sjdavenport
Well-Known Member
We've been busy here! Some of it has been wonderful, and some heartbreaking.
First off, Kerry and I got married on March 4th (been together 7 years). It was a very small ceremony in Folly Beach. The ceremony itself was perfect, although the week or so leading up to it were a complete disaster.
Mazey is 12 now, and she was supposed to be in the ceremony with me. A week before we were supposed to head to Folly Beach, she came up non-weight bearing on her right rear (had TPLO on left rear almost exactly two years ago). I knew exactly what that meant, and we went ahead and scheduled an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon for the day after we were getting back from the wedding (no honeymoon for us). Mazey also has horrendous elbow arthritis, so that combined with her knee meant she was unable to walk down the aisle with me. Thankfully with some help, she was able to stand with my family. So the day after we got home from the wedding, we drove her to Maryland. The CCL rupture was confirmed, and then I got news I did not expect. The orthopedic surgeon felt that Mazey's elbow arthritis was caused by chronic fragmented coronoid processes and wanted to scope her elbows to remove the fragments at the same time as her TPLO. I have been desperate to find something that would help her right elbow be more comfortable - she gets pain meds, supplements, bone broth, acupuncture, chiropractics, laser therapy, and we even did stem cell therapy 6 weeks ago - and she was still lame. So I agreed. And he was right - he pulled out large bone fragments from both elbows. I know some of you might disagree with my decision to go with invasive surgery for a 12 year old dog, but I am actually thrilled with her recovery. She is 7 days post-op, and doing AMAZING. She is so much more comfortable now than going into surgery. Her recovery this go round has gone so much better than her first TPLO. I'll try to get some pre and post-op video together. It will be a long 12 weeks of rehab though.
So then there's Gadget, our 15 year old cat. He was diagnosed with lymphoma (tentatively the day before we left for the wedding, and then I got the definitive news the day before the wedding). He was hospitalized the entire time we were gone. With aggressive medical treatment, he is like a different cat. I didn't realize how badly he was feeling until I saw how fantastic he is feeling now. He has gone from me begging him to eat ANYTHING, to demanding 5 meals a day, getting into the trash constantly for snacks, playing, and harassing the dogs again. Hopefully we get some good time with him.
We've also been house shopping. My only requirement was that we get a property suitable for me to be able to walk my pack off leash every day without worrying about neighbors/neighbor's dogs. I didn't realize how difficult that would be. We searched and searched, and finally found the perfect house. It's a 26 acre mini-farm with 2 ponds. Rhaegar will be in heaven! Closing date is April 20th as long as everything continues to go smoothly. First order of business will be to screen in the porch for the cats. Gadget will LOVE that, and I want him to enjoy the time he has left.
And oh yeah, we were planning on adding a new corso puppy to the family lol (before everything else happened). We found a breeder I love. She had a litter planned for this spring, but unfortunately the pregnancy didn't take. Honestly it's a blessing though - we have our hands full with Mazey's recovery and rehab, and Gadget needs a lot of extra care and time right now. So that will be later this year.
Here are some photos - a couple from the wedding/beach trip, of our new (hopefully) property, and of my Mazey girl. Still waiting on the rest of the wedding photos from our photographer.
First off, Kerry and I got married on March 4th (been together 7 years). It was a very small ceremony in Folly Beach. The ceremony itself was perfect, although the week or so leading up to it were a complete disaster.
Mazey is 12 now, and she was supposed to be in the ceremony with me. A week before we were supposed to head to Folly Beach, she came up non-weight bearing on her right rear (had TPLO on left rear almost exactly two years ago). I knew exactly what that meant, and we went ahead and scheduled an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon for the day after we were getting back from the wedding (no honeymoon for us). Mazey also has horrendous elbow arthritis, so that combined with her knee meant she was unable to walk down the aisle with me. Thankfully with some help, she was able to stand with my family. So the day after we got home from the wedding, we drove her to Maryland. The CCL rupture was confirmed, and then I got news I did not expect. The orthopedic surgeon felt that Mazey's elbow arthritis was caused by chronic fragmented coronoid processes and wanted to scope her elbows to remove the fragments at the same time as her TPLO. I have been desperate to find something that would help her right elbow be more comfortable - she gets pain meds, supplements, bone broth, acupuncture, chiropractics, laser therapy, and we even did stem cell therapy 6 weeks ago - and she was still lame. So I agreed. And he was right - he pulled out large bone fragments from both elbows. I know some of you might disagree with my decision to go with invasive surgery for a 12 year old dog, but I am actually thrilled with her recovery. She is 7 days post-op, and doing AMAZING. She is so much more comfortable now than going into surgery. Her recovery this go round has gone so much better than her first TPLO. I'll try to get some pre and post-op video together. It will be a long 12 weeks of rehab though.
So then there's Gadget, our 15 year old cat. He was diagnosed with lymphoma (tentatively the day before we left for the wedding, and then I got the definitive news the day before the wedding). He was hospitalized the entire time we were gone. With aggressive medical treatment, he is like a different cat. I didn't realize how badly he was feeling until I saw how fantastic he is feeling now. He has gone from me begging him to eat ANYTHING, to demanding 5 meals a day, getting into the trash constantly for snacks, playing, and harassing the dogs again. Hopefully we get some good time with him.
We've also been house shopping. My only requirement was that we get a property suitable for me to be able to walk my pack off leash every day without worrying about neighbors/neighbor's dogs. I didn't realize how difficult that would be. We searched and searched, and finally found the perfect house. It's a 26 acre mini-farm with 2 ponds. Rhaegar will be in heaven! Closing date is April 20th as long as everything continues to go smoothly. First order of business will be to screen in the porch for the cats. Gadget will LOVE that, and I want him to enjoy the time he has left.
And oh yeah, we were planning on adding a new corso puppy to the family lol (before everything else happened). We found a breeder I love. She had a litter planned for this spring, but unfortunately the pregnancy didn't take. Honestly it's a blessing though - we have our hands full with Mazey's recovery and rehab, and Gadget needs a lot of extra care and time right now. So that will be later this year.
Here are some photos - a couple from the wedding/beach trip, of our new (hopefully) property, and of my Mazey girl. Still waiting on the rest of the wedding photos from our photographer.