Bum(mer) Knee

You know how fate and the powers that be like to play a lot of "funny" jokes on the Chronicles of Crap household? Well, they are at it again, roping poor sweet Charlie in again.

You may remember from this post, that early in Charlie's young life she suffered a broken femur at the hands of her first owner.

*** PSA -- How in the heck can anyone torture children or animals, or anyone for that matter? But especially the former. It's unthinkable and disgusting to hurt these sweet, defenseless little beings. UGH!!!!!! There is a special place in H-E double hockey sticks for these sickos.***

Anyway, Charlie's leg was never properly set back in place, but it seemed that it had healed well and she walked/ran with no problems. Fast forward to about two weeks ago. All of a sudden she started limping, holding her back right leg up periodically. We thought maybe it was just a hitch in her giddy-up, but after a week we knew something was really off. Her knee kept popping out of place. So we trekked back off to the vet with a sinking feeling.

They took some X-rays (only after they had to sedate the poor thing since she doesn't do well with new people. The vet also suggested a natural dog daily anti-anxiety med for her too -- seriously what kind of curse did I put on this dog.) The vet couldn't see any problems, but said she'd have the radiologist look at it the following week. We were told to keep her calm, take her for walks but not to allow play with other dogs -- sad because she couldn't see her doggie BFF Presley;(

The limp got progressively worse and the vet called back this past Wednesday and said unfortunately she did see a knee problem -- patellar luxation -- and that we needed to go see an orthopedic vet. And here's where that sinking feeling started to dig a bit deeper. I made an appointment for today (thank goodness for weekend appointments so the hubs could be there too.)

My anxiety is already through the roof with all the unknowns about what will happen in Cleveland. Add in the fact that our dog will most likely need surgery and we can see the problem getting worse and how are we going to schedule, deal, etc, and you can imagine that was enough to get me all wound up.

But what can we do, so off we went today. And yes, it's true our girl needs surgery to fix the ligamet in her knee. Because her leg wasn't taken care of properly when it was broken, it has lead to the knee being off a little bit and the cartilidge slowly grinding down. The longer we wait for surgery, the greater the breakdown will be and the more pain she'll be in. And since we have seen such a decline in the last week we knew we couldn't wait for a "better" time.

So on Tuesday, yes this Tuesday, Charlie will be going in for orthopedic surgery. We just can't wait with it getting worse by the day, and we don't know what will happen with me and how long that will take.

She'll spend the night at the pet hospital the first day and then have 6 weeks of recovery -- 2 weeks with the dreaded cone. We have to keep her in a small room or on a leash at home so she doesn't run during that time as well. That's a long time to keep a puppy with total puppy energy as inactive as possible.

Why not right? Why not add in another wrench to the plan two weeks before another major medical journey is underway for me? We can take it right? Those powers that be are really laughing now!

It's not her fault at all, and we'll do anything to fix her and it's horribly sad to see her limping around, heartbreaking really. And I seriously want to find the a@* hole who did this to her and punch him in the face.

But really if this had to happen, it couldn't have happened two months ago, or two months from now -- no it's right now and there's no waiting. Our poor dog has to go under the knife again, twice in the last two months. Catching a break, not in this household. (And yes I know, you can't plan these things, and timing is never good, and it will be fine, blah, blah, but COME ON!)

We'll get through it like we always do and Charlie's more than worth it. The vet said she will be feeling better as far as mobility right away, which is great and that there shouldn't be any long-term implications for her. Poor thing is still her normal self though -- chasing the cats, wanting to be loved on, running around the backyard, just sometimes looking like a three-legged dog.

With surgery this week at least I'll be home for the next week and half to be with her and make sure she's all right. She's crate trained and doesn't jump on our bed or furniture, so the vet said those are both things in our favor in terms of her recovery. The hubs will be with her every night when I'm gone. And if we need it, say if the hubs needs to get to Cleveland, we have a number of great friends who have already offered to help.

As the other girl in this house, multiple surgical and medical issues seem to be an unfortunate requirement for our little Miss. I'm so sorry Charlie.

**How could anyone do anything malicious to this sweet girl?!**