This morning we trekked back to Ragland & Riley for Jedi's 3 week post-op visit. This one ended up being pretty basic. I filled Dr. Wearing in on where we're at with our PT exercises (didn't mention video), Dr. Wearing felt Jedi's leg, and then he had us walk up and down the back hallway. I will have to make a better choice of footwear for our next appointment, because I think Dr. Wearing had a momentary panic attack when he heard my flip-flops smacking their way across the floor and he at first thought it was coming from Jedi. lol My bad, I live in flip-flops and such a thing never even crossed my mind!
Good news for Jedi -- he didn't gain any weight since his surgery! In fact, I think he actually lost half a pound, as he was 38.2lbs today. He must have a freakishly high metabolism. Granted, I have definitely reduced his daily food by a good 25%, but he has been getting a big spoonful of canned food multiple times a day with pills, he gets at least one licki-mat per day (usually with peanut butter and pumpkin), and he gets a treat every time we come back in the house and walk past the treat pail. I will probably keep his meals at the same level, but Jedi will enjoy it if I become even more giving with the treats.
Dr. Wearing was very happy with Jedi's progress. He did a good job of trying to level-set me and remind me that Jedi had major reconstruction done on his bone and to stop worrying about the fact that he's shifting weight or even holding the leg up at times when he stops walking. The walking is still looking great, but I am impatient regarding the lack of progress with the weight shifting. We'll get there. Dr. Wearing gave me the thumbs up that Jedi can start walking in the creek any time now. I still have to figure out the logistics of getting him up and down from the water, but we have a few days before the weather warms up again and I'll figure something out.
The appointment must have worn Jedi out, because he sacked out for most of the afternoon. We've had rain all day again today, so it's been another low-key day, although we did go out for our last lap around the property in the rain. Jedi surely doesn't mind it.
We got refills of Trazodone and Gabapentin, so we'll be on that a couple more weeks. Dr. Wearing said that we could technically give Jedi something like 4 Trazodone up to three times a day -- right now he's getting one pill three times a day. He did confirm that dogs do acclimate to it, so I am correct in stating that I don't think it's doing as much for Jedi as it used to. That said, we agreed that it sounds like Jedi is doing fine at the current level, so we're not planning on changing anything. Dr. Wearing asked me to take Jedi off the Deramaxx starting on Sunday, as he feels that's the hardest one on his body and we need to start weaning him off things to see how he does. The Gabapentin will still have some pain relieving properties. I also have him on a turmeric supplement twice a day, so that's got some anti-inflammatory stuff as well.
No video today. We will go back to the vet for our next followup appointment and xrays in 4 weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment