Day 8
Yesterday and most of today Greta has been doing very well. She's touching her foot down frequently, though not actually walking on it yet, and she no longer puts down the top of her foot. Tonight, though, Greta lost her footing on the bamboo floor. She wasn't running, playing, or doing anything active. I was working on the dogs' dinner, so I didn't see the initial loss of footing, but I turned as soon as I heard her slipping. Her back feet (foot) was just coming out from under her as she maneuvered around a slight curve in her path. She flailed as she seemed to push to get to the carpet, about 2 feet away. That was about 3 1/2 hours ago. She doesn't seem to be in any pain, but she's holding her leg up again, with her foot getting no closer than 3 or 4 inches from the floor. She let me ice her hip, so that tells me that it's definitely bothering her. We just had our last out for the evening. She didn't try to play with the others, just did her business and pretty willingly came back in with me. Earlier in the day it had been a struggle to not have her pull me across the patio or the lawn, as she definitely has cabin fever. Tonight I gave her two tramadols. I had dropped her down to 1, 3x a day. But tonight, she definitely needs two, I think.
Two days ago Greta started licking at her incision. I think it might be itchy. I was on a phone meeting and Greta was upstairs. My niece brought Greta down, put the e-collar on her, and mimed to me what had happened. It looked to me as if Greta had given herself a hickey - she hadn't opened up the stitches. Unfortunately, even with the e-collar I have, Greta can get to her hip. So I took a t-shirt I don't wear, cut off the sleeves, and put it on Greta. I safety pinned around her right leg to keep her from getting direct contact with the incision. That worked overnight (while she was asleep) but today I had to add another layer to it, so I took a piece of knit fabric that I'd sewn into a trouser leg, and slipped it under the t-shirt. I then pinned the leg to the t-shirt. This seems to be working for now, though it's not perfect. She's crashed out now, the affect of the tramadol and her allergy shot. Yes - Greta also has allergies and she's on a treatment plan to (hopefully) convince her body not to react to the two things she's allergic to, corn pollen and yeast. I give her shots - right now it's every four days, increasing the amount of serum with each shot. Soon she starts the maintenance level and we'll move to weekly shots. The hope is that, since she's young, we can get her to not react to the triggers in the environment. Fingers crossed. My mutt certainly isn't cheap : ) But I love her.
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| Greta in her 1980s Workout Wear look |
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| Greta crashed after pain pills and her allergy shot |
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