Monday, March 17, 2014

It's been a rough week and a half

For the four legged member of our family, but I'm hoping we're now on the mend. Just like our boxer, Stella, we noticed that Indy started limping especially after running a lot. We had her checked over by two vets, including via internet by an orthopedic expert in Britain and they both thought she'd torn her ACL's (CCL in dogs).  I was super hesitant about going through the surgery again as this was also how Stella died, following her knee surgery. Turns out the vet here in Beijing was bringing the British specialist over to do a bunch of surgeries so we had to make a quick decision and on top of deciding whether to do it at all, the British vet was confident that Indy had damage on both knees and would eventually need both done. He gave us the option of having them done at the same time. Poor thing was put through the ringer. This first photo is minutes after she was wheeled out of the operating room.


Awake the next day when I visited 


FINALLY - she got up when I went to see her! I was getting worried.



After over a week in the hospital, we finally brought her home yesterday.


The boys were so happy to have her home. She's doing remarkably well, actually limping a lot less than before the surgery, but stairs are tough and her muscles are really wasted. At this point she only gets 3-4 short walks per day and we go back to the vet tomorrow for suture removal. 


It was such a different experience here from when Stella had surgery in Germany. I think we took Stella home either the day of, or the day after her surgery, which in hindsight was way too soon. That's why she died after having internal bleeding and going into shock. I had no idea what I was looking for or seeing. I visited Indy every day here in Beijing and she basically had her own private nurse who did range of motion, massaged, walked and iced her all day long. If it weren't so painful, it could have been a doggy spa.


1 comment:

Dena said...

Poor Indy!! Hope she is doing lots better!