Friday, January 29, 2010

Follow-Up Appointment Update

Amos' follow-up appointment with Dr. Gilson went really well. Dr. Gilson said that Amos is progressing very well and that he looks really good. He took out his staples, which Amos did not like very much because a couple were embedded in the scabbing of the incision, but there were no casualties. He gets pretty vocal when he is experiencing pain, and we're not sure if it is because he has been in a lot of pain because of his hips that he is now expressing that pain or not. We are working with the behaviorists at Best Friends to help us with some of these anomalies in his personality to determine if they are a direct result from the surgery or if they may be longer term issues we will have to deal with. We'll see. He still has one more surgery to go through, so hopefully these are only short term issues.

Now that he has had his staples removed he no longer needs to wear the dreaded gigantic e-collar. So that is making him very happy at night. We no longer get woken up in the middle of the night with him clanging the e-collar against the x-pen as he tries to reposition himself in his sleep. So that is good for us too. Per Dr. Gilson, we are also allowing him more space in the evenings when we are home and can supervise him by taking him out of his pen and confining him to our living room. He likes this a lot better than being confined to the smaller space. The only problem is that he really likes to be wherever Rick and I are, so if we are on the couch he wants to be up there too. We are going to have a heck of a time keeping him off of the couch while he is recuperating. We have been able to keep him down so far, but we can tell that the urge to get up there is definitely there. We are keeping him down by getting on the floor with him so he isn't tempted to try to jump up.

We can tell that his right hip is actually feeling a lot better, as he is starting to put more and more weight on it and is actually shifting his weight more and more to the right leg because it feels better than the left leg. This morning he even tried hiking his left leg (bearing even more weight on the right leg) when he went outside to go to the bathroom. That is a good sign it is feeling better for him.

3 comments:

  1. I am SO glad he is starting to feel better. What is the second surgery he has to have?

    How is Casey's eye doing?

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  2. I AM SO PROUD OF AMOS AND THERE ARE A GREAT MANY PEOPLE HERE PRAYING AND CHEERING HIM AND YOU ON. THANK YOU FOR OPENING YOUR HEARTS AND HOME TO THIS GREAT BIG LOVER. I AM SORRY FOR THE LOSS OF YOUR OTHER SWEET DOG. DOING WHAT I DO I BELIEVE VERY MUCH THAT EACH DOG HAS THAT SPEIAL SOMEONE THEY ARE LOOKING FOR. ALONG THE WAY THEY MAY HAVE TO GO THROUGH PAIN AND SORROW BUT THEY DO THIS TO GET TO THAT SPECIAL SOMEONE. EACH PERSON THEY TOUCH IS ONLY IN PASSING BECAUSE THEY KNOW WHO THE SOMEONE IS. AMOS FOUND HIS SPECIAL SOMEONE AND I AM SO GRAYEFUL TO YOU.

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  3. Yeah, Amos! So glad to hear is starting to heal and getting stronger every day. Your care and love have been amazing!
    Thank you Cristi & Rick!
    Nancy @ Old Friends

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