Today, October 27th, 2010, Indy went back to UGA for her third bandage change. Everything looked really good! We are not due to go back until Nov 9th.
At this time, she will get some staples out where they had put the antibiotic beads in. She will also get xrays to see how things are healing. Plus, of course, a bandage change. So keep sending all those good thoughts for her. I am so hoping the xrays will look good!
We have only gotten to do a EARLY morning walk so far today due to rain again. We plan to go again before bed. She is walking really well on her leg during a slow walk. My only concern for Indy right not is her mental state.
She is afraid of of everything. She is much worse at night for some reason. If I am the only one in the room with her, she is fine. If the dogs come around or two people at a time, you can tell she is looking for a place to try and get to and hide. All of this started after this last surgery and does not seem to be getting any better.
Today at UGA, I had to watch her. She would try and crawl under things if I was not careful.
She does LOVE the walks. I feel sure all of this will get better when she can just be a normal dog again. She is still and will always be such a love.
Here are some photos from today. You can tell, she is not happy. She is a wonderful patient though!
Today, October 26th, 2010, Indy started her ten minute walks! We did not get to start this morning like planned due to rain. So we started this afternoon!
She did great!! She walked on her leg the whole way. I think she was tired when we got back. We will do another tonight. I guess I will have to walk her in the dark in the am. I am ready for the time to change. I know it gets dark quick in the evening, but Indy hates the dark. More so in the morning for some reason.
I tried to video her walking today, but was to hard to do and walk her. I will get help tomorrow.
Tomorrow we return to UGA for a bandage change.
Lets hope the rain holds off!! I am so proud of Indy!!
Today, October 25, 2010, Indy is feeling MUCH better! She was SO playful this afternoon! More playful than I have ever seen her ! It is so good to see her feeling better. I hope it continues.
We go back Wed. to UGA for another bandage change. The bandage has held up much better this week.
Not much more to add right now. She is eating well and walking on her leg. She still hops. Some of this I think is habit from doing it so long. Plus..it is hard to slow her down at times. When she walks slow, she is walking on her leg. We start 10 min. walks this week.
I will get new photos soon and also going to get a video of her outside on a little walk. This photo is not the best, but it shows how NOT happy she was when I put her back in her crate.
Indy is doing well. She is walking on her leg good. We only take about 5 minute walks now four times a day. She seems to feel good and she is eating well. She is still having some urinary problems.
Today we went back to UGA for the second bandage change. Everything looked good. They got a urine sample right from her bladder (OUCH!) to test. I will be waiting to hear from that.
I want to thank all the people that have donated to her medical care. Please continue to spread the word about her chipin. We still need help with her medical care. Each time she goes into UGA..another bill comes in.
Indy even has a 8th grade class in Oconee county raising money for her. This is so cool!!!
We will have to go again next Wed. for a third bandage change.
One of the photos below was taken a couple of days ago. She is feeling good enough to be a little playful! The others are from her bandage change today.
Today, October 17, 2010, Indy got to enjoy some outside time. Still having bandage issues.
We had to rewrap again. Now she is pink and purple! The bandage issue was not as bad as yesterday. I am hoping it will last until Wed. when she is scheduled to go for a bandage change.
We spent some quality time together all day today. She loves sitting outside and she loves to snuggle too :)
Here are some photos of today.
Today, October 16, 2010, we ran into a little problem. Indy and I were headed outside for some fresh air. I got her out of her crate and looked down and the top part of her bandage was just hanging on!! I took her on out to potty and tried to figure out want was best to do. I just have no idea how it happened. She had her ecollar on.
I called UGA and spoke with the doctor on call there. She said I could bring her there or see my personal vet to have it put back in place. I looked at the clock and I had 20 minutes until my vet closed. I called them ASAP.
My vets are at Winder Corners Animal Clinic. Dr. Davison was working today and she told me she would wait for me to get there. So off we went.
Once there, Indy was all fixed up and we headed back home. THANK YOU Dr. Davison for being there for us today.
By the time we got back, Indy needed a rest. I did not want her to over do things, so we missed our outside time. We will try it again tomorrow.
We also got her urine to UGA today. June took it on the way to the UGA game this morning. We will see what they find.
Indy would not eat any this morning, but she ate a great dinner tonight.
Maybe tomorrow we can get those outside photos!
Today, October the 15, 2010, Indy is not feeling well. She would not eat any dinner at all. I know she is constipated again. I think..well..I hope this is her problem.
I spoke with her doctor this morning. He thinks it is the Clavamox causing some of her issues. Looks like she will have to have daily pumpkin. It worked REALLY well last time. I did get some pumpkin in her tonight, so I hope tomorrow we will get some action and she will feel better.
We have got to get a urine sample over to UGA in the morning to check her kidneys.
I am also taking her off of Blue Buffalo food. If you did not know, there is a recall on certain BB foods for high levels of vitamin D. So beware of the big blue buffalo. Some dogs are much more sensitive to vitamin D. Excessive urination is a symptom of high levels of vitamin D. Indy has been having this issue and it stopped for a bit, but it started back. When it was better, she was not eating BB. This may not be it, but after talking with her doctor, it is a good place to start. She will be eating Wellness now.
Her leg is doing really well. She is walking on it so well. We are keeping the walks very short for now, but walks will increase in time as we go.
Tomorrow, we are going to put a blanket outside and just hang out so she can get some fresh air!! I will post photos tomorrow.
Indy is doing OK today. It is much better for her now that she can walk around on her own for a little bit. I am concerned though.
Before she got on the first antibiotic for the MRSA, she got where she urinated A LOT. I think this is happening again. The thought was the MRSA had spread and this was the cause. Once on the Chloramphenicol for a few days, this went away. They changed her antibiotic to Clavamox after she had the surgery . I am not so sure this is working. I have a call into her Dr.
Today, October 13th, 2010, Indy had a really good day. It did not start off great, but it got better.
Indy has been very constipated due to all the meds from her surgery. Poor thing had some more issues with that at 4:30am. It did improve.
I took her out around noon and she had the biggest normal poop!!! You could tell, she felt so much better after this. She was actually playful a little.
We headed to UGA for her appointment at 3:00pm for a recheck and bandage change. She was the best girl ever for this. Her tech said she wished all of her patients was as good as Indy was.
Dr. Torres checked everything and it all look really good. He also said the sling could now just be used for support in case she were to start to fall. She can now walk on her on 5 mins three times a day!!! Believe me, this is a big deal!!
We will return next week same time for her next bandage change and recheck.
Here are some photos of her waiting at UGA and the bandage change.
Today, October the 12th, was a HORRIBLE day!!! No worries, Indy is fine. I feel very sorry for her right now, but she is OK.
Remember I had said she has been constipated?? Well..she is not anymore for now..lets just leave it at that :)
Tomorrow we go for a bandage change.
Today, October the 11th, 2010 was Indy's first day home alone all day since her surgery. June and I have been taking half days off at different times so someone would be home with her. I was so worried about her all day. I was very glad to see she had done well when I got home.
Right now, Indy is very constipated. I am sure it is from all the meds.
This makes it even harder to get her to go when she has her minute of time outside. When I got home, she had went a little. It was like rocks! Tonight I started her on some pumpkin.
She did not care for it in her food very much. I am hoping this will help by tomorrow. If not, I will have to contact her doctor and see what can be done.
Here she is taking a cone break while I type here.
Getting Indy outside to potty with the sling continued to be so hard on her. If she sees the leash and collar, she knows the sling is next. She tries her best to avoid it. On Sat. October the 9th, we decided to try to move some furniture around to make more space for her to get in and out of her crate and also to lay her bed out for her PT.
So after a lot of thought, we made the move. This did help so much. We now have room to put more rugs out for her. We have tile, so rugs are a must to prevent her from slipping. She trys to run when she is going out to potty. I think the faster she goes the more she feels she can balance.
Here is a lovely photo of her with the cone..I know she is SO sick of!
Once home, we got Indy out of the car and placed the sling around her and got her inside. She seemed to really dislike the sling. We got her right to her bed and kept all the others away from her for now. Now to figure everything else out.
We tried a large crate we had, but it was just not large enough. So June took off to PetSmart to buy the biggest one they had. She also went to get a rotisserie chicken to have just in case:)
We moved some things around in the room to make it easy for her to get in and out of the crate. After all of that was in place, it was time for dinner and her meds. She ate great! She did have some chicken mixed in. Then it was time for her PT.
This went well also. She seemed to not mind PT at all. Now for a potty break.
This did not go so well, but we got it done. The sling seemed to scare her. She just did not understand. Now she was ready to settle in for the night.
Here are some photos of her right after we arrived home and once we got her crate all fixed up! She was taking a cone break in her crate while we watched after her.
It was day three. Two days post surgery. I was anxiously awaiting my morning update call. Caroline called not long after I had arrived at work. She said Indy was doing so well that she could go home that afternoon!! We were all so thrilled. Her Dr. was also very happy with the way she was progressing. Plans were made for me to pick Indy up later in the afternoon.
Around 4:30, I headed over to pick Indy up. She would go home with Clavamox, Tramadol, and Rimadyl. I was given physical therapy instructions also. PT to be done 3 times a day for 5 minutes. Then a very gentle massage of her flank muscle. Indy would return in one week for a bandage change. She and just had a new one put in place right before I arrived.
I also found out Indy ate well the night before. They got her to eat some rotisserie chicken the night before. I was wondering how she was going to take to dog food after eating that! Who cares, she ate and now she was ready to go home.
I was also told, for the first two weeks, Indy is to only go outside to potty and must have sling support. She must be confined to a crate or a very small room. Her exercise would slowly increase over time. I know Indy must be so sick of it all.
We checked out and headed home. Here we are in the car. You can see how large her new fixator is now.
The next morning, October the 5th, 2010, Caroline called and said Indy was still doing well. She was remaining on IV antibiotics and pain meds through out the day. She had not wanted anything to eat, but they were going to tempt her with all kinds of good things that evening. As soon as she ate, they were going to start her on oral pain meds. Plans were made for me to visit her at 3:00 that afternoon.
I was looking so forward to seeing her. 3:00 FINALLY rolled around. When I got there to visit, they were moving her from isolation into ICU. Caroline came to the waiting area and we walked back, I was made to put a gown and gloves on due to the MRSA. Indy looked really good! She was new to the area, so she was really curious as to what all was going on around her. I was so happy to see her so bright and alert. Her new external fixator was SO much bigger than the previous one. I was not allowed to stay very long. I gave her a hug and told her I would see her tomorrow!
Caroline called later that evening to say Indy was doing well and was about to have dinner.
I was really missing her at home..
We had to have Indy back at UGA by 7:30. It seemed like SUCH a long ride to get there. Indy was nervous you could tell. Maybe she was feeding off of my emotions, but I knew she knew something was up. I was doing all I could to remain positive and calm.
When we arrived, she did NOT want to go inside. Finally we made it in and her assigned student, Caroline, came up to get her. She did not want to go back, but did with some encouragement. I went on to work to wait.
It was not long and Dr. Torres called me. He said there and been a change in plans. He said he had met with all clinicians and the decision was to place another pin and external fixator rather than the plates. My heart sank! He said due to all the infection, they all felt this was Indy's best chance. If they plated it, there was a 99% chance they would have to go in and remove it, which would mean yet another surgery. So this was the way it was going to go. All I could do now was wait.
The day went on and I was so anxious to hear how she was. FINALLY the call came.
Dr. Torres said she was doing good. He also said it was much worse than he had thought when they got in there. There was much more dead tissue and infection. They also had to removed some bone in order to get her femur to line back up. The pin and fixator was now in place along with antibiotic beads. They had to remove a lot of dead tissue and then the area was flushed well with some type of MRSA killing solution. Dr. Torres said they hit her with all they had to rid the MRSA. She was placed on IV antibiotics and pain meds and was recovering. I would not be able to visit her this day. I would have to wait for a evening update call.
Caroline did call in the evening and said she was resting comfortably and doing well. She also said she would call me in the morning with an update and we could make plans for me to visit her then.
On Sat. October 2nd, Jennifer Gregg was coming to Carla's to take photos of some of the rescue dogs. June and I took Indy to get some new photos made of her. We thought it would get her out and also be a good trip for her. A ride someplace other than to a vet!
Here are some of the shots Jennifer got of Indy.
