Colitis developed. Ellie is finally having somewhat normal “movements” and she is slowly coming off the wet food and back on her normal dry RD diet. Instead of a butt avalanche  she is starting to have some normal formation and color. I have looked at so much dog poop, up close and personal, in daylight and under LED enhancement, that I could probably have a new profession. There is no longer blood evident and that is very positive.

Ellie was just fabulous on the walk this morning and she trotted and loped along quite smoothly. We almost had an incident when she spotted a massive raccoon running across the road in front of us but fortunately she stopped upon request. The Hairy Democrat was at the coffee shop and Ellie mobbed him. She managed to drool on his New York Times just for good measure. I felt just terrible having to give her the meds once we finished our walk as I knew they would have a downer effect on her spunkiness. Made me feel like Nurse Ratchett in ‘One flew over the cuckoos nest’ and I hope Ellie does not see herself as Jack Nicholson.

Ellie’s TPLO Surgery Recovery: Day 97- She’s coming back

Yesterday morning Ellie was still fairly lethargic and I was still chalking it up to the effects of the Colitis medication that she is taking. The meds combined with having mixed up bowel movements as well as the trips to the Vet probably were making for a dog that was just not too happy in general. Dr. Amsberry called me yesterday morning, as promised, and I put my questions to him in hopes of gleaning a bit of information. He said that lethargy is not a typical reaction from Metronidazole and he had expected Ellie to be showing signs of improvement by yesterday. This spooked me because he said if she did not improve within a day or so that he would want to run blood work again to make sure she had not developed pancreatitis. I flipped my wig at the thought of this.

I asked Dr. Amsberry a few additional general questions but was most curious as to if this medicine was foul tasting to dogs. As I wrote yesterday Ellie seemed to not want to glurp the stuff even with it wrapped in food. He confirmed that it had a metallic/bitter taste and that it certainly was probably not very tastey to Ellie. We ended the conversation with the understanding that I would call West Hills today and give them an update as to her condition. Believe me when I say that I had all fingers and toes crossed.

Yesterday when I got home Ellie was full of enthusiasm to see me. Instead of going for a walk I decided to just do a little mild rough-housing with her in the yard and roll around for awhile with her. This seemed to be just what she wanted and she responded by head butting me and prancing around the yard. She drank plenty of water and had no trouble eating her food. I gave her a Fomatidine tablet last night and once again she slept through the night. When Ellie and I awoke this morning she was substantially more enthused than yesterday and she was ready to go for a walk. She trotted and ran along for twenty minutes and seemed to enjoy herself. I did not get to view her “taking care of business” so she must have done that unobserved in the backyard when she went out first thing this morning. I guess I will have to scan the yard for samples when I get home at lunch.

Thankfully Ellie seems to be much improved since yesterday morning so maybe some progress is being made with the Colitis. I am going to bring her to my office at lunch so she can spend the afternoon with me. A little change of scenery might just add to her improving attittude. Hopefully at lunch she will be even better than this morning.

Ellie’s TPLO Surgery Recovery: Day 96- Dog under the influence

Many years ago Nancy Reagan encouraged all of us to “just say no” to drugs. Unfortunately for Ellie she has to just say yes since the medications are necessary to ward off the colitis she is battling. She is very lethargic since taking these drugs but fortunately they do not make her stumble around or anything like that. They just seem to be energy suckers so it’s not as if she is acting like a starlet on quaaludes or is ready to be bunking with Britney Spears at the clinic. Ellie has always been such a bright and chipper dog and her enthusiasm is always visible by simply looking in her eyes. They typically dance around as she awaits whatever adventure is next on the list. On the rare occasions that Ellie has had to take meds she typically swallows them without trouble as long as they are wrapped up in something tasty. Not so with these buggers since I think she can still taste the pill when they are cloaked in soy cheese.

The good news over the past twenty four hours is that she has not vomited nor has she had actual diarrhea. When she lands a bird it is more or less the consistency of ice cream which by no means is a pleasure to pick up. This morning on our walk Ellie wandered into some grass and did her business. After she was finished she turned around and looked at her creativity and acted like the stuff was plutonium. She sprinted away from the pile like a crook leaving the scene of a crime. I don’t think she wanted to stand around and take the chance that someone might associate her with the evidence. She did not even go through the futile ritual of trying to cover up the stuff. Maybe she is once again reverting to her Ninja ways.

Last night was the first time in five days that she did not get up and barf. Ellie got 20 mg of Fomatidine last night before going to sleep and it seems as though this really helped her belly stay calm. I was thankful to get at least 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep and also grateful in knowing that she did not have to go through that uncomfortable act. She has not displayed any signs of the urinary tract infection flaring up and I know this can only help with her attitude. The irony of all this is that her leg is doing just great. If she was not dealing with this nasty little infection she would be firing on probably 7 of her 8 cylinders. Her gait has really smoothed out when we are taking walks and she spends most of the time doing a slow trot. She has some sexy muscles coming back on the left side of her hip and when standing she has both feet flat so I know she is distributing her weight fairly evenly.

Dr. Amsberry of West Hills should be calling me today to see how she is doing and I am going to ask him about the lethargy Ellie is showing. I just want to make sure that although it sucks for her to be feeling down, she is not having an abnormal side effect from the drugs. It’s boggling to think that throughout her entire life she has very rarely had to be on a medication of any sort. The antibiotics and anti-inflammatory meds after the TPLO surgery are just part of the drill but having to take all of this junk for the urinary problem just sucks for her. She is a trooper and continues to allow me to give her the meds and she still wags her tail and gets up to greet me when I come home. What a great pal she is.