May 26, 2012: honest, it has only been 5 days since amputation

I had to drag Arri off the bed because he didn’t want to get up.  Then he didn’t want to go out so he missed the first opportunity.   He is mobile enough now that when he needs to go out he can go to the door.  I offer 50 times a day and he will take me up on maybe 3 of them.  After breakfast, he needed to go out.  The step out intimidated him again but once past that he hopped to the grass and peed.  His travels this morning were a bit like the kids in the Family Circus comic.    He hopped to the driveway and traveled ¾ of the way down, cut into the grass to toilet.  Hop to the middle of the yard to sniff and mark over where Summer peed.  More hopping away from the house to toilet again and finally he was done.  He ran to come back inside.  His gait was much smoother the faster he went.  I was so disappointed that I didn’t have the camera to record his first run.  While he may have felt much lighter, he was quite tired and breathing hard.  He hesitated going up the steps but I put the sling under to give him a confidence boost.  I think he is starting to understand that the sling means his leg won’t collapse if he tried to jump.

So it is Saturday and it is wedding season.  That means I am making a number of trips from the bakery up to the garage.  I moved the baby gate out of the way so that I don’t drop any cakes while going up steps and moving a gate while carrying a cake.  At one point, I stayed down stairs but did not put the gate back up.  The next thing  I see is Arri’s face at the bakery doorway.  To say I was stunned is an understatement.  Completely ignoring Doctors orders, he went down 14 steps.  I never heard any crashing or thumping so he must have been somewhat graceful in doing so.  My next thought was how on earth am I going to get him back upstairs?  We will have to go out the bakery door and around the house.  A fairly long walk compared to what he has been doing, but the ground is a gradual slope back up to the first floor.   He tries to jump up on his sofa so he can assume guard duty but misses.  His back leg gives out.  So I lift him up and he settles in until he hears me say “all done, I quit for the day’.  That is his signal that we leaving the basement for the day.  If I don’t say it, he will just stay on the sofa waiting for me to come back downstairs and go back to work.  Arri has to stop and rest twice on the walk around the house.  The last time, I put the sling under him as he was breathing hard and getting tired.  Or so I thought.  As soon as the sling was under him, he started moving so fast I had to jog to keep up with him. 

One of Arri’s favorite things is to go to the park.  Arri is grounded from the park until the incision is healed and he is confidently moving around the yard.   When I ask him if he wants to go, I get no reaction.  He knows I am not the one who takes him.  When Tim says it, Arri runs to the door to the garage.  The trips are only 15 minutes or so but that is more than he can handle right now.  The other day, I explained to him  that he needed to be moving in the yard better before he can go back to the park.  I think that is why he is running now.  He wants to be ungrounded.

He is moving so quick now, I can’t get the video camera up in time.  Stinker.  After dinner, he successfully managed the stairs down and up (with a little sling support)  His bruising is looking better.  It is starting to get lighter and change colors.  I was very surprised to see he is bruised all up his rib cage to his front legs.  It doesn’t show in pictures because that part isn’t shaved. 

Arri is lying on his left side more.  This gives me a chance to massage his right rear leg.  It is getting more use so I imagine it gets tired and sore.  I know mine would.  I am also massaging his back often.  From what I have read, to balance himself, Arri will move the back leg to be more centered with the body.  Doing this will change how the muscles position with the spine.  There may be some back soreness from the new muscle work.

Oh, and Arri’s Rough Wear harness came today!  Now to get it fit.  I knew this would be the tough part.  He doesn’t want to stand while I figure out the right fit.

You know you do too much mail order when you see the Fed Ex truck pull into the neighborhood and you and your husband both say, I bet it stops here……and it does.