We made it to the 8 week mark!

We made it!
8 weeks ago our sweet Bailey boy had TPLO surgery on his lil left knee.....and our world was rocked ever since.
When the vet told me Bailey would have to be kept in a confined area for 8 weeks and only out on a leash 3-4 times a day to potty , I had no idea how we would make it work.
But we did!

Over the past 8 weeks ----
we have slept in the living room on a mattress every single night - i forgot what our huge king size bed feels like
made ramps for the garage and back door out of plywood
take bailey out on a leash for every potty break in the rain, snow, ice and sunshine
kept our sweet boy crated or penned up until week 6 - where we caved and let him lay on our pallet with us in the evenings
bought not one, but two giant pens for him so he could have all kinds of extra space to stay in
bought a ramp for my SUV and it was an epic fail
got up at 4am to give doggie pain meds
i moved all my beautifying products downstairs and have been primping in our itty bitty powder room in the first floor - not my favorite!
made a conscious effort not to be away from the house together for more than 4 or 5 hours
had my dad and brother come stay with our fur children while we were away from work
spoiled much?

Anywho - You get the picture! Our lives have went to the dogs.
A look back on the past 8 weeks...

We went through trying to crate train him the days leading up to surgery ....
side note : he has never been put in a crate. Let's just say crate training a 7yr old pooch isn't the easiest thing i have done as a fur momma.

Bailey boy day one post op - poor guy.
Not gonna lie, the 24 hours following surgery was an emotional nightmare for me...I was a total wreck.
It was so hard to watch him struggle to get around. Broke my heart in two.

I never thought i would spend so much time in a dog pen

Day one, week one and week two - he's doing amazing!

The therapist in me came out full force. I stayed on top of ice, meds, light massage and range of motion exercises


The infamous pallet we have called our bedroom for 8 weeks

Not gonna lie - i secretly love the pallet. I know I am gonna miss it when we start to venture back up to the 2nd floor.

We Kev shoveled a pathway with every snow and has been a trooper with potty duties

The first time we let bailey on the pallet in weeks.

Poor guy had never slept better.

What our house looks like from 830pm till bedtime,

My favorite part of the evening is pallet time with kev, the doggies, a good book or our favorite television show.

Uggie Sue loves her brother. It's definitely been an adjustment period for her, too.

 

We are slowly getting back into our routine pre-TPLO surgery.

We have began to let Bailey out of the pen, but still have him caged into one room.

Think an XL pen aka the living room.

He is starting to put full weight through both legs more and more. At times, I don't think it even bothers him.

His hyper personality is back full force and we have to work really hard to keep him from jumping, but we are doing it.

We see the doggy orthopedic surgeon Monday. They play to x-ray him and if all goes as planned, we can start going on short walks and attempt stairs. No words will be more joyful to my ears - I can actually take my dog on a walk again. It's been almost 9 weeks since I have been able to give him any exercise ....sucks!

Prayers and Happy thoughts for bailey Boy on Monday.

8 week photo
His hair is finally growing back....he still has a big square line from where they shaved him. I tell him not to be embarrassed :-)

Kev has been my saving grace through all of this. I am so lucky to be married to a man who gets my love for dogs, who has a heart just as big for Bailey and Uggie....and who is a lil crazy over them, just like me!