A week out.

Otis is doing phenomenally well. As I type, he is chewing (what's new?) on a pressed rawhide bone. That boy's jaw is so strong we can barely find anything that will last longer than a day or so for him to chew on--in front of me right now I see a pet bed, a skinneeez penguin, a huge rawhide (that isn't huge any longer) and a pressed rawhide. I just hope one of those will keep him from being bored out of his mind tonight--it's really one day at a time on the boredom front!

His incisions are healing nicely. The large incision with sutures is no longer swollen or red, and you can see his hip muscles again (the hip area was so swollen for awhile there that you couldn't see his musculature. His inner groin incision (closed with surgical glue, I believe) looks the best it's ever looked--finally not red any more. We're now supposed to be applying heat to the affected area, so we'll be trying that tonight. He takes his medicine well--especially his flavored one-a-day pill and his flavored glucosamine. The three-times-a-day pill he doesn't like at all--it's very bitter--so either we put it in a cheese cube or mix it with yogurt. Good tricks, let me tell you. To be honest, we probably could stop giving him the medicine--but I'd rather not until we've spoken with the surgeon on Monday. Best to leave that decision to the doctors, I say.

As in the last message, it's really the strict rest order that's the hardest to follow. He's not in pain any more and he just wants to play. He begs you with his big brown eyes--"please, mom, PLEASE can I chase the cat?" We're in the midst of a snowstorm, and the winds are so strong that we have 12+ inch drifts out back...boy is it difficult to handle a rambunctious puppy--in the snow--with exercise restrictions and a sling--when you're maneuvering through foot-high snow! Inside, sometimes he acts like he's stretching and then tries to pounce on a toy. When that happens he gets crated immediately with the "cone of shame". He *really* hates that cone. We'll all be happy when Monday rolls around and those stitches are removed.

As well as he's doing, I'd love for them to do surgery 2 as soon as possible. I also wonder, as well as he's walking, if the left hip isn't all that bad? Wishful thinking, probably--since he's not being active, it's no wonder that hip looks perfectly healthy. But a girl can hope, right?

I cannot stress enough just how ecstatic we are about his progress--I think we're both pretty surprised at how well he's doing. He's a little champion. You know, you go through these moments where you wonder, "why our puppy?", especially when you hand over the plastic to pay the hospital bills...but then you get your morning kisses from your little man and you remember that it doesn't matter at all. All that matters are his health and happiness.