A Tail Is Wagging

This morning was great for us! The night was a little rough, but we got through it, and Henrietta seems to be very happy to be back home. She had a few problems overnight with incontinence, which we think are a side effect of the epidural they gave her. But it seems to have sorted itself out now. Corey slept in the living room with her until he had to go to work at 4 o'clock this morning, and then I spent the wee hours of the morning with her. When I woke up at 7:30 and checked on her, she wagged her tail! It made me so happy because yesterday she couldn't even hold her tail up. And when I fed her breakfast, she stood up to eat! Last night she stayed sitting to eat, but halfway through her meal she got tired and laid down to finish eating. She walked on her own, and even took a big stretch! We had to hold up her back end with a towel looped under her abdomen yesterday, and her right foot just dragged on the ground. Her leg is still pretty swollen today, but I managed to get a picture of her incision.

The surgeon was kind enough to put all the stitches inside her skin so that they wouldn't be as itchy as last time (she even chewed a few out, which almost made me faint). They also said she had staples, but I can't see any. The swelling might be covering them up.

We got a big packet of information from the Vet, plus a lot of medicines, and even a rehabilitation exercise program. I have to flex and extend her leg 3 to 4 times a day, which Henrietta tolerates, but she lets me know that it hurts. I warm up her knee first with a hot water bag, and then afterwards I put an ice pack on. Henrietta seems to like the ice pack more than the hot compress, but sits still for both. We also have to do a weight bearing exercise 2 to 3 times a day, where I slowly tilt her side to side at the hips so that she starts to bear weight on her right leg. And finally, We take her out for very slow walks, about 10 minutes, 3 to 4 times a day, which is also when she goes potty outside.

I had to type up a spreadsheet so that Corey and I can keep track of what prescriptions she gets at certain times of the day, and when she should do her exercising. I even color coded her medicine bottles so we don't mix them up.

We also got copies of her x-rays taken just before and just after the surgery, which I've pasted together for you. You can clearly see how the knee has been reshaped, and the metal plate they installed into the bone with screws. The surgeon said that we can expect her to regain 85 to 90% of the use of her knee back, which is fantastic! Especially considering that she never really fully recovered from the surgery she had on her left knee 2 years ago. The plates and screws are made of stainless steel, and are used to hold the top part of the tibia bone that they cut off and repositioned to the rest of the tibia until they fuse together, which usually takes 6 to 8 weeks. We were cautioned that there is a very small chance that Henrietta may develop cancer around that knee, but it would take 5 years or more to grow to the point of being a problem. At 7 years old, we decided that it probably wouldn't matter since Henrietta would be well into her senior years before we saw any kind of impact, if it even developed at all.

Poor Henrietta's butt is very cold, though... Maybe I should make her some little pants?