Wow! I haven’t been here in over a month! So much is happening so I’m just going to dive right in.
MACY
Doofus needs another surgery. On her OTHER leg for the same injury – torn ACL. It happens in more than 90% of ACL repairs. The other leg bears so much weight that it ends up getting damaged. She is scheduled to have the repair June 2.
ME
I’m being left! Abandoned!
Mom and Dad are going on vacation for the first time in 4 years. We were all supposed to be getting boarded but then Dad’s daughter volunteered to come stay at our house for the week. Rudee is still being boarded because he’s a handful.
I would like to point out that I was not invited on said vacation. As such, the girls and I have been trying our hardest to make Mom and Dad feel super guilty. Check out some of our best moves:
“But how can you resist my chocolate eyeballs?”
“I feel so alone in the world.”
“Look how tiny I am, Dad! I won’t take up much room!”
“Mom, I’m scared to be alone.”
Unfortunately, so far I’ve still not received an invitation.
OMD! I almost forgot. Guess who DID get an invitation?! CHENEY!!! The cockatiel gets to go and I don’t. It’s ridiculous.
Mom was super hopeful that Macy didn’t screw up her leg and Macy seemed to be a bit unsure all of a sudden.
30 minutes and 2 x-rays later, Macy was told that she was healing perfectly. The disgusting, poky lump at the end of her incision is apparently the edge of the plate. Mom is still very suspicious about this.
Macy has to increase her exercise and is allowed to go on “supervised jogs” starting next week. My question is, who’s the funny guy that thinks Macy would “jog” unsupervised? Macy knows 2 speeds – sleeping and running. Speaking of running, she’s free to run in 10-14 days.
I would like to point out that I no longer want anything to do with Macy. The first month after her surgery was the BEST – she was crated, quiet, and didn’t bother me. Now she’s back to staring at me, barking in my face, pawing my face/head, biting my collar, and just being annoying! I’m over it. Anyone want a sister? Free to the first person/animal who comes forward!
My Lexi would be so proud of me. Yesterday, I went to work with Mom! I worked a full 10-hour day.
We left the house super early in the morning. It was practically still dark out. Mom works far away – about 45 minutes – and you all know how I get in the car BUT I made it!
Mom works with a bunch of other people doing something called “law”. She is a paralegal. So, I got to be a paralegal, too!
I had a very important meeting with my assistant, Mr. Racky-coon, to start the day off right.
Then I went around to all of the windows in the building because they’re only a foot off the ground and I could see out all of them without having to jump or stand up on my hind legs.
I did lots of running around and didn’t take any morning naps.
At noon, Mom said it was time to go to lunch. Since she works right by Grandpa’s house, she goes there everyday at lunch time to check on him. I was SO excited to see my Grandpa.
Do you see his cat, Charlie, eyeing me suspiciously from on top of the bookcase?
We stayed there for about half an hour and then it was time to go back to work.
After a quick search around the building and visiting with everyone, I had to have an afternoon meeting with Mr. Racky-coon.
See how I had my own desk chair to sit in?!?! Super cool.
Around 3:00 I finally decided it was time to rest. I hadn’t laid down all day long except for the few minutes each time I talked with Mr. Racky-coon. I rested for 15 minutes according to Mom before I was up again to guard the building.
At 6:00, Mom said it was time to go home. FINALLY! Longest day ever! I said very quick goodbyes to everyone because all I could focus on was getting home and eating dinner.
When we got home, I ate dinner, went out, came back in, and flopped myself on the couch. I was so tired that the couch felt uncomfortable so I tried my crate. I laid in there until Mom got me at 9:00 and said, “C’mon, baby boy. Let’s go to bed.” I RAN to the bedroom and slept like a log.
I don’t think work is for me. You don’t get to take naps. I like naps. Naps are my friend.
Friends! I went on an epic adventure the other day. Hmmm…a week ago Saturday.
Noodle: Mom, why am I just telling them now?!
Mom: Because I was too lazy to type your blog.
Noodle: As long as I got you to admit that so my friends realize I’M not the flake.
*ahem*
Anywho.
A week ago Saturday, Mom and Dad took me to the park that I used to go to with Khia. Except, we did something totally different than normal. This time we looked for rocks. Not just any rocks but painted rocks.
There’s this craze going on in our area and many other cities where people are painting pictures or messages on rocks and leaving them for others to find. It’s like a giant Easter egg hunt.
Look at these pics:
I found a rock!
Then we went way high in the sky onto an observation tower about 60 feet tall. When I looked over the edge, I stopped breathing.
We walked SO much that I had to eventually be carried. I didn’t even have the energy to pull my legs up into Dad’s side.
This was our total haul for that park.
I was exhausted but it was lots of fun.
Then, this past Friday Mom and Dad took me to the vet for an allergy shot. It’s this kinda sorta new stuff called cytopoint. It’s supposed to stop itching for 4-8 weeks (it’s definitely working). I had so much fun seeing the ladies that work there (Hi, Ms. Merrillee! Hi, Ms. Marissa! Hi, Ms. Angie!!!) They read my blog.:)
So, I got my shot and THEN Mom and Dad took me to a different park to hide all of the rocks we found last week and to look for new ones.
I didn’t rock hunt that time. I was on squirrel and lizard patrol. At one point, Dad wasn’t paying attention and I saw a squirrel and I ran so fast that I pulled my leash right out of Dad’s hands. BOL!
I like getting to go places again. Macy is super jealous though. Every time she hears my leash so starts howling and barking. She still has 3 weeks to go until her x-ray for the all clear.
In my last post I told you my middle name was Schnoodle.
My middle name is NOT Schnoodle. I GO BY Noodle the Schnoodle but Schnoodle is not my middle name.
My middle name is Pants. As in Noodle Pants. It has been since the 2nd day I lived with Mom and Dad. Dad’s daughter gave me my middle name. She and Mom call each other Pants (don’t ask), so she said I needed to be a Pants, too.
The worst part of this is that Mom does the typing and she LET me write Schnoodle.
Howdy, friends! Noodle J. Parker here. BOL! That’s Dad’s nickname for me. My middle name is Schnoodle – it doesn’t start with “j”- and our last name isn’t Parker. Silly Dad.
I came to update you all on Macy. It’s been 17 days since her surgery. She’s doing really well. Too well. She’s ready to run and play and she’s not allowed to for another month!
Mom and Dad know how hard it must be for her to stay “calm” and quiet. She IS Macy after-all. So, they took her on an adventure Friday.
It started with a little walk to see Snooter Tooter
Licking each other’s tongues.
Sniffing noses
Then they took her to visit with the chickens.
“They gave me love bites on my nose!”
The dodo doesn’t even realize that they’re trying to kill her.
Yesterday, she got to go to the vet! Mom was afraid she wouldn’t like going anymore but she did. They took her stitches out and said she’s healing wonderfully.
Barely any scar! Mom thinks it’s because the doctor did the initial incision with a laser that cauterized as it cut. She doesn’t really know but it’s just a guess.
Macy has to go back in 6 weeks for her post-op x-ray to make sure everything is healed properly. Once that’s done and cleared, Macy can resume normal activity.
I have left you all in the dark since Saturday regarding Macy. Don’t worry. No news was good news.
Things are going very well. As a matter of fact, Macy is back to eating her normal amount of food as of last night and is finally eating all of her joint supplements again.
The only time we notice a problem – I say we because I am watching over her like secret service watches the president – is when her cone is on. It’s supposed to be on all the time. Imagine this: you’re in terrible pain from a gi-hugic surgery and all you want to do is snuggle in bed to sleep it off. Now imagine you have a HUUUUUUUUUUUUGE lampshade on your head and you can’t even bury your head in a pillow. Totally cruel, right? Mom noticed Macy was beginning to get really depressed and she wasn’t really sleeping. So, Mom being the neurotic mom she is was on a mission to get Macy pants so she didn’t have to wear the cone. Let me explain: pants would keep her from licking her incision and messing with the sutures.
Dad donated an old pair of pajama pants to the cause. Mom cut, sewed, nipped and tucked until this happened:
Macy was SO much happier! She fell right to sleep.
Yesterday, Mom went to the dollar store and bought Macy some toddler pajama pants (size 3T) that fit much better:
Unfortunately, Mom has yet to figure out how to keep the pants from sliding down when Macy continuously switches positions. She’s thinking suspenders will do the trick. BOL! I can’t deal with this. BOL! I’m going to pee myself. ROFL!
Ok…breathe, Noodle, breathe!
*ahem*
Mom and Dad have also been letting Macy sit on the couch with them. She has to wear her pants and a leash, and they pick her up to get her on/off the couch. When she’s laying with them, she doesn’t try to move around too much. She’s definitely not herself.
That’s about all the info I have for now. I’ll be back when there’s more to tell.
Oh, Macy said to tell all of you thank you for sending POTP and thinking of her.
Countdown to Macy’s anticipated full recovery: 55 days!
Hi, friends! Just popping in to let you all know that Macy is resting much more comfortably.
She was up most of the night with Mom, sleeping only from 12-2 and 6-7:30. Mom and I slept on a pile of blankets in front of Macy’s crate. At one point, Mom was even in Macy’s crate with her.
Macy stopped crying after she finally went pee at 3:15 in the morning.
She’s fully alert today and no longer needs to be slinged during walks.
After her quick walk this afternoon, Mom put her in her favorite chair and sat with her so she could look out the window for a bit.
That is the biggest lampshade ever!
Her incision looks really good today, too:
Her appetite is still small but she IS eating…and burping…a lot while eating. Piggy.
Anywho, I’m off to catch some much needed sleep. Talk to you tomorrow!
This morning, Mom and Dad left the house with her and then they came home WITHOUT her. THEN, Mom took macy’s bed out of her crate and started disinfecting it. I thought Macy was dead! I was all sorts of freaked out. It didn’t take long for Mom to realize what she did.
So now I’m sitting guard by Macy’s crate to make sure nothing happens to her.
I’m going to let Mom take over now because I don’t understand all of this medical stuff.
Hi, everyone!
Macy had 2 procedures done today during surgery: the grinding of the bone to fix the patellar luxation AND the TPLO. It turns out that her ACL was completely torn but, luckily, her meniscus was intact.
She has approximately 50 sutures inside and 6 outside. The surgery took about an hour and fifteen minutes.
The surgeon said she expects a 2 month recovery. For the first 2 weeks, it’s outside just to pee and poop and then right back inside. Then we can up her walks by 5-10 mins every 2 weeks after. Physical therapy is not necessary but we can do it if we would like, and we can continue the cold laser therapy.
She also said that playing and being active is good for Macy’s hip dysplasia. It keeps the surrounding muscles strong. She said that so long as she stays active and doesn’t become overweight, the prognosis is good. Also, 85% of dogs with hip dysplasia never need surgery. (YESSSSSSSSSSSS!)
She was adorable when waking up from the anesthesia:
She was given Rimadyl and another pain killer before we even saw her. They sent her home with Tramadol and she’s allowed to have 1-2 every 8 hours, along with her normal Previcoxx and joint supplements, starting tomorrow morning.
She’s currently resting in her crate, in between bouts of waking up crying something awful. I’ll be so happy when the anesthetic wears off. I remember how much Noodle cried until it wore off when he was neutered.
Here’s a video of one of her “fits”:
It’s absolutely heartbreaking.
Now, for inquisitive minds, here are some pics of the x-rays and of her incision. I don’t think there’s anything too bad even if you are squeamish.
Side view of plate.
Side view Close-Up
Rear View
Incision
We were originally told the incision would be fairly small but I guess she needed more room to do what she had to do? Oh, well. As long as she gets better, that’s all I care about!
I’m off to rest while she’s quiet. Normally a decaffeinated coffee drinker, I just drank caffeinated so I can stay up with her if need be. Most of you know me well enough to know that I’ll be sleeping on the floor by her crate tonight.
I, or Noodle, will pop on tomorrow to post an update.
Remember how I told you all that Macy needed surgery on her knee? Well, it turns out that the surgery is going to be much more complicated than originally explained. Now that the orthopedic surgeon has seen the x-rays, she thinks there’s a tear of Macy’s cruciate ligament. So instead of simply deepening the groove in Macy’s bone for her kneecap to sit on, Macy is going to be getting a plate and screws in her knee during a surgery called Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy (TPLO) What the BLEEP?!?!?! 😯
Not only is the surgery different but the price just went up by anywhere between $1,000-$3,200 and is now estimated between $3,124-$5,719! The insurance company will be covering 90% but Mom is still freaking out.
She’s not just freaking about the money. She’s freaking out about the invasiveness of the surgery and the increased downtime compared to the other surgery (it went from 14 days to approximately 4-6 months). You all have seen Macy. How in the world are Mom and Dad going to keep her calm for months when they can’t even keep her calm for a full hour?!
Mom is hoping that when the surgeon sees Macy in person… dog?…no, person – that she’ll find Macy’s ligament intact and she’ll only have to do the basic surgery.
Her surgery is scheduled for 2:30 pm tomorrow, 2/17. Mom and Dad have to drop her off at 11:00 am for pre-op bloodwork. Then, they’re going to go back around 2:00 so they can speak with the surgeon about everything.
Friends, I think it’s time that I go on vacation. Maybe Mrs. Lexi’s Mom will let me come stay with her during this catastrophe. No, I KNOW she will! Mrs. Lexi’s Mom aka Mom#2, can you come pick me up please?
