| 6/15/01 |
| I think I've created a monster! Magnum is quite unruly when it comes to the lake. He barks and whines the whole way down there and doesn't quiet down until he is in the water. He barks, whines and jumps around in the house when he *thinks* it is time to go swimming and he already knows the word swim, so we have to spell it. We gave him the whole living room to roam around in but I"m thinking it may too much for him right now. He wants to run and jump when he *thinks* he is going swimming. So, I've confined him again to his little "recovery room". I may let him out only if someone sits with him or has him on a leash so we have more control over his movements. I think I'll wait to give him a full room until his leg is a little stronger. He went for a walk last Thursday after going to the vet. Erica walked him a little on Friday. Saturday I got brave and took him swimming for 5 minutes. Sunday afternoon he went swimming for 5 minutes. On Monday, we took him swimming twice. Once in the morning and once in the afternoon. I thought I saw a very slight limp after that but no one else saw it so I thought maybe it was my overactive imagination. So Tuesday, we didn't swim him. I just took him for a short walk. Wednesday we took him swimming again for 5 minutes and I wasn't sure if he was limping or not. The whole neighborhood knows when Magnum is going swimming. He barks and whines, very loudly, I might add, the whole way down to the lake. He pulls pretty hard too, so I wonder if that has any affect on his leg. Anyway, Thursday, yesterday, we took him swimming again for 5 mintues. It was a good day for a swim too. It was hot and the water was very nice. On the walk home, he had a noticable limp. We hosed him off, rubbed him down and on the way in to the house, it seemed he had "worked" the limp out and was walking pretty well again. I have noticed that he doesn't put all his weight on the leg while standing still. That has been true most of the time since before the surgery. I think I'm a little more aware of it now that I'm wondeing if he is doing too much. I did call the clinic and she suggested that we rest him for a day or two and see how he does. The other thing to consider here, is the fact that he does have a lot of arthritis in that knee and may limp the rest of his life off and on. I am giving him glucosomine/chondroitin supplements right now to help the arthritis feel better. Nothing can take that away but the G/C supplements are supposed to help him move better, more freely and less painfully. I'm sure there will be some soreness associated with rebuilding the muscles in the leg too. There was quite a bit of atrophy in that leg as he hadn't used it for months before surgery and has been lame off and on for the past 2 years since his failed conventional repair. Maybe I'm too anxious to get him back to normal again. It is hard to go so slow. For full rehab it is supposed to take another 2 months. That seems like a long time but, in the long run, it really isn't that bad. So, we'll take it a day at a time. He is walking on the leg and that is more than he could do before surgery. I'm sure if we can build up the muscles in that leg, that he will be able to take, at least, some mild activity I'll try to keep up to date on his rehab. Things should, hopefully, start slowing down a bit after this week. This week has been pretty busy. |