updated 86 days ago by Olie | 166 views | 16 barks

UPDATED Olie's leg, back from the vet

(8/25/08) Update:  Hi pals!  Dogbert here.  Feelin good 'nuff to do the nose typing myself today!  I had an OK weekend.  Mom and Ember was plannin' to go swimmin on Saturday, but when the time came, I just would not stay in the house, I whined and cried, then escaped (duh Mom- you forgot to close the doggy door)!  So Mom went ahead and put me in the car and I got to go!  I tried to be pretty mellow, she let me do some swimmin, but everytime I got to shore, she put me on my leash so I wouldn't run.  She figured I probably did more than I was supposed to, but she was real glad later, when she saw I was limping, but still putting weight on my leg!  A week ago, that amount of exercise would have put me completely out of commission.  SO... MAYBE it's getting a little better on its own???  It's hard to say.  The limp stayed with me the rest of the weekend but never got worse.  What's weird though is that I wouldn't eat my dinner either Saturday or Sunday night.  It's as if I was just too sad.  I did eventually eat, but I coulda taken it or left it, just the same to me.  Mom doesn't think there's anything physically wrong with me to cause me to lose my appetite, she just thinks maybe I'm depressed (Daddy did leave again too), or she also is considering the possibility that maybe I'm getting old and SHE is having a hard time accepting that.  My face has turned quite white in the past few months, almost suddenly.  And I lay around more, hard to say if its cuz of my leg or my age.  I'm only 5 though.  Mom is noticing some distinct changes in my behavior- less smiling, more resting without being told to, less appetite, less general excitement.  My human grandma says living with chronic pain can sure age a person real fast, so maybe that happens with dogs too.  Maybe I just feel real old cuz of my leg, and cuz I see this young whipper snapper running around.  Anyway, it does seem to hurt a little less today.  I'm gonna stay at the Cat House and rest most of the week, till Daddy comes home, then we'll see.  But for now, I'm doin' OK, just a little on the tired side!  Mom's gonna give me a couple more days before she calls the vet again, just to see how things go... it's hard to tell now, since I ran more than I should have... she thinks that's HER fault, so she's gonna see if I still limp after I actually rest for a couple more days.  Thanks for all of your continued support!     

(8/21/08)  Yup yup, it's Embys here!  Dogbert (Olie) is just TOOOO sleepy to want to play on the puter now!  He says he's glad he has me to cover for him.  I'm not nervous or anything... I don't usually do much of the typing, but I'm sure 'cited to now!  But beware, I'm just a kid, so my spelling ain't always perfect!

So me and Daddy went and got Olie from the vet yesterday afternoon but they didn't tell us nuffin and say'ed go home and get some zzzz's and they'd call us later.  He come'd home like 3 hours a'fore he was sposed to cuz they say'ed he really wanted to come home, so they let him sleep it off at home instead of in a stupy kennel.  He slept the whole night last night.  He drinked lots of water- he was real thirsty, but he was having a hard time keeping it down.  So Mom only give'd him half of his normal dinner cuz his tummy musta been upset from being sedated.  He's still REAL sleepy this mornin but doing OK. (In case you didn't know, he was sedated for x-rays and leg exam)

So dey finally called and talked to Daddy, and again, dey didn't tell us nuffin.  Mom was real disappointed.  Dey said his drivers side rear leg did "give" a little more than its sposed to and probably has a small tear in his ACL (knee ligament) but it wasn't significantly diff'rent from his rear passenger side leg.  Dey say'ed his hips and everything else seemed normal.  So dey say'ed to give him TWO MORE WEEKS of resting and see what happens.  Well Mom is absolutely NOT content with that answer cuz it's already been a total of 6 weeks since it happened and it's gotten way worse and Dogbert limps almost all the time now, instead of just sometimes, and he doesn't never want to get up and play and he lays around and is obviously in pain.  You can see it in his face.  Mom doesn't wanna make him go anothy two weeks wifout any treatment and no pain killers.  He's on these stupy anti-inflammatory pills that Mom told the vet haven't done him ANY good, and dey wasn't surpized cuz dey say'ed it would only help if it was a sprain, and since it wasn't helping, it was probly a tear'ed ligament.  So if dey still think it's a tear'ed ligament, why do they think these useless pills will get him thru another 2 weeks?  Besides, that vet has no idea how hard it is to keep an energetic and happy dog down, specially when there's a puppy in da house.  And dat vet doesn't have to see Dogbert's face when he sees me and Mom leaving to go swimming or walking without him.

The other option they did give us was to drive 3 hours to the nearest specialist and spend $1000 on a scoping procedure that would tell us what's wrong, but then we'd still have to pay to fix it.  Or else we could err on the side of conservative and stay at our local vet, and spend $1300 on surgery to fix a problem that has not been diagnosed and may or may not even exist.  Well, clearly something exists, but we don't want them goin and tearin' open Dogbert's leg when they don't even know what they're gonna see. 

So anyways, I guess what we're sposed to do is just wait it out... they think if it's just a small tear, it should heal itself.  That sounds great, Mom's just concerned cuz if it was gonna heal itself, it should be getting better, but after 6 weeks and $500 worth of vet visits, it's for sure worse.  Mom thinks instead of giving it 2 weeks, she'll give it thru the weekend, and if it continues to get worse, she's gonna call the vet and say hey!  Making him live with pain for 8 weeks instead of 6 ain't gonna solve nothin, we want meds that will help the pain, and if we need to talk to a specialist or get a second opinion, then let's do it, we just wanna talk to someone that can tell us what's wrong and make the pain go away so's me and Dogbert can continue with our Olembic training.  By the way- just so you know- the Olembics don't have to end anytime soon- ya'll can keep competing for as long as you want! 

Mom says to make sure I tell you all thanks a lot for all your support for Dogbert.  We're sure hopin he'll be better soon... we'll keep ya posted!  Thanks pals!!!

Wet sloppy head butts,

Ember