Kenz Post MPL Surgery Day 21 (Week 3)

So we have both managed to survive for a full three weeks of "strict rest". Kenz is getting use to her new life and is mostly good about putting herself back in a crate after she has had a toilet break.

Its becoming increasingly difficult at some moments though because she has decided she needs to go back to removing the yard of birdies/possums/cats ANYTHING. She has a few mad and heart stopping moments such as jumping up on the bed once or twice before I have been able to stop her but seems to be otherwise doing ok.

She isn't looking especially lame at this stage. She is using the leg really well. We enjoy our cuddles on the bed in the morning and she is even being well behaved in her crate while I take Ness out for the occasional walk.

Today was a "work" day so she had her usual long stint in the solid crate. She comes out mega stiff as a result but once she has warmed out of it she seems otherwise ok. Since it was a nice mild afternoon as a special treat we drove to Hungry Jacks and then shared a meal at the local park sitting in the sun.

I figured she could use a bit of fresh air and a change of scenery.

So pending John's view on her progress in three weeks time we are hopefully on the downhill stretch as far as "strict rest" goes.

ETA. A couple of photos taken on Day 22

Kenz Post MPL Surgery Day 14 (Week 2)

Poor little girl. I had to work today so she had 6.5 hours in a crate during the day and I came home to find she had been sick.

She is currently sound asleep on a dog bed next to the heater alongside my desk.

Kenz Post MPL Surgery Day 12 (Suture Removal)

Back to John to have her sutures out and a quick checkup. The good news - he couldn't budge the patella at all. Its 100% stable. He was happy with the way she was using the leg as we walked in. The incision looked great. I am quietly breathing a sigh of relief we have got through 12 days without her messing things up despite a few little minor oops moments along the way.

She currently weighs 13.4kg so hasn't gained any weight in the time she has been resting which is another positive.

As for where to now - I have to keep doing as I am doing and allow the scar tissue to build up and stabilize the knee.

Next appointment is in roughly 4-6 weeks. Its at least another 4 weeks of strict rest as we have been doing at which point John will recheck the patella and hopefully all things being equal we can get the go ahead to gradually return to full activity,

Kenz Post MPL Surgery Day 11

Wow what a difference 24 hours makes. This time last night I was somewhat concerned about how flat and lethargic Kenz had been. It culminated with her putting herself into her crate and curling up in a little tight ball looking totally miserable. To say I was more than a little worried about her is a bit of an understatement. I knocked off a quick email to the specialist late last night and within a couple of minutes I was fortunate enough to have a reply.

The advice was to totally cut out all the meds and see how she got on. This morning she was still super lethargic. Basically got up had her breakfast and then crashed again. It wasn't until around 1pm that she started to look somewhat perkier. We had a drive to the park and she lay down with her i-squeak.

Come 4pm and she was well and truely back to normal. We headed out for another drive when she decided that barking in her crate was fair game and she wanted to help Ness chase things. The time at the park required hand in collar because she spotted the birds and as far as she was concerned they are fair game.

So I think I have my feral midget back :). Fingers crossed John is happy with her progress and tomorrow we see what the next few weeks might have in store. Hoping we can start doing a little more in the way of walking. I am still mostly carrying her around although she is wandering a little bit on her toilet breaks or on our outings to the park.

Kenz Post MPL Surgery Day 10

Another day marked off the calendar - mostly forward progress and another step closer to getting back to the activities she loves. Today was spent out in the car with a trip to a local obedience trial. Kenz is doing remarkably well with "resting".

Not sure what John had to say to her but so far it seems to be working. Maybe he pinched her "drive chip".

Kenz Post MPL Surgery Day 7 (Week 1)

So today marks exactly one week since Kenz's surgery.

Since I was working today it also marked the first time she had been left home for any significant time unsupervised since her surgery. I was a little apprehensive about leaving her, especially since she was sick in the early hours of this morning.

I came home after 4.5 hours at the office and was relieved to find she was fine - sound asleep in her crate, quiet as a mouse and not in any real hurry to greet me. She was a little stiffer then she has been - her shoulder seemed to be bothering her a little bit as was her hind end. She happily spent the rest of the day snoozing on the bed alongside my computer desk.

We had another outing to the park and she is definitely more with things but still not 100%. She is moving ok but is certainly still a little sore on it. Hoping that settles down eventually.

One week done and dusted :).

Snoozing in front of the heater at the end of day 7 - such a hard life:

Kenz Post MPL Surgery Day 6

So far so good - Kenz is still resting a lot of the time and keeping her restrained hasn't been half the battle I was fearing. She has spent the majority of the day snoozing alongside my computer desk without bothering to get up.

Last night was the first night she has managed to sleep through and not wake me up at 4am needing a toilet stop.

Today I have cut out the tramadol and she is still seemingly fine. She is walking fairly well on the leg when I have taken her out for toilet breaks. She was even putting 100% weight on the leg while toileting.

So everything seems to be going ok. She is due to have the sutures out next Tuesday morning so fingers crossed its all healing as it should.

Her afternoon toilet break resulted in her grabbing the nearest twig and barking at me - I think the fun and games are about to begin. She is obviously feeling a lot better.

Kenz Post MPL Surgery Day 4

Since Kenz's surgery on Thursday she has done very little other than snooze her time away. She had a trip out in the car to the shops with me yesterday but other than that we have switched between cuddling on my bed, laying on a rug on the floor in front of the TV, crated or laying in a dog bed alongside my computer desk.

She is still on fairly hefty doses of pain killers (3 x 100mg tramadol a day and 3 x 20mg carprofen a day) and so far the whole process is relatively stress free. She isn't trying to move around a lot and I am happy enough with her progress. She is putting much more weight on her leg and seems to be walking fairly well at this point. She is still showing signs of being fairly sore though - no real inclination to chase anything as such and not making any attempt to follow me or move when I get up.

The last 3 night she has also got me up at 4am each day for a toilet break which coincides with 6 hours since her evening pain med dose.

She is being very good with leaving the incision alone and only has to wear her cone overnight or when I am not able to supervise her. 

This morning it was time to remove the dressing and so I decided I'd take a photo of her stitches and post it below.

And shes home again (Post MPL Surgery Day 1)

I have my little girl back home safe and sound. Apparently she was spoiled rotten with cuddles at the specialist. She is still not putting much weight on the leg but she is otherwise doing ok. John said everything feels 100% stable which is the good news.

So we have to keep her from walking to much for the little while, she has pain medication to have as necessary and is due for a follow up visit in a fortnight to get stitches out.

MPL Surgery Day

Kenz was dropped off at the specialist bright and early this morning for her MPL surgery. She weighs in at 13.8kg.

Its so quiet without my little baby girl home tonight. She has to spend the night as she will be on IV pain relief.

A rather anxious day of waiting for the phone call from John to say she was awake and to hear the verdict.

The surgery went well and was relatively straight forward. John tightened up the ligaments and reinforced the lateral side of the knee and post surgery the patella was 100% stable. There wasn't any need to cut bone and her groove was of sufficient depth so the post surgery rehab time shouldn't be the end of the world.

Now the fun and games begin - she should do well so long as I can keep the little devil quiet for a few weeks while she recovers :).

Be good Kenz and I promise we can get back to training as soon as your back on your feet.

A dilemma of a different sort.....

So tonight Kenz had her final Open training round in what will feel like an absolute eternity to me (and her). She did as she always does and put together a very special round. Her work was nice and accurate and it felt so good. The dilemma from tonight was a dog who was not interested in her tug, would not take a treat but who only wanted to work through the exercises to get to play with her dumbbell. I can see this will be a new and somewhat interesting challenge to face when we get back into training.

So we have a decision

Kenz is booked to have surgery on her patella this coming Thursday. I am mega scared and really worried that I have made the right decision. I know what is ahead of us and it seems like climbing Everest. In the meantime Kenz is blissfully unaware and we are trying to make the most of it. 2 huge long walks today and a lovely UD training session at the oval. Considering she hasn't seen a UD exercise for an absolute eternity she happily completed them one after another as though she had been doing it her entire life. The hardest part of me is she has not had one single hint of a problem today - hard to know the decision I have made is the correct one when she is so asymptomatic to it all. Any way thought I'd share a video of todays training session - we have climbed mountains to get to where we have today we will climb them again and hopefully another 4 months and we will be through the worst of what life has to throw at us. We are due a run of some good luck so fingers and toes crossed for my little girl.

Back to see John

Given Matthew's verdict over the patella I felt a trip back to John was warranted just to assess where things are at. Its been two months since her last trip to see him and in that time she has now fully regained all her lost muscle tone and support for the patella. Well the news wasn't so great in that yes the patella has deteriorated to the extent its now classed as a high grade 2. However John is reluctant to operate on something which is causing her seemingly less problems despite everything else. Not sure what we are doing about it yet, I am tempted to have the surgery done and just move on once and for all but she is otherwise bouncing around at a million miles an hour and full of life so it makes the decision somewhat more difficult. As far as her shoulder is concerned we did talk about Sunday's incident after the mock trial when she was a total mess come Sunday evening. John has suggested further diagnostics and possible surgery for that as well but did suggest maybe just having a supply of anti-inflams for when it gets bad and treating it as it comes. I am leaning towards that at the moment because the shoulder has otherwise been not to bad. So while we still don't have a resolution I do feel I know where the situation is at with it all its just a matter of agreeing to a course of action with John and how best to continue to manage the little brat.