Day 4

   The vet called, Lobo is eating a small portion of the food I took up there yesterday. I was very difficult to be so close to him and yet not be able to see him. He is slowly starting to put more weight on the surgery leg. His non-surgery leg is still very painful and swollen. They know he will need to have the other knee operated on but they are not sure when. They would like to hold off until week 4 if at all possible. They may decide to operate at week 2. The surgeon will be out of the country for two weeks, I am assuming that means another surgeon would need to operate if Lobo's knee gets worse before the surgeon's return.

   Donnie and I are going to pick up an exercise pen for the living room. Lobo will hate having a fence around him and since Lobo is very skittish, I hope that opening and closing the gates on it will not  startle him into jumping up. Our house is a maze of color, we have various carpets gathered from throughout the house with a few grey office runners thrown in among the mix. Lobo is a sun worshiping dog, he loves to lay in the sun all day. We are hoping to find a good way to corral him while the squirrels run by when he becomes more active. Lobo has had two speed since we got him two years ago, fast asleep or going full tilt. His full tilt mode typically would kick in first thing in the morning and around dinner time. We hope he will continue to be a sleepy sun worshiping dog during the day the next few months.

I have spent several hours on the internet looking at the remarkable recovery of dog's having had a TPLO; many appear to walk almost immediately. Majority of the dogs will rupture the ligaments in other knee within 1-2 years. Very few are required to have surgery on both legs within a week of each other. I understand the recovery is similar as to a recovery for one knee however, it is much harder on the dog and the owners having both knees unstable at the same time.

Hope to know more tomorrow, until then Lobo will continue to be in my thoughts....