Retired Pro Athlete Waiting At the Bridge

Twenty-Six Weeks ago they took my leg on April 10. So do I celebrate today or tomorrow?

Life has been oddly stressful the past 6 weeks. So much to catch you all up on.

I had a bad fall down the stairs on August 21. I was finally feeling well after the chemo ended and wasn’t listening and tore out the back door and fell as I was making the uturn on the steps. Then I continued to fall down the stairs. All 8 of them. I landed on 2 legs at the bottom and my right hind leg was at an odd angle, like I was doing a leg lift to the side. I wouldn’t put weight on it for about 30 seconds and shocked my human walking around on my two left legs. It hasn’t been right since. No xrays were done because no one wants to do xrays without knocking me out. I’ve lost muscle tone in my right leg and am not walking as far as I had been. I’m also on Rimadyl now. My humans can’t tell if it is making a difference. Now there is talk about me going back to physical therapy.

So for 2 weeks, I wasn’t allowed in the backyard and was hand walked. Then over labor day, my grandpa came and built me an awesome ramp.

I have solar powered Christmas lights and a solar powered flood lamp for use at night.  It works great.  You should have seen how happy I was to see that ramp!  Cookie and I race down the ramp together and have actually knocked some of the lattice out of place.  Good thing it is PVC and doesn’t have any staples in it!  But there is some mutterings from the humans about making the railing more useful instead of just a visual aid.   I love my ramp!

Even with the ramp and more bouncing around in the backyard, there is some obvious loss of muscle mass on my right hind leg.   The vet says my abductor and adductor muscles are weak and I have to practice walking sideways every day.   I’m also not able to walk as far as I had been and am dragging my right hind leg after about .25 of a mile.  That doesn’t mean I don’t want to go, I still do, just that my humans are making me stop after 1/3 of a mile every day with a .5 to 3/4 of a mile easy walk once a week.  I was walking a mile before this happened AND I was running around in the backyard with Cookie playing like we used to.  Everyone is upset by this change.   I still try to play with Cookie but after 2 laps, I’m ready to go inside.

I’ve been keeping a busy schedule.  We try to go out every day and do stuff Sunday – Wednesday.  Due to the humans scheduling conflicts, we rarely do anything Thursday – Saturday.  If Cookie and I start bouncing off the walls and she starts barking, it is amazing how quickly we can get our way.  Not always but most of the time.

I’ve met someone new.  Her name is Pixie and she is the cutest little black greyhound.  She’s recently adopted and her brother Conner was the love of Cookie’s life.  Cookie came on too strongly though and Conner rejected her.  Then when he finally realized what he was missing, Cookie wouldn’t give him the time of day.  Drama.  But Pixie…Pixie is kind of cute.  And she likes the way I smell.   I like her stink too!  We get to see each other on Sunday when we go out for brunch at Panera.

I haven’t had any new xrays yet.  I see the vet tomorrow for my chiropractic adjustment.  And probably a pedicure.