Sweet girl

I'm such a mom, or at least that's what D said as we drove off from the house last Friday headed to the Gulf Shores.  Our poor little pup had to get yet another surgery done on her leg last Monday.  I, of course, left all worried about her and her still swollen leg.

This time the surgery was to remove a plate that was put in the last time.  She was doing great recovering, running around like a crazy head and pretty much back to her spunky self.  However, about 3 weeks ago, she started getting this sore on a section of her scar.  It was strange because it didn't seem to hurt her, but there was definitely some fluid in that area.  We took her in and of course there was not exact answer.  After it started leaking, we had to take her in again and make a decision between a course of antibiotics or just removing the plate (they thought it was rubbing, thus causing the irritation/infection).  In the end he said we would probably have to remove it, so we just bit the bullet and went for it. 

Here is Bella, post surgery on the day of (left) and the day after (right).  She has such a sad face when she is all drugged up.  Poor baby.  This time the recovery has been MUCH better, although, she still thinks she can run around and be crazy even though she's not supposed to for another week.  When we picked her up, they asked if we wanted to keep the plate and the screws that she had.  I asked D and he said we were going to frame them.  I am pretty sure he was kidding, but I went ahead and got them.  This was before I realized how much they had cost originally.  I decided since this little piece of titanium was so freaking expensive, she needed to sport it on her collar.  Show off her battle wounds.

I take so many pictures of this adorable little girl.  I could just eat her up.  She is SO sweet and has had such a hard 2 years.  I just hope that we can now put this knee behind us and she can go back to being her happy little self.  She did a lot of sleeping these last couple of weeks.  Sometimes she just has to hide her face, case in point, the far two pictures.  The bottom one is her sticking her nose in the corner of the couch.  The top right melts my heart, every once in a while, she will use her paws to cover her face.

Now, of course, she is super hyper.  She was so happy to see us come home on Tuesday, I thought that little nubbin of a tail was never going to stop.  Finally, I've got to leave you with her and Steel playing.  Bella was about even in height with him standing on the floor and her on our bed.  She was getting all excited, rolling around and pawing at his face.  They are just too cute to handle.

Love B.

Falling in Love is like Owning a Dog

I know I have shared this poem before, but I just love it.  So here it is again, simply because it makes me smile. 

LOVE this picture of Steel, so I just had to share. B

So much crazy

Being so busy over the weekend, I didn't get to spend as much time with my crazy, loveable pups.  Last night we made sure to take them for a long walk around the neighborhood.  Some days, I swear, walks make them even crazier and I know D thinks part of it is my fault.  I tend to get them all wound up, but I just can't help it.  :o)  After last night's walk, we played a little in the back yard and this was the end result...

She just looks like a nut in these pictures!! When she is super hot, she comes and lays on the tile by the front door.  I'm so glad that she is happy again after her surgery!

Rambunctious Puppy

Look at this goof ball.  We met his girl friend, Cayman, at auditorium shores this morning and the got to run all around!  It was the quietest I've ever seen it.  Steel made friends with a few passing dogs along the way, but he loves Cayman.  He gets tired/lazy/doesn't want to chase her too much, so he just waits until she is close.  She knows it's coming so stops a ways off and it's a stand off until he decided to pounces on her.  They are too funny together. 

Now he is passed out on the bed.  He loves his play dates just as much as his momma does! 

Photo Shoot

Last week one of the oh-so-talented photographers in town emailed me about Steel being in a photo shoot she was doing.  She saw a picture of him on Facebook and thought he would be the perfect subject for the look she was aiming for.  He is pretty cute, so I agreed to bring him to the shoot. 

He is pretty good at listening when there are not distractions.  He was so ADD during the shoot and would only sit for a treat for about 5 seconds.  He is still a puppy after all, not that he looks like it.  We were downtown at the Chateau Bellevue, so tons of traffic, and all he wanted to do was eat the rose petals off the ground.  Silly pup.  She did get this amazing picture of him and the model. 

Isn't he beautiful??  The poor model - he can pull like no other if he wants to, so I told her to just let go if he gets to be too much.  It's an art to look good and man handle a 90lb dog. :o)  You've got to see the rest of the pictures she posted - amazing!  I love them!!

Before we left, she also snapped a few candid shots of Steel, because she is just that sweet.

Now an update on our sweet Bella bear... Her surgery leg is doing much better, and she is walking a ton better on it.  The swelling has gone down, no more bruising, and now we just have to wait until Monday to get the staples removed.  Sounds great right?  Yea, except Bella is never that easy.  I compare her to D and all of this random health surprises..

I know I mentioned her other back foot was swollen in my last post.  Well of course that didn't just go away nicely.  The swelling started to go down, but then her pads started peeling off.  At this point I was really worried about an infection and who knows what else.  We took her back to the specialty hospital last Saturday and had an internal medicine doctor look at it.  I go through the run down of events and say that she hasn't been licking it, but it is leaking (the best way to describe it) from the bottom of her paw.  She takes her back and Bella was not running a temperature, but she says she thinks it's just from the swelling and that it's peeling because she has been licking it.  At this point I was extremely frustrated, because I just sat there and told her that we've been watching her closely and she HADN'T been licking it.  Ugh. So we leave with some antibiotics and I keep watching it.  Well the pad was not getting better.  In fact most of the large pad was completely off and the full pad was off of one of her top toes.  We asked if we should cover it or clean it and they just say to keep it clean by wiping it with a warm water rag.  Okay we were doing that - still no change. 
Finally on Monday, I take her out and wipe her foot off and see this.  {warning - it's not a pretty picture)

Immediately I thought, this is not right.  To me it looked like some kind of growth, terrible bacteria, grossness!  I had Scott help me take this picture, because it hurts her to touch her pad.  I'm talking about that black/brownish thing on the pink tissue, not me pulling back the pad.  I send this picture to D and I send it to the specialty clinic via email.  I get a call that afternoon and they still don't think it's really anything but an infection.  Again, no additional treatment, just the antibiotics.  When it continued to peel off and still nothing had changed in that day, I finally called my regular vet.  I tried to describe it to him and he had me send him this exact same picture to his phone.  He called me back and said that it was not normal and asked what medicine she was on.  All 4 of them are good, but he said we needed to get an antibiotic cream to get rid of something like this.  When I asked him if we should be wrapping it or cleaning it, he said absolutely.  He understood that it's impossible to keep her foot clean and actually get this heeled. 

FINALLY.  I felt like we were headed in the right direction.  I don't think it was that hard of a stretch to understand that something was going on with her foot.  So, it will still take a while to fully heal, but I feel better about it.  The more we see our regular vet, the more I love him. 
xxoo B

Recovery

{warning - this is long and has some not so pretty pictures of Bella's surgery}

On Monday we had to take our little girl in to get her knee fixed.  We met with a specialist, and he strongly encouraged us to move forward with surgery.  She was diagnosed with a torn left cranial cruciate ligament or CCL.  He gave us our two options, and of course, there wasn't just one right answer.  I'm going to rant for a moment...

It is so frustrating to go to a doctor, spend a ton of money, and not get specific answers.  I know they have to be that way to cover their asses, but come on.  All I want is to hear the best way to move forward.  I have no idea what I'm doing here, that's why I came to you! 

Okay, I think I'm done.  Don't get me wrong, I really like the doctor we have and the place we went, but I just need some guidance. 

We had two options to fix her knee, and of course, we went with the more expensive one.  Thanks, Bella.  No, we both agreed that we would feel more comfortable knowing that she had a plate and screws holding it all together and not just scar tissue.  The procedure is called a Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy or TPLO. 


I had to drop her off that morning, and it was SO sad.  Steel and I had to say goodbye to a fluffy friend the day before, and they make you sign all those 'worst case scenario' lines where 'death may be possible'.  I was strong and made it out of the office before getting teary eyed.  The kicker was when they make you take off everything, even her collar and take it with you.  She just had this look on her face when I left, and of course, pulled away from the nurse when I was leaving.  Tear.  But I took a deep breath and had to remind myself that they do this all the time and she really needed this to get better.


Later that afternoon I got a call from our doctor that she made it through like a champ.  She actually had about 80% of her ligament torn, so they went ahead and clipped it entirely.  Apparently, if left in fragments, it can cause problems or pain in the future.  She spent the night at the hospital and then D took yesterday off to get her.  I didn't get to see her until the afternoon, but I was glad he got to spend some time with her. 


Her leg looks pretty beat up.  I thought yesterday was bad, but today is even worse.  She is on pain medication, but still seems to be in some pain.  She just can't get comfortable and changes positions a lot. 

Her recovery plan involves 8 weeks of keeping her quite and confined.  No jumping, running, playing, etc for 8 weeks.  We have to ice her leg for these first 3-4 days, because of the bruising.  Then in about two weeks, she gets to go get the staples removed.  

It's going to be a long 8 weeks...

Bella didn't get to say bye to our fluffy friend Fez, but Steel had the BEST time.  It was a rainy day, but the dogs were loving it.

We will miss all your hyper, growling, playful self! Love, B, Steel and Bbears.  

Sad day

My poor little Bella bear is at the vet this morning. I mentioned before that she hurt her leg, but it just isn't getting better. She is getting x-rays this morning to decide if she needs surgery or not. When we talked with the vet last night, he said he's diagnosed this a ton of times, and she either tore or completely ruptured a ligament in her back left knee. Tear.

I just want her to feel better. 
B

Ramblings

:: I really want to paint my bedroom this color.  

Isn't it amazing?  Currently my bedroom is a brighter blue, and the feel doesn't really match the rest of the house.  It's been 2 years since we have been in the house, so I feel the change is needed.  This might be happening this weekend.

:: I went on a wine tour in the hill country yesterday.  It was the 3rd I've been on and it was (as always) amazing!  Can I say, I LOVE my job.  My favorite winery that I've been to is Flat Creek Winery.  They have a beautiful facility with gorgeous views and delicious award winning wines.  My favorite is their Almond Sparkling Wine.  They don't sell it here in the stores, so I had to get a bottle. It is sweet, bubbly and delicious. 

:: I finally have motivation to get back in the groove of working out.  I have decided to not just run, but incorporate strength training on the days I can't go running.  I had two main excuses I seemed to use quite often - 1. Hate running in the cold and 2. I can't run in the dark.  Since I'm using select P90X videos for the training, I can do it inside which eliminates those excuses.  I've done a few works outs this week, and let me tell you I am sore!  It has felt so good to work out.  I notice I sleep and feel so much better, and I have to keep reminding myself that. 

:: Our poor little Bella bean has had a hurt little leg for the last few weeks.  We took her to the vet last week, and she thought it was actually her knee and not her hip which we had first thought.  She was on some anti-inflamatory medicine that helped a little, but she is just so hyper.  We were told to let her rest and not let her really run or play on it, which we try to, but she is nuts.  At night around 7:30-8 she just starts barking at us, wanting us to play with her.  Plus how can your resist this face and her adorable little smile??!

She has gotten a little better, but if she runs or gets a little crazy, it starts to hurt her again.  I think she'll be revisiting the vet if it doesn't get better soon!

I'm excited for the weekend, how about you?
Love B

A bed for a horse, bubbles and a birthday.

When D and I got Steel, we knew there was NO way he was going to sleep on the bed with us like Bella does.  He is estimated to be 140 lbs, making him a small horse.  So, we had to decide how to make him feel loved without letting him on the bed at night.  Right now we are still kennel training him, and he will sleep in there until he can sleep through the night and/or he doesn't fit any more.  At his last check up (3 months), he was 22 lbs and now stands the same height as Bbears.

I knew how much dog beds were at the store, so Scotty and I decided to have mom help us make some instead.   Once we found fabric, we decided to place pillows inside the casing. That way, we could easily take them out to wash or replace them.  I used 4 king sized pillows in my bed, and I still think it might be small once he is full grown.  Both pups LOVE it though.  They play, fight, and sleep on that thing.

While we were shopping for pillows, Scotty also thought it would be fun to get bubbles for the dogs to play with.  Apollo loved it.

 

 This photo is blurry, but B's face is hilarious. 

Now I have to share all the delicious foods we had for Scotty's bday celebration.  The first thing we surprised him with was finally taking him to Gordough's.  He'd been asking to go there for the last year and we finally made it.  They were pretty ridiculous donuts. 

 Blackout-Darrell's, Miss Shortcake-Mine and Blue Ball-Dad

Flying Pig-Scott, ODB-Mom

We ended the night with one of the best seafood dinners I have ever made.  We did a fish boil with fish, scallops, calamari and shrimp with a side of Parmesan risotto and crab cakes.  DELISH.

 

Good times in the Walker household.
Love B