Getting frustrating

Bugsy seemed another bit better today - he is completely obsessed with digging for moles - my guess he's dug up 10-12 holes today all while onleash and with either myself or Steve doing our best to keep him from digging!
If we get him away from the mole hunting he quickly shifts to diving into the rabbit den area.
I literally had back spasms after our morning wander.

This is how he looked on our second trip around the yard

He also was able to enjoy sitting outside for a bit with Steve

So why am I frustrated??
Well for some reason the range of motion exercises hurt him badly and he will do anything to not do them. Its awful and I can't understand why. I watch him use the leg in ways that put his leg into the same position and he does that without pain yet if either of us try to do the range of motion stuff he acts like we are killing him.
I figure I am going to have to go see someone to do them and get it off my back.
I really don't want him to lose range in his elbow and shoulder because we couldn't get these done

Celebrate we made it through week #1

Although he is still very wonky as he walks around, it is clear that he is feeling better and getting a bit rambunctious.
This morning our walk down the drive for the paper turned into a walk down the drive, around the cul-de-sac, up a neighbor's drive and a complete tour of his majesty's lands.
If there is one thing about Bugsy that I presume won't ever change it is that you nor I will ever 'make' him do anything. So you may hold the leash but beyond that he's in control.
What are your options?  Drag him by the collar? Yank on the leash? Stand still and be dragged or have your shredded rotator cuffs further damaged? I mean he is still a powerful dog so if he isn't going in, he isn't.

Anyway about an hour later he wanted to do the same, sigh.

Which brings me to our continuing struggle to do the passive range of motion (PROM) work. He is not complying. I've tried treats, massage, warm compresses, containment, surprise, doing it while he is standing, sitting, & lying down. I am pretty much out of ideas now. I keep trying and can get 2 in here or there but that isn't anything like the 20 three times a day, now is it??

He was still desperate to walk today so I took him up the road. I suppose it was a third of a mile in total or a bit less. But it was plenty. On its own he would have been OK but after the two long jaunts this morning (each was probably at least .25-.3 of a mile too) he was darn tired by the time he got back.
In a weak moment I was able to get the frozen peas on his elbow and he laid his head on my lap while I held it there.
I had five minutes of knowing what someone with a normal (affectionate) dog feels like. It felt great to hold him and to feel like I was comforting him. Then he popped up and dashed off as if he snapped to and was like YIKES I can't be seen doing this!!
Ah Bugsy I know it felt good. Hopefully you'll let me do it again sometime.

So that's week one.
I keep praying that the next day he's going to let me do the PROM and that he puts more and more weight on that side.

Keeping the journal

I like to keep track of Bugsy's progress on things and his recovery is no different so I'll keep it here.

Yesterday (Day 5) he seemed to have much better energy and less discomfort. He had a dream-filled sleep in the afternoon which is the first time I've heard him dreaming since before the op.
I chose to not even try to do the ROM exercises with the intent that we would start again today and it should be slightly less uncomfortable.
He is happy to walk around, or I should say limp around.
He gave me a stress test when he was crazy excited after I came home from a walk. There really isn't much like watching your dog - who has one surgically repaired knee, and now a surgically repaired elbow and shoulder- slide, slip, wiggle, hop, jump, repeat as he runs around the area he is contained in.  Add in that its a lot of weight he has flying around and he wound up getting yelled at LOL.

I feel terrible 'yelling' at him but he doesn't listen otherwise, heck he only just considers slowing down once yelled at :)

So that was yesterday.

He seems OK walking up stairs but going down is something else and we only navigate 3 steps on our way outdoors. This doesn't deter him from desperately wanting to come upstairs to be with us in the evening. Watching him descend the 3 steps from the porch its clear he can't do an entire flight so he won't get his wish but I find it the toughest part so far. He looks confused and upset that he can't go upstairs so I spent time with him  downstairs until he was ready to sleep for the night.

One thing he is fairly pleased about is having loads of beds to relax on - I keep trying to keep him on something soft so I put a bed in one of his favorite spots

OK I admit it, I hate orthopedic surgery/recovery

Poor Bugsy. He is clearly feeling very rough, he just wants to do his 'normal stuff' which we of course have to prevent him from doing.
After the TPLO it was easy to understand how limited he was and needed to be. But with this you don't see the wound. I've read the notes. It seems like in many ways he should feel better than pre-op, but he doesn't.

Yesterday he pooped for the first time since Monday night - in fact he pooped 4x. Today? None.

We keep trying to do the passive range of motion exercises but he gives you an obvious 'this freaking hurts' message. He will do everything he can to avoid it including keeping a distance from me or Steve just in case we consider doing it to him.
So he's in a ton of pain, on loads of meds and has this foggy look about him.
I so desperately want to help him but there isn't anything I can do.
I keep hoping that tomorrow is better than today but so far each day is just horrible.

Keep him in your prayers, he needs it. I fear we have a long road ahead

surgery take 2 - a success

Well we finally had the surgery that we wanted to have back in early February. Actually we were asking about it in September, not that anyone was listening.
We decided to use the Virginia Veterinary Specialists who have offices in Charlottesville, VA and Lynchburg, VA and whole-heartedly recommend them.

Anyway I digress, once they got in there they found the biceps tendon nearly fully torn, soft and mushy aka it had been torn and tearing for quite some time.
They also found a partial tear in another ligament medial glenohumeral ligament) that should resolve with the rest and leash restrained activity.
And the biggest part of the surgery involved his elbow. Something we were totally unprepared for, he had a fragmented coronoid process. Unlike the majority of these problems his was a traumatic injury not one due to excessive growth.
So here we are 3 days post op and its so hard watch him struggle again. This time we don't have this huge wound to look at to remind us that this was a heck of a lot of orthopedic work.
He was very doped on Wednesday, his breath was like sniffing high-intensity cough syrup.
Then Thursday he was so very, very sore. But glad to be home and trying to walk around like usual.This led to him being a very sore and sad boy. Which led to me being very, very sad doggie mom.

But as he always seems to do, he woke up this morning ready to take the day on. On his terms. He did his morning flop like-a-seal and roll around in joy thing. He went out with me to get the paper and tried as hard as he could to do his whole "I have the newspaper and its a very important job" prance. It gave me a huge smile and some relief to see him more himself.
But just as he did yesterday, he wore himself out. So by late afternoon he was pretty darn sore and still wouldn't rest.

He won't let me do the range of motion exercises after a few. We are supposed to be doing 20 at a time, 3x a day and so far we can't get past 10 in a day. :(
I don't worry too much about him walking to exhaustion but I am concerned about his reluctance to do the range of motion stuff. I am going to try warming the joint up before trying it and then using some frozen peas afterward and see if we can move forward with it. It is essential that we get these in and keep the full range of motion but boy oh boy I can only gather it hurts an awful lot.

On a less serious note he was shaved again. His previous shaved area had just started to have some peach fuzz. Poor guy although in typical Bugsy style he doesn't seem to notice.
And that's all I've got tonight. I look forward to the soreness and pain subsiding to the point of having to hold him back. He's already provided a few ridiculous moments, I look to enjoy many more!

why I think he's part GSP

We'll never know his heritage and we don't really care, he's our boy and we love him just the way he is. But every owner of a mutt must look for traits other than physical ones to help identify what their mutt's genetics have to do with their behavior/traits.
I have a zillion reasons I think GSP or pointer in him, too many to list.
The other day I was reading an article in Field & Stream magazine written by Rick Bass, "Callie's Home"
He wrote this about GSP's:
"As a young man, I owned males, was delighted by their tirelessness- their perverse indefatigability, the way they dived through barbwire fences and tried to keep hunting even when large squares of skin flapped on them like roof tin in a wind; and the way they ignored skunk spray, porcupine quills, snakebite, anything, to keep hunting; the way they literally chewed their way out of kennels and trucks if left behind for even a single run; the way they kept running, charging, hunting hard, even when pierced by a branch, the stob of wood still protruding from the chest."

I laughed thinking about some things Bugsy has withstood in order to keep after what he wanted to keep after. Rick Bass's paragraph rang true in my ears.
I've seen Bugsy run through rusty old barbwire, fortunately with the power to blow through it (size has its advantages) and I've had to pull zillions of thorns & twigs from his legs and feet and chest. He never indicated anything was wrong.
I think of the broken collars, leashes, my hands, and the intensity of the e-collar. The screaming and yipping of frustration.

Bass also wrote this:
"They were instinctive geniuses more so than self-made - and strong and powerful and sweet, sweet, sweet."

Yes my boy is sweet. Very sweet. But I don't think that's a breed trait :)

Bugsy, Bugsy, Bugsy

Well the saga continues.
Saturday - the day after our last post - he woke up in terrible shape. In fact he was stuck in his crate and unable to get up and out.
At first he had this look of "I had an accident" or something but I found no accident. Eventually I saw that the IV leg was bigger than ever.
In a heated exchange with Steve we did manage to get him down the stairs without anyone incurring a broken limb or bloody nose :)
We were off to the vet soon after and we added more rimadyl and an antibiotic to the mix.
Bugsy attempted to give a vigorous hello to a 140lb malamute while there, but the malamute wasn't as pleased with being at the vet as Bugsy. So he tried to eat Bugsy,  Bugsy just sort of rolled his eyes and gave the "gosh no need to be nasty" wiggle.
This provided the vet techs with quite a chuckle.
I was just amazed that he remained in such good spirits.
Anyway the swelling has decreased - although far from normal - and I suppose the rimadyl is helping with the pain.
We still don't have real answers. Is it because something went wrong when they took the IV out? Is he allergic to something? Is there something in there?
I fear we may never know.

What I do know is his special resolve and personality are shining on throughout all of this.
Yesterday he got to see his first love and was sooooo happy and goofy and so Bugsy. The family of the other dog just shook their heads, just Bugsy they said.

He saw a couple of neighbors today and was wiggly, playful and soooo happy. They too shook their heads in disbelief and admiration.

My Bugsy. I don't know how he does it.
I went for a walk and when I got home he was super wiggly, requisite toys in his mouth, so we went into the yard and he pranced as best he could and did all his silly things. I can't help but smile and in weak moments I want to cry.
Once inside he decided to do his signature rolling/flopping and when I went to rub his belly he took off and did inside zoomies as I watched in horror. And delight.
Can you imagine being so happy you need to run around like a fool with 2.5 out of your 4 legs?
When he finally stopped zooming he was pouncing on toys, flinging his kong and completely ridiculous.

Shortly after, Steve came home and he went racing out to greet him, realized he had no toy in his mouth, came flying back in, leaping past the brick steps from the garage to the kitchen, sliding across the slick kitchen floor, pounced on the kong, which made it fly through the air, he caught it while airborne, ran back out leaping over the steps again, sliding across the slick garage floor and attempting to bait Steve into doing zoomies with him.
I was shouting Bugsy NO! Steve was afraid to move too quickly as to not encourage him.
Then we both just smiled.

Steve said, "indefatigable" I thought "indomitable"

Whichever you choose he defines it.

PS I know that there are other dogs that are the same way, it is unique to dogs in my opinion and a huge reason I love all of them so much. I am very fortunate to be owned by a very large dog with an even larger personality and spirit.

Now if I could just get him healthy..........................