The Abbey Update

4/14/02- We have been given the OK to take Abbey off of restriction and ease her back into her normal life. We are both so happy that she can finally play and act like a puppy again.

3/31/02- Abbey is doing very well. She has had her 4 week x-rays and they showed that the bone was already almost completely healed! We were now almost 7 weeks out so in another week or so she will ahve her 8 week x-rays and then, hopefully, she will be able to go back to normal. 1/30/01-Well it's Deja Vu all over again! Abbey's second surgery is scheduled for Feb. 13th. Hopefully this will be the last one so our bank account can take a much needed rest. She's doing remarkably well and seems to have completely recovered. Now that her left leg is normal it really accentuates the problem with the right leg, but she doesn't seem to care. I'll update after the surgery.

11/26/01- Since Abbey is so much better, we are slowly allowing her more freedom. We blocked off the stairs so she can move around the downstairs for an hour or so at a time, but if she gets too excited and tries to run around, we have to put her back in her crate. She's very happy to be able to move around again. We will have her next set of x-rays taken in another week and if they show that the bone has healed, she's free! 11/9/01- Abbey had her 4 week x-rays taken today. The surgeon is very happy with how well the bone is healing. It's not 100% healed yet though so he wants her to remain on restriced activity until her 8 week x-rays in the beginning of December. She's put some of the weight back on that she lost and is just as hyper as ever. 10/30/01- Abbey had her staples removed today. The doctor says she looks great although she's lost about 3 lbs because she didn't eat very much for the first week. She's using her leg very well, actually using it to support her weight and walk around. She still has to be under tight activity restriction, and now that she's feeling better that makes it tough. She just wants to run around and play with Collins.

10/16/01-Abbey did very well last night. I was expecting her to get me up several times in the night to be let outside. She was on IV fluids before, during, and after the surgery so she was having to go outside a lot when we first got home. She only woke me up once at about 5am to be taken out. This in itself is a task because she's not allowed to use the stairs at all so I had to carry her downstairs to let her out. Luckily she's only 42 lbs and not 80!

10/15/01- Abbey had her surgery today, and we're home now. It took a bit to get her situated because we have to severely restrict her activity. Basically she has to be confined to her crate unless we are taking her outside to go to the bathroom. She's pretty tired still so she's not trying to move around right now. The bill was almost $1,000 more than we were expecting ($2,900) so that was a shock, but at least we can pay that off monthly.