Ketchup

Wow, I haven't kept up with this blog at all! We've been busy. Corey has been working a lot of over-time, and I've been doing pretty much everything else, including making lots of custom crochet orders for co-workers and neighbors. Corey and I have been trying to spend as much time as we can together, too. We've always been very close to each other, and I feel like we've grown even closer over the last few months. Our little family is strong.

Henrietta's medical bills should hopefully be paid off completely by the end of October! We've worked really hard, and sacrificed some things, including our healthy diet. We were eating quite a lot of sandwiches, rice bowls, and crock pot stews, but we are getting back on track now.

Henrietta is fully and completely healed now! She is back to her regular old self, walking around without even a hint of a limp. It's really great to see that all the heart-break, all the over-time, and yes, even begging everyone for money, was all worth it. Henrietta is mobile, and relatively pain-free. She has at least another 5 good years ahead of her, and her quality of life will be that much better. That means more to us than all the dollars in the world.

We couldn't have done it without everyone's help.

THANK YOU!

Fully Fused, Loose Tooth

Our top story tonight, Henrietta had her 6 weeks check up this morning. The vet said her bone looked like it had healed completely. We still have to keep her from doing anything crazy for another 6 weeks, just to make sure the newly healed knee doesn't get re-injured. I'll be posting her x-rays here in a few days. I'll also have a total amount for all of the medical bills. But for right now, we all desperately need some sleep!

And in other news, Edelweiss has a tooth that became loose the other day. We took her to our vet here in town, and after looking at it, he told us that we had 2 options: He could put her under and pull it out ($150), or we could just let it fall out on its own (Free). We decided to let it fall out on its own, but I still feel horrible about it! Poor Edel! I'll try to post a picture of her later. The vet said her teeth actually looked pretty good, so I think maybe she knocked it on something, or was playing tug too hard.

Movin' Right Along

I haven't really been keeping up with the blog the last week or two, and the reason is there's nothing really worth reporting! Henrietta is back to her normal self, playing with her favorite toys, enjoying her walks, and savoring her meals. We're still working on finding the right fit for her leg brace, and getting her to tolerate wearing it. She'll get there eventually. She hasn't had any more reactions to her sutures, and her open wound has completely closed up. There isn't even a scab anymore, just nice, pink, healthy skin. She will have quite a scar, though, but that's ok. We don't mind scars.

On Wednesday, Henrietta will have her 6 weeks check-up. She'll be put under and have x-rays taken of her knee to make sure the bone has healed properly, and that everything is is the right position. After that, ...well, I don't know what will happen after that. I hope that the vet will tell us that everything is just fine, and we can start letting Henrietta run around off-leash in the yard, and that we can ditch the cone collar, and that she can sleep in her regular crate again so I can take down this pen we slapped together using 2 baby gates. But, I honestly don't know what she'll say, or how everything will turn out. And, since we're speaking honestly here, I'm a little bit numb to it all after being stuck in the house for 6 weeks. I think we ALL have a touch of cabin fever...

Almost 4 Weeks Out!

Tomorrow marks 4 weeks since Henrietta's TPLO surgery. She is recovering well from her incision reaction from the end of last week. The opening at the top of her incision has closed up and scabbed over, and the redness and swelling are nearly gone. She is walking well now, almost like nothing ever happened! Corey and I are simultaneously thrilled and relieved that Henrietta is going to come through this with much more function in her right leg than she did when she had surgery on her left knee. We are still trying to use her leg brace to stabilize the left knee, but I think the top of the brace might be too big, and it's allowing her knee to slide by not being able to hold the top of her thigh like it should. We'll be contacting the company that made it to find out if there are adjustments that we could make to the brace, or if we need to send it in to be reshaped.

In other news, we received a donation from the wonderful, awesome, fantastic Jay. A great big THANK YOU goes out to you! We have placed your name on the "Henrietta's Heartfelt Helpers" Donor wall, which you can see here:

This brings out total amount of donations received to: $708.80, and $10.00 proceeds from my Etsy shop! Henrietta's medical bills so far add up to: $5458.56. Our gratitude goes out to everyone who has donated, shared our story, and send loving notes and thoughts.

We still have a long way to go, and we need your help! If you are able to, please consider donating. Even a single dollar helps! Use our Paypal button below:

Or consider purchasing an item from my Etsy shop. I am adding new products as fast as I can, and I also take requests! The latest item added, The Squeaky Bone Chew Toy, has been personally tested by Henrietta (pictured above), and she found it to be fun and durable! All of the proceeds from my sales go directly to Henrietta's medical bills. 

Rush To The E.R.!

On Friday night, we had to drive Henrietta back to the surgery center in Sugarland for an emergency examination. Her incision had started to swell at the top of her knee throughout the day on Friday, and by late afternoon it had split open and was oozing.

Her surgeon wasn't there, but the on-call vet was able to call her, and sent her some pictures of the wound. She said it looked like Henrietta's skin was reacting to the sutures rather than an infection. They cleaned and disinfected the wound, and gave us some antibiotics to give her. Luckily, we were able to put the money we had on credit (left over from the surgery) towards the bill, and there was only about $20 left over for us to pay. But now we'll have to pay in full for her x-rays in a few weeks.

Yesterday her incision stopped oozing, and the swelling had gone done. Today it looks even better, with almost no swelling, and the incision has dried up and scabbed over. Henrietta is doing well on her antibiotics, and we've been medicating her for pain as well. She seems back to normal today, and has been helping me test out some pet toys I've been making for my etsy shop.

3 Weeks Post-Op

It's been 3 weeks since Henrietta's TPLO surgery! She is healing up nicely. Her incision is clean and dry, and the swelling around her knee is almost completely gone. The redness of her skin is also greatly improved. Over the next few weeks, the stitches will start to dissolve and disappear. Hopefully it won't be too itchy for her. The fur on her leg and backside is getting longer, too.

She's been relaxing in her pen, and enjoying all these extra walks. And she's walking really well now, almost like nothing even happened! We haven't had to use her Gingerlead harness at all in the last week or so.

Henrietta's left knee still crunches and pops when she walks, which I find totally unnerving. We've been working on wearing her leg brace, but Henrietta is not convinced of it's usefulness quite yet. She won't be still long enough for me to get a picture of her wearing it yet.

We are getting back to our regular schedule now. Everyone is starting to relax. Except for Edelweiss, who has been pretty chill about the whole thing.

Bee Movie Horror Flick!

Here's the video of the honeybees invading our house! Luckily, there have been no more problems with bees after we sealed around the house.



We will eventually have to open up the wall to remove the honeycomb that I suspect is still inside, but that probably won't happen for a while.