Baylie's 1-Week Post-Op. Check-up...No more Cast!!!

Well, we've made it through the first week without wrecking her cast with dirt or wetness by recycling lots of grocery bags! We've spent each afternoon sitting outside on the grass watching the neighborhood kids play just to give Baylie some "get outta jail" time and I've gotten used to sleeping on the floor next to Baylie's crate. It has been a challenge always being on the lookout for movement because Baylie has to have assistance walking with a sling under her hind-half and when I'm at home I don't have the heart to lock her inside the crate. I figure if she's laying down resting and not moving then it really shouldn't matter if she does that in a crate or not especially when she's had to be in one all day long already! It seems as though we just got home from the vet's office and it's already time to go in for our one week check-up to get x-rays and cast removal. Baylie and I drove back down south on Saturday the 17th and Mom again was kind enough to keep Ginger for me so I didn't have to leave her in my backyard alone all day! We arrived at our 12:30 appointment and I was surprised that she'd actually lost a few pounds! I mean she hasn't gotten to hardly move in a week but I was told to reduce her food amount by 20-25% so I guess I did that right! The doctors took her back to get the radiographs and sent me back to wait in the admitting room until they were ready to go over her films with me. Finally about 30-45 minutes later I got called and the doctor and I looked over the x-rays together and they showed that everything was still in the proper locations and he said there is still minor bruising and swelling but other than that things looked really good! I was very happy to hear the good news! The doctor did however say that week two is "MY" week...meaning that now that the cast is off she'll appear better and will move with less obstruction and not to be fooled by such things! I still have to severely limit her activity, walking only to eat, drink, potty etc. and nothing more...she also has to wear a cone now instead of her "donut ring" because she is trying to lick her staples. If she does lick them he said it would not only prolong her healing time but could also cause infection so the incision must still be kept clean and dry. With hopes that we make it through week two without incident then she should get her staples removed by this weekend the 24th/25th of October! In weeks 3-4 we should be able to start some light physical therapy like short walks and such--something to really look forward to...fingers Crossed!!!

Just Ginger...

Ginger quietly keeping watch of the neighborhood (and me) while I do yard work.

Ginger kills a rat!!!

My mom has been fighting a few rats that have been living in either her palm trees or her sagos and she has caught one in her rat zapper about a month ago but she hasn't seen once since. About a week or two ago, I had taken the girls over for a swim on a Friday. Mom was working late that day for a football game and it had been really windy so I knew the pool would be a mess and that she'd be home too late to clean it up so while they swam I swept and skimmed the pool. Usually when Ginger is tired of swimming she roams the yard sniffing around the sagos no doubt searching for the elusive rats, until today to no avail. Today however...she scared one out of the sagos and it took off running and hid under the spa steps. She pinned it under there and then she dove under to get him...drug him out and continued to "play" with him until he was pretty much limp...it was gross and of-course I had to deal with the carnage! O-well...one less in the rat population I guess...nature hard at work...Go Ginger! :)

Baylie's ACL Knee Surgery...

So on Monday October 12th, 2009...after a very long, unexpected, shocking, emotional, and expensive weekend I woke up in my hotel room, put on my recently acquired Target lounge clothes and waited anxiously for the doctors to call and tell me that Baylie is ready to go home. I finally got the call around 8:30am and Dr. Hazlette told me Baylie was doing well and once they got the paperwork in order she'd be ready to be discharged (I assumed around 10am like I was originally told) but she said she'd be ready anytime after noon. Well, CRAP...that meant more waiting!!! I decided to go get some breakfast before I checked out of my room so that I could come back one last time to pee, figuring that once I had Baylie in the car we'd have to go strait home. I got restless around 11am so I decided to check out and head back to the hospital...I got there around 11:30 hoping I could have all of Baylie's discharge papers completed, bills paid, and medications picked so by noon I'd actually get Baylie and go home! I was shocked to see how busy discharge was, it was literally standing room only and I didn't even get up to the counter until 12:15!!! Then by the time I paid and consulted with the pharmacist regarding all 5 of Baylie's meds. and met with the doctor one last time to get post-op instructions Baylie wasn't actually released until almost 1:45! The tech. helped me get Baylie in the car but we didn't so much drive around the corner when she started whining...I asked her if she needed to go pee and she barked! I pulled over tied a bag around her cast so it wouldn't get wet or dirty like I was instructed then lifted her outta the car. Almost immediately she peed and then I had to get her back in the car and convince her to lay down because she shouldn't be trying to balance in the car on three legs! I ended up having to pull over 4 times throughout the drive home to help her lay back down...she just couldn't maneuver the bulky cast on her own. I arrived home around 4:30pm and found Ginger roaming around my FRONT yard!!! My mom had babysat Ginger all weekend with no issues but then she dropped her off in my backyard Monday morning before she went to work...and by the looks of my destroyed backyard I know Ginger wasn't out front all day but she'd actually figured out how to unlatch the gate to get out...obviously it is now pad-locked!!! Darn dog is too smart and anxiety filled for her own good! Once they both had dinner they crashed until it was time to actually go to bed. I ended up taking off on Tuesday as well so that I could have time to "train" my mom and Leah how to deal with Baylie after I have to go back to work. You see, the worst part of all of this is the recovery restrictions...Baylie has to be crated for the first month! So thank God for Leah being willing to come over mid-morning everyday to take Baylie outside to pee and drink and then a few hours later Mom comes by whenever she gets a lunch break to let her out again...then I jam home as soon as possible after work! This would never work without a group effort because I only get a 35 minute lunch and work almost 30 minutes away from home...so I'm indebted for the help! Thank you guys! By the end of the week I can already tell that Baylie is feeling a bit better because she's trying to move too fast and she keeps picking up balls and dropping them at my feet...this is going to be a LONG recovery!

Baylie's Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy (TPLO) Surgery...

Cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) rupture is a very common injury in the dog. The cranial and caudal cruciate ligaments help to stabilize the stifle (knee) as the joint moves through a normal range of motion. The CCL can rupture due to trauma or as a result of degeneration of its structure. The meniscal cartilages also help to provide stability and act as shock absorbers in the joint. When the CCL is injured the femur is free to slide down the tibial slope and push the tibia forward or cranial. This results in pain, inflammation, increased joint fluid (effusion) and eventually arthritis in the joint. The medial meniscus can often be injured if the femur crushes it. Surgery is required to inspect for meniscal injury, stabilize the joint and return the limb back to function. Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy (TPLO) stabilizes the CCL deficient stifle by altering the biomechanical forces in the joint. It effectively transfers the stabilizing function of the CCL to its counterpart the caudal cruciate ligament. TPLO radiographs are obtained prior to surgery and the Tibial Plateau Slope (TPS) is found. The Tibial Plateau Angle (TPA) is the
angle between the TPS and a line that is drawn perpendicular to the longitudinal tibial functional axis. The TPA is usually between 20 and 30 degrees. A semicircular cut (osteotomy) is made in the tibia preserving the attachment of the patellar tendon. The bone segment is rotated a pre-determined number of degrees to “level” the tibial slope to approximately 6.5 degrees. The bone is then stabilized using a TPLO bone plate and screws. After surgery the patient is able to return to weightbearing on the leg in a few days. Physical therapy during this time helps to maintain and strengthen the muscles. The bone must heal completely though before resuming full activity. Off-leash activity, running and jumping must be avoided until the bone is healed (~10-16 weeks). Physical therapy is encouraged during this period. TPLO can return the majority of dogs back to full activity. It can be most beneficial for medium or large breeds and active dogs who hunt, field trial, run agility, or those who just love to run and play.

This "You Tube" video explains how vets diagnose a ruputred ACL in dogs probably much more clearly than I could! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jg9E2nBt_E The next video shows dogs after the TPLO surgery and the metal plate that Baylie now has holding her knee together. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1pxxX4TXko

Baylie's consult for ACL knee surgery...

So...for a little over a month now Baylie has been having good days and bad days when it comes to her back leg. Some days it was as if there was nothing wrong and she would run, jump, play, swim just as she always has but usually later that night she'd be very stiff and at first I thought nothing of it. I just figured it happens to people when you work out too hard at the gym or something so why couldn't it just be sore muscles? I finally got worried when she stopped playing like normal, stopped jumping in my car to "go" and the final straw was when she wouldn't eat a "cookie" in the morning like they always do before I leave for work. I took her into my local vet and they gave me some anti-inflammatories and told me to give her Glucosamine...then wait a couple of weeks to see if things improve. I waited and with the meds. she did seem to improve, but about 5 days after the meds were gone she got progressively worse and so I took her back for a re-check and the vet ordered to x-rays of her hips and knee. I was relieved to hear that her hips were "above-average, especially for a lab" but they could tell there was swelling around the knee which usually accompanies a torn or ruptured ACL. The next step was a consult with an orthopedic specialist...the nearest one was in Fountain Valley at VCA-All Care near Long Beach. So I booked the appointment for Saturday 10-10-09 at 12:30 (thank God they are open 7-days a week!). Everyone was crazy nice when I went in...seriously, all the doctors and nurses would bend down and pet Baylie even before greeting me (which was comforting to me!). The offices were also spacious and comfortable with plenty of credentials and awards on the walls! I was still hoping that the doctor would tell me that it was a minor injury but of-course not! Instead, he told me she's already building up scar tissue that is going to make surgery even more difficult and could add to arthritis later in life. He said I needed to schedule her for surgery as soon as possible and if I delayed that Baylie wouldn't be able to play anyway because she'd need to remain on a leash always talk about torture...oh, and the longer I wait the more chances she has to blow out the other knee! So after a full tour of the hospital to see exactly where she'll be throughout the surgery and recovery process and without foreseeing another option, I booked her for surgery! So scary...but she didn't have to be admitted until 10pm Saturday so I left the office around 3pm in search of a hotel...booked one for two nights (which was cheaper than driving home after she was admitted, back to pick her up on Monday then home again)! We got dinner and I snuck her into the room so we could hang out and eat dinner together by her 6pm food and water cut off time...then we took a nap together and I finally drove her back to the hospital around 9:30. The WORST part was giving her to the nurse when she was coherent, feeling otherwise fine and didn't understand why I was leaving her. It ripped my heart out knowing she'd have surgery early the next morning and wake up alone and in pain with a cast on! Anyways, I dropped her off...cried a while then went to a 24 hour Walgreens to get some basics like toothbrush, paste, deodorant etc. because I of-course did not plan to stay the weekend! The next day I killed some time moseying through Target looking for a spare change of clothes I could buy (I figured wearing the same thing two days in a row wasn't too bad, but three days was pushing it!). Then I found a Kinkos to buy Internet time to make substitute lesson plans and officially take off on Monday so that I could be there to pick up Baylie after she's released on Monday morning. All of that only got me to mid-afternoon...and going back to the hotel was out of the question because I would only worry, so instead I wandered aimlessly through IKEA, waiting to hear how Baylie's surgery went. Finally around 2:30 the doctor called to say that the surgery went well and that Baylie came out of anesthesia but was still on the IV. By the evening they'd offer her food and if she accepted then they'd take her off the IV and transfer her to oral pain meds. with hopes of being released after 10am Monday. Now that I could relax a little I spent some time talking on the phone giving updates to friends and family and planning how to take care of her during the work week, got a full tank of gas at the Costco I found near my hotel and and then finally got some food for lunch/dinner around 6pm and headed "home" to my rented room...rented a movie that was added to my bill and called it a night! I'll keep you posted once I pick her up Monday!

The Final Touches!!!

So...my dresser was a hand-me down from my great grandma's house and you'd think that it would've been solid wood and every part with the exception of the top was! I don't know what kind of genius decided to put a laminate top on the dresser but it made for an interesting halt in my staining process. I went to Home Depot and then Lowes in search of SOMETHING to use on the top of the dresser that would look better than the carmel color faux wood laminate that it already have. I finally (after taking home handfuls of sample squares) decided on a laminate to order. The funny thing is, that I had it narrowed down to the top 5 and then I THOUGHT I'd picked the top 2 but when Sherry came over I had her give her opinion and she'd picked another from my top 5 and then I fell in love with it! I then went down and special ordered a 4x8 foot sheet of laminate from Lowes and it came back in under a week! So on Saturday afternoon I measured, cut, scored with and Exacto knife, and snapped off the pieces. This process took more time than I'd expected and due to the grain in the back of the laminate scoring a straight line was difficult and tedious! My hand and fingers were so sore and crampy from holding the knife so tight and pushing with so much pressure! Then on Sunday morning, I began coating all the surfaces with contact cement because everything has to dry before you can put them together. My mom came by around 10am to help with the sticking process and surprisingly it was easier than I'd expected...we did a good job and again it is a one-shot deal! If someone got down with a scrutinizing eye you could find some imperfections but to the casual passer-by it looks great! Enjoy the pictures...it is the finally to the last of my summer projects! Tomorrow morning is back to school (work) bright and early!!!


**PS...if you missed the photos from the rest of my bedroom re-staining project...scroll down a couple of posts to my previous blog and the bed, clock and nightstand before and after photos are there! :)

Been watching too much HGTV!!!

So...I've had a huge home improvement wish list for a while now and within the span of my month and a half summer (reduced from the typical teacher length because I taught summer school!) I have accomplished almost ALL of it! My newly found do-it-yourself confidence is thank to watching hours of HGTV!!! I finally finished hanging all the faux wood blinds throughout the house and then it was onto my next project. I decided to sand and stain all of my mis-matched bedroom furniture...a BIG JOB, truly bigger than I'd expected!!! The sanding was by far the hottest, hardest, most tiresome part of the job. I sneezed for DAYS after breathing in all the sanding dust and the skin on my poor fingertips still hasn't quite healed...and yes I know, I'm sure I was supposed to wear a mask and gloves but of-course I didn't! Once I got the light colors sanded off it was into the sauna I call my garage to start the staining process. The first coat went on rather smoothly (given I could keep the stinkin' flies outta it!) but the color came out with more reddish tones than I wanted, so I was excited to see what the second coat would bring! I was pleasantly surprised to see the second coat really darkened everything up while leaving subtle red undertones. Now my mis-matched furniture finally LOOKS like it belongs together...the only thing I needed to purchase was a couple of nightstands (because I was using a dumb little table and I really wanted something with one drawer and maybe a shelf). I looked at second-hand stores first but NOTHING jumped out at me! I finally gave up and went to Woodland Furniture and picked out a set that was unfinished and ready to stain that had feet similar to my existing bed posts. I was so stoked that the guy roughed up the surface for me prior to me leaving the store so I literally came home and was able to start staining! I then got a bit carried away and added clock with wooden "spokes" that I stained to match just for the fun of it. Now the last thing I've gotta do is update the laminate top on my dresser. I had gone to Lowes to scope out the various colors offered and brought home a handful of samples. Thanks to the opinions of friends and family I finally settled on a color and special ordered it. It came in today so I'll be learning-while-doing this weekend but I'm happy that I'll get it all done before the school year starts! My bedroom (after about a week now) still has a hint of varnish smell but it has gotten much more faint (hallelujah)! THEN I tackled another "make it better or totally ruin it" project by putting a peep-hole into my front door! This was SCARY because I took an electric drill, put a mid-evil looking wood boring bit and headed to my perfectly functioning front door in hopes that I would not completely mutilate it! I got it right on the first try and considering there wasn't a second try option, I was super happy with it! Now I can see who is at my door without going into the office to peek! Well...fingers crossed for my laminate and contact cement dresser top weekend project...'cause in two days it is back to the grind with a 5-day student filled work week, keep ya posted!!!

Pool days...summer is almost over!

I really think these photos are a medley of a couple of different days but I'll consolidate them for y'all in hopes of preventing monotony! For those of you who know Baylie and have seen her reactions around a pool already know that she has some serious issues with the diving board...specifically people on or near the diving board especially ME! So on this particular day I was sitting on the diving board chatting with mom who was putting chemicals in the spa and Baylie wouldn't leave me alone! She will bark and paw at anyone who's around the dumb diving board and I'm not sure if it's because she's scared of it and thinks she's saving you or what!?! Today though, she kept throwing herself over my lap perhaps an attempt to prevent me from falling or something (who really knows what's going on in that crazy little head of hers)??? Mom thought it was funny and preventing her from taking photos is next to impossible...so I'm putting up some good ones she captured! On another day Carter (My sister's little one) came over for a swim and although he was slightly unhappy at first he quickly got comfortable in his little float and was looking super laid back in his shades!

Banana Plants...

So Matt and Sherry have these banana plants in their back yard that are beautiful but grow like weeds...so they cut some off for me and brought them over! Matt and I spent about an hour planting in the back yard while Sherry played with Carter and tried to keep the dogs from giving him too many kisses. Some of the plants they brought over were like 5-6 feet tall! Matt told me that they will probably loose all their leaves and look dead but Sherry said they'll come back in only a couple of weeks! Now I just have to keep Ginger from eating them so that they have time to get their roots growing! Day one...they really add green to the yard...sounds bad but I can't wait for them to die so that they can come back and really grow!

Gigantic Sagos!!!!

So my Mom has these 2 GIGANTIC 25-ish year old Sago Palms that flank the front entry to the house and had actually become so overgrown that you'd have to bob and weave to get to the front door without getting poked and stabbed by the big needle-like limbs! My Mom had called a tree trimming company to come and chop out the big torpedo-like seed pods from the queen palms in the backyard that make such a mess in the pool and thought that she might have them do the Sagos in the front the same day. They were supposed to show up at 8am so I showed up a bit after 7am because I wanted to scope out the sagos for big "pups" that I could pop off and re-pot before the guys came and chopped them up. I got started around 7:30 and once I got a couple popped off I could then see what I was doing and was able to make progress much more quickly. With a lot of elbow grease and sweat...I had one full sago stripped by the time the tree trimming service FINALLY showed up which was somewhere around 10am! I must have gotten more than 30 good pups off, ready to re-pot but there had to have been more than 50 total that I popped off. I already had a good blister in the center of my right palm and my poor arms looked like I stuck them into a fire ant hole...those pokey sagos are MEAN! I told mom I'd be happy to attack the dual headed gigantic sago next weekend once my hand healed up a bit but we'd saved enough of the big pups that we'd run out of pots so she decided to have them prune it up. Once they were done and cleaned up I drove home to get my girls and the 2 big bags of potting soil that I had left over in my garage. The girls went swimming while mom started cleaning all the debris out of the pool that were left over from the palm pruning and I began potting the pups...both MAJOR chores! In the midst of all this, Sherry needed a sitter so that she could do some back to school shopping without Carter his diaper bag & stroller! It gave us a much needed break...he got to have a quick swim with "grandma"...then a quick diaper change and bottle later he was down for the count! We went back to work while he slept and just checked on him every 10 minutes or so...the little guy slept 'till Sherry got back around 4pm. They went home but we kept working...I was determined to finish even though by this time sore was an understatement...you name it, back, arms, shoulders, hands...EVERYTHING hurt!!! Once mom got the pool in check she began helping me water the newly potted pups and arrange the numerous pots around her yard. Finally we finished up a bit before 8pm...it was a rough day but like they say, no pain-no gain and we CLEARLY got a LOT done in that 12-ish hours!!! Now I just hope that most of the pups live so that the hard work was not done in vain! Fingers crossed!