It is December 2nd, 2010 and I am sick of bandages and I sure know Indy is.
We went back to UGA yesterday. What a day!! We were there almost 3 hours. The good news is, part of the external fixature was removed.
The stabilizer bar was removed and the bottom pin cut off. Indy does have a smaller bandage, but she had to have a temp bandage placed around her leg to cover the hole where the pin was. It was to be removed in about 4 days. WELL!!! it fell off last night. It comes around the knee, so it is hard to stay in place. I tried to put it back on, but lets just say, I did not do a very good job. I called her tech, Dana, this morning and she is giving me another kind of bandage to put in place for a few days. We will see how that goes.
Xrays were also done yesterday. The bone is about 50% healed. This is a very slow rate, but normal when dealing with the MRSA infection. So I guess we are on track.
We will return to UGA in three weeks, unless something comes up. I do not think xrays will be done again until 5 weeks from now. So we still have several weeks to go. Indy is feeling good and eating OK.
Here are some photos from yesterday. She was tired after we got home. You can tell, she was not very happy to be at UGA waiting!
Today, November 29th, 2010, it has rained most of the day. Indy cannot get her bandage wet, so that is quite a challenge.
June made her a really good rain jacket! The problem is, Indy hates it! She just does not understand why she is having this thing put on her. It is just something else strange and scary to her.
It is now 11:25pm and we are hoping for a rain break. I know she has to go potty!
Tomorrow the rain is going to be worse!! Another reason to look forward to Wednesday.
We also go back to UGA Wednesday and so hoping the removal of the external fixator will began.
I will update then!!
Indy is doing really well. Not much to update. This is good!! She is continuing to eat well and she is walking really well on her leg. Her tummy is also doing great now that she is on the probiotics.
We did a new design on her blog today..as you can tell! The first thought was to do a Christmas theme, but we decided it will not be Christmas here until her external fixator is gone!!
Here is Indy enjoying a bone!! Happy Thanksgiving to all!!
Sorry it has taken me so long to update! Indy went back to UGA on Wednesday November 17, 2010.
She got a bandage change and everything looked really good! We are hoping on her next visit, they will be able to start the removal of her external fixature. This will be done in stages.
She is continuing to walk really well on her leg and she is getting so playful! Her tummy is MUCH better now she is on the probiotics. I have found a food she likes. She is eating BilJac for now and doing really well on that. (Thanks to Carla's suggestion!)
She also LOVES to chew bones!
We are schedule to return to UGA on Wednesday December 1, 2010.
Here are some photos of Indy at UGA and one right after we returned home.
I almost forgot!! Indy is in the news!! Please go over and check out her story.
Thank you so much to Jan Buckley at the examiner.com for telling Indy's story.
INDY IN THE NEWS
Indy is doing really well. She is walking good and seems to feel good. She has gotten very playful!
She is eating good as long as you feed her stuff she REALLY likes. She has gotten spoiled in that area.
We have rain day and it is expected tomorrow also. Indy will miss her walks if it is raining. We were able to get one in this morning before I left for work.
June has made Indy a raincoat!! She got a red plastic table cloth and cut it to fit. We did not have to try it out this morning, but I am sure we will this afternoon.
Indy will be returning to UGA on Wed. this week for a bandage change. I hope to learn then when the removal of the external fixator can began. It has been 6 weeks today since her surgery.
I will post an update regarding her UGA appt. Please keep spreading the word about Indy. She still needs a lot of help with her medical bills. Each trip back to UGA adds another bill. Thank you to all that have donated and everyone for caring about Indy.
Today, November 11, 2010, Indy had a great day! She had the best and biggest poop! Thank you again to Winder Corners for your help with this.
She is feeling really good. Indy was very playful tonight and even chewed on a bone! She is also walking well on her leg.
I shot this little video yesterday on our walk.
Please continue to pray for Indy and send good thoughts and energy! It is working!!
I have a few things to cover! It has been a few days since I have had a chance to update.
Friday morning, Nov. 5th Indy finally pooped, but you could tell it was hard for her to. Plus, you could tell her poop was very hard. Poor girl was constipated AGAIN!
Monday rolled around and she had not pooped again. She was not drinking very much water either. She was still eating her favorite food..chicken and rice. She has been also getting pumpkin, kefir and some satin balls mixed in.
I called Dr. Torres and he suggested I get her some IV fluid and discontinue her tramadol. Rather than drive all the way to UGA, I called my personal vet and they agreed to help us out! It is so much easier to take her to Winder Corners than to drive all the way to UGA. All of the vets and staff at Winder Corners are awesome. I had taken the day off, so off we went to Winder Corners.
I got her some IV fluids, stool softner, and we are starting her on heavy probiotics. All of the antibiotics are destroying her natural flora in her intestines. Once back home, we would wait and watch for the big poop!
She also got a CBC done. We have to keep a watch on her blood due to the type of antibiotic she has to take.
Dr. Samples called me yesterday and the results of the CBC looked great!
She ate well that night and by late morning on Nov. 9th, she had a big poop! She felt so much better.
This morning she also ate some regular dog food mixed in with her chicken and rice.
She did not poop this morning yet, but I am hoping it will come later and she can get back on a healthy schedule.
Her mental state is also improving. She is able to be out of her crate more and she is MUCH brighter!
She still hates the vet's office and tries to crawl under things, but who can blame her!
She is becoming very playful at times. She is also walking GREAT on her leg.
Here are a couple of new photos of her. One is outside hoping for poop and the other was last night. She was watching me eat and wanting a bite of what I had!
Today,
November 4, 2010, Indy has not ate anything since Tuesday night. She also has not pooped since Tuesday morning. I have tried everything from cooked chicken to more satin balls and have not had any luck.
I am hoping she is just constipated again and things will move on out. I have to say, I would be very relieved to come home today and find poop everywhere!
If she has not ate or pooped by tomorrow, I will have to call her Dr. back. She is loosing wait.
I am SO frustrated for her!!!!!!!!!!! Bless her heart! Seems it is always something.
We are ALL back home from UGA. After a good scare and xrays, Indy's broken femur showed good healing. The external fixator looked good also.
The sores under her front leg appears to be some type of hot spot and could be some form of staph. It is not known if it is the same as what was in her bone. I have meds for that now and hope to see improvement in one week. If not, or if it continues to spread, I am to call her doctor back and we will go back in for further eval.
Her meds were changed today also. It is thought that the Clavamox is causing her to feel SO bad and not want to eat. We are going back to the Chloramphenicol 1000 mg every eight hours. I guess that means I will be setting the alarm around 1:00am again. It is just fine as long as she feels better.
She also was found to have movement in her knee joint. I cannot tell you the medical terms that were used, but it is some kind of ligament issue. It is believed this will improve once her femur is healed and she can gain her muscle tone back. If not, at a much later date, this could require some surgery. Let is hope NOT!
She also received another bandage change. No wonder she was not walking well. The bandage she had was to far down in the knee and rubbing. She now has a raw/blistered area on her knee. Another open wound I will worry myself sick over. I hope this just heals on it's own.
We are not scheduled to return to UGA for two weeks unless this get worse. I hope things only improve.
I was not able get photos of her today. Only one of her waiting. She was taken back and given mild sedation for the xrays. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers and hope all continues to improve.
Today, November 1st, 2010, Indy is not doing well. It appears her MRSA has spread. She now has sores under her right front leg at her body. I will be bringing her back to UGA today.
I am also having problems getting her to eat anything. She is still walking on her leg some, but it does not appear to be as well as she was walking.
Please continue to keep Indy in your thoughts and prayers. I will post an update after she sees the doctor today.
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.
