Charles walking after surgery

He is getting around really well. A little bit sloppier in the back legs (weaker, tendency to trip a bit), but otherwise amazing!

Another Day, Another Toy!

Follow up Appointment

Today we attended for our follow up appointment! Charles got his stitches out and the Dr. said he was doing excellent. He would require 2 more weeks of crate rest, and then slowly he could go back to his new normal. That is, no ridiculous playing, stairs or jumping of any kind. We can live with that! The next two weeks will be hard since Charles thinks he is all better! Here is a picture of Charles with his stitches out. Looking pretty good and his hair starting to grow back too :)

Surprise!

Since Charles was on the mend, he was not able to join his buddies at Unleashed in the City for day camp. Charles would normally go out 2-3 times per week for a few hours with his friends to Cherry Beach. He loved this so much and was definitely missing it. On Friday, Kate from Unleashed dropped off a special 'get well soon' gift for little Charles.

We let him open the package and choose one of the MANY toys Kate had sent us. The card was really cute as well and was from all of his friends at Unleashed. The gift was very generous and Charles was thrilled! A big thanks to Unleashed for thinking of Charles.

He now gets to have a new toy every few days and is beside himself. He destroys them usually within 5 minutes but likes to collect his victims and then cuddle with them after.

The Next Five Days

One of our early morning walks to Power St.

Charlie's pain meds were now reduced to only twice per day. This was significantly easier for me (no more leaving work early). Right away I noticed the difference in him. Not only was he feeling better, the reduced meds made him less sleepy. Sleepiness was a lifesaver in keeping him in the crate! Now, he had more or less forgot he had an operation and was awake a lot more. He started crying in his crate if we were home. I would hear crying at 1:30 in the morning and have to go out and console him, and then ultimately close the bedroom door. He was definitely doing a lot better. Within this timeframe he was already feeling significantly better than before surgery.

He had come to like his crate, just not if we were home. It made me feel a lot better to be able to see him from work as I had set up a webcam. I did notice that he was a bit more restless on these reduced pain meds days.

Everything is looking up and I am thrilled!!

The First Five Days

Having Charles home was great. He was very sleepy and his meds made him even more so. He was taking pain killers 3 times per day and they really knocked him out. All he did for the first 5 days was as follows:

6 am - wake up - small breakfast with pain meds
6:30 - after pain meds had kicked back in, drive to dog park for grass and washroom purposes. We went early so there would be no other dogs there and it was the only place he would go to the washroom. He was leashed of course.
9 am - small breakfast #2
Back home to bed - to crate
2pm - Another round of pain meds, small diner, walk immediately outside the building for a quick pee
6 pm - dinner and drive to dog park to go to the washroom
10pm - quick pee and pain meds
Bedtime

Charles basically slept the whole time. I would carry him everywhere. The only walking he did would be when he sniffed to go to the washroom. He really was self-limiting and spent most of the time in the crate. When I was home I would leave the door open and he would just stay in there and watch me. After these 5 days, Charles' painkillers would be reduced to just 2 times per day.