Men don't think sometimes before they speak, especially when it comes to the context of their conversations with other men. I am certain that the Nutrition Nazi is rolling his eyes right about now, but all is fair in love and war. I hear him telling his friend this morning on the phone that I was hanging out doing my own thing, like I was getting dressed in my swimsuit with my ultra fit body to go sip mimosas by our imaginary pool while our well-behaved children played nicely with each other and the Team Leader. Nope there's absolutely no sarcasm to that last sentence. So let me show what has really been going on.
In late January I took the Team Leader to a new vet closer to home and asked him to check her right rear leg because she occasionally limped after playing hard. The news was bad, but hopefully manageable with rehab. She had a partially torn ACL. The other option to rehab was to spend $4,000 re-engineering the knee and countless weeks rehabilitation.
Bad luck hit a few weeks later when she fully tore the left rear knee compensating for the right partial tear. After meeting with the surgeons we started to get ready for the tough weeks ahead. The roughest part being that she would need to be crated for 6 weeks. Poor dog!
She made it through the surgery and overnight stay with flying colors, although my nerves took a beating. I should have lost more weight with the amount of worrying and pacing I did waiting for her to come out of surgery and then come home the next day. She cam home with a small pharmacy of drugs and very rigorous rehab schedule.
We tried to give her options on her confinement so that she did not get bored with her crate. Camo loves the Team Leader so much and did everything he could to climb in with her. It's probably one of the few times in her life she was happy to be inside the crate!
I took the boys to Petsmart to buy her something to make her feel better. Little Pope found a dog toy that doubled as a bat and Camo tried to throw every ball he could find under the shelves. We settled on some treats and a small squirrel toy.
A few weeks after the surgery we were starting to get excited that things were going well in the Team Leader's recovery. Apparently we should have been a little more guarded with our hope.
Less than 3 weeks after surgery she blew out the partially-torn right ACL. The surgeon had the tech come and tell me it was fully torn because she did not want to have to break the news. The surgeon and I discussed all the options and decided the next surgery would be immediate, and valuable reward points on my purchase to follow.
Leading up to the surgery I was extremely nervous and feeling really bad for her. I knew exactly what was coming. I, nor The Team Leader, were looking forward to an additional six weeks of confinement added to the three weeks of time served. I forgot to mention she had to be walked three times a day for 10-15 minutes each time. I can't imagine how much she hated us for taking her for walks after surgery on each knee.
The team leader survived the second surgery well and began the road to recovery. She also sported the most expensive, crappy looking poodle hair cut I have ever seen. I told NN that I was renaming her Europe because the expense of fixing her was a really nice trip to Europe.
And not to be outdone by his big sister, Little Pope had hernia surgery on Friday for hydrocele. He did amazingly well with all of the unfamiliar faces that came in and out of contact with him at the surgical center.
Luckily his recovery is going much quicker than the dog, thank goodness.
All's well that ends well. The Team Leader got a clean bill of health at her last check up so hopefully our luck is changing. I am thankful that everyone seems to be doing well. Now maybe I can go find that imaginary pool with mimosas and well-behaved children!
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