2012: A year in review

2012 started out with Kenz on restricted activity to see if we could resolve her what was starting to look like a chronic case of biceps tendonitis. I had gone ahead with the series of PRP injections and then commenced gradually resuming normal activities.

In early February 7 weeks into the shoulder rehab I was dealt what turned out to be a devastating piece of news - Kenz was diagnosed with a grade 2 medial luxating patella and to get the best outcome for her it was likely that surgery was going to be the only option and it was more a case of when not if.

Given at that point the verdict over what may be needed with the shoulder wasn't clear it was agreed to monitor the patella and continue on with rehabbing.

Kenz was able to attend the Double K mini herding clinic in April and get a little bit of freedom. By early May though her left hind issue had continue to worsen and the decision was made to go ahead with surgery.

She coped ok with the confinement and post-surgery rehab but it wasn't the success it should have been.

Despite all the hiccups she did managed to finish off her Rally-O Novice title in early October after passing her 3 attempts. Not the scores she might have got if she was at full capacity but she did enough to get through.

If her lameness issues weren't enough before Christmas she had a seriously bad EIC episode.

Normally at this time of year I would be thinking about future goals for 2013 and making training plans. Things are not so good and I am still hoping that she can see the inside of the ring in some capacity but I am just not sure.

Emma has said to give it a few months as the situation may still yet continue to improve before considering any further diagnostics. She has suggested Kenz may resume obedience training again in the new year. In the meantime we are to keep with the swimming, running and balance disc work and if things get aggravated I am to back off what I am doing with her and reassess. 

Its all about taking it a day at a time and hoping that one day I will wake up and the the world will look a whole lot brighter for my little girl, who means the world to me.

Christmas 2012

So Christmas has come and gone for another year. This year I took the girls up to stay at my parents place on the river. The hope was to forget about lame dog for just a little while.

Kenz had a pretty bad week of things. First few days she was back to having random 3 legged RH episodes. These were followed up by some very bad looking LH episodes. It seems to be something that we just can't put behind us.

She struggled a little less with the stair case up there but still wasn't 100% and there were still times when she couldn't manage it.

Home again yesterday and she hasn't managed to get up the stairs at home since.

Any way I am not sure what 2013 will hold for us but I am not hopeful of good news just yet. In the meantime I have put together a video of Kenz having a bit of fun while away over Christmas. She did enjoy her daily or twice daily trips down the river and then home via the oval to have a run around until she was dry.

Not all bad........

This week started off a little tough. On Monday we caught up with "my aussies" and Karron to do some Rally-O training. After we had trained I got Kenz out to see if we could get video of this intermittent problem to forward to Ian. Well what transpired in the next 5 minutes was positively frightening.

Poor girl suffered a serious exercise induced collapse episode :(. It was very very scary. Its the first such episode I have managed to capture on video.



 We dropped everything and carried her into Karron's place and put her in the bath until she settled.

Tuesday evening she had a lab attack her and that pulled her up acutely lame :(. It wasn't especially lasting but enough that I was worried. 

Any way today she was already scheduled for another appointment with Emma. I guess the good news is Emma doesn't at this stage thing I should write off obedience. Kenz is doing better then she was at her appointment a few weeks ago. She certainly wasn't as sore through her back. She was a little sore through her right front which may again be compensation for the fact she has been having a few issues with that left hind again.

Kenz got quite a hammering today so Emma said she wouldn't be surprised if she was fairly sore and sorry for herself so to just take it easy. I will continue to see how she gets on and hopefully she will continue to improve and we might just get back in the ring come 2013.

Two Year Anniversary

Today marks two years since Kenz pulled up badly lame in her right shoulder for whatever reason. I never would have guessed that two years later she would still be unsound and struggling with lameness issues on an almost daily basis.

Frustration plus. Its hard to walk away from what was suppose to be a fun filled life of performance activities when my little girl as it stands now needs carrying to bed each evening because for the most part she can't get up the stairs. She also struggles to manage anything more then a 20-30 min walk and even then still has days when she can barely get around the block without a problem with her back end.

I finally got around to dropping in the girls Rally-Novice Titles today and I suspect it will be Kenz's last title. Oh so sad and my heart is broken and my world is just about come to an end.

Love you to bits Kenz but not sure how much longer either of us can hold it together - who am I kidding I am not holding it together at all :(.