Lucy has completed three days of treatment for her Staph pseudointermedius infection and so far everything is going very well. She had another urinalysis and renal panel today and both show no signs of complications from the Amikacin (namely, kidney failure). She appears bright, alert and very responsive. Let’s hope this trend continues. We have at least four more treatments left.
Lucy update: 05 March 2011
Lucy went to the surgical center for a check of her incision from the surgery to remove the metal plate from her leg. They also replaced the bandage and checked her lab culture results. Bad news: She has an infection of a type of bacteria that is very resistant to almost all medications. The only one which is capable of treating the infection is a very strong antibiotic that has severe potential side-effects, including kidney failure and deafness. She will have to receive an injection of this medication daily for the next week to ten days. The vet says that there is not a high risk of side-effects during this short dosage but there is a risk.
Let’s just say I am not in a great mood today after receiving this news. At least Lucy is keeping her spirits high.
Lucy update: 01 March 2011
Lucy’s surgery to remove the titanium plate from her leg was yesterday and it went well. She was very groggy from the anesthesia when I brought her home last night but today she is more alert and acting like herself again. I’ve had no issues so far getting her to ingest her medication, and the day has been very warm and sunny so she’s spent a lot of time in the yard sleeping.
The infection should subside soon with the removal of the growth medium (the plate) and hopefully in about six weeks she’ll be a “normal” dog again.
Happy anniversary
I took the dogs up to Guanella pass today to hike around in the snow. I’ve been ill for a week so I needed to get out of the house and be active in the sunshine. The girls have suffered, too, since I’ve been a lot less active while sick. Additionally, Lucy is having a surgery to remove the titanium plate on Monday so this was her last “hurrah”. Both girls had a great time running in the snow.
After the hike I drove up a few forest roads scouting out some camping sites for later in the year. One road was a single lane and had quite a bit of snow along the sides. I pulled over to let some oncoming traffic pass and got the truck stuck in about three feet of snow. The traffic passed me by without noticing that I was stuck, so I had to get my shovel and dig the wheels out myself. Luckily after about twenty minutes of digging and moving dirt and gravel under the tires I was able to move the truck out of the snow. Yay.
We made it home late in the afternoon and had a little nap. When I woke up I was thinking a little and realized it’s been ten years this month since the ex left me. That’s a long time to be single. Now that I have the dogs I’m not really alone but it still gets lonely from time to time. I decided to head out to a bar to be around some people. I like the place but I’d never been there on a Saturday night. I’m actually a little sweet on one of the waitresses and she’s normally very nice to me despite the fact that I’m older than her and ugly, but tonight she pretended she didn’t know me. I guess she has a rep to uphold with her cool customers. I don’t know.
I had some beers and chicken wings and suddenly all of the televisions in the bar were showing a UFC match. Wow. You can call me a snob but WTF is appealing about this “sport”? I finished my beer and beat a path to the door. Back home, my dogs were happy to see me and I went to bed early. That seems to be my place in life.
Lucy Update: 17 Feb 2011
Lucy had a visit with the surgeon today. He took some x-rays of her leg and decided that the bones had fused sufficiently to remove the titanium plate. The plate is apparently the cause of the infection, or rather the medium upon which the infection is growing. Until the plate is removed we cannot fight the infection with antibiotics.
The surgery is scheduled for Monday the 28th of February. Although this additional surgery wasn’t in the original plan for Lucy, I welcome it if this will resolve the infection issue. She’ll wear a split/cast for another six weeks or so, which means she’ll be out of it right as springtime is breaking here in Colorado. I can’t wait.
Jumping for snowballs
The Three Amigos
A quick photo of Emily, Lucy and Fabi at the summit of Boreas Pass. Yes, Lucy was still wearing a soft cast at this point. About a week after this photo was taken, the vet removed Lucy’s bandage completely and so far everything looks good. She places the foot “correctly” now and does not appear to be rolling and slapping the bottom of her foot, which was the cause of the ulcers.
She’s still on “light activity” for a while as she learns to live with fused bones and a titanium plate in her leg.
Lucy update: 29 September 2010
Splint is out, soft bandages
for a couple of weeks. Lucy is thrilled.
Originally uploaded by bad9brad
Lucy has been doing very well and this week the veterinarian removed the splint from her leg. She now only wears a full-leg soft bandage and appears to get along just fine, despite concerns from the vet that she may have difficulty walking without the extra support. To the contrary, Lucy has been running and jumping and wrestling with Fabi — until I catch her doing those things and calm her down.
I was hoping she would be able to do a little hiking and perhaps even a camping trip this week but I need to remain patient. She’ll be doing that stuff within a month or so, and I must wait.
Lucy update: 7 September 2010
We just returned from yet another visit to the veterinary specialist hospital where Lucy had not only a bandage change but also a follow-up appointment with the surgeon. He gave us some good news: The ulcer on the bottom of Lucy’s paw has healed up much better than expected.
The original ulceration was larger than a quarter in size, closer to the size a fifty-cent piece. Today, the ulcer is as small as the tip of an adult male’s pinky finger. What this means is that by the time the bandages and splint are removed (“the cast”), Lucy possibly won’t need the tissue graft surgery. She will have built up enough healthy scar tissue that the grafts won’t be required, and let me tell you that is a big deal. After eight weeks of recuperation from surgery #1 I wasn’t sure if we could hold out another four to six weeks for healing from surgery #2.
Of course, I don’t want to set my hopes too high and be disappointed. The surgeon was very excited (almost giddy) when he spoke to me so I will continue to keep her as quiet as possible to promote further healing of the ulcer. With the metal plate and fused ankle bones she should not roll her foot and cause another ulcer to form, and we’ll be at that mythical place I’ve been searching for over the past 16 months: healthy.
A Sunday visit to the veterinary hospital
Lucy had been in pretty good spirits since her surgery last Monday, until today. She had been playful and very, very loving over the past week and was walking a bit on her cast, but today she was hopping around was hiding from me like a hurt dog (under the bushes in the back yard when I took her out to pee, under the dining table, etc). She wasn’t snapping at me or growling, but she was obviously not feeling well. I inspected the bandage/splint and noticed her toes had swelled up pretty large, so I called the surgical center and they told me to bring her down. A few hours later she has a new bandage and a new attitude, and hopefully I can keep her quiet enough to prevent the bandage from shifting again (which is what was constricting her toes today).