Setback

I have some fun here with my little blog, and I really enjoy seeing the comments from visitors. I love my Feedjit tool that tells me people are dropping in from Spain, India, Russia, and so many other exotic locales - the world truly has shrunk when international visitors can drop in to see the goings-on of two English Springer Spaniels in a mid-sized Canadian town.

I typically refrain from putting anything too profound or heavy on my blog because I tend to view it as a bit of fun and a nice way to talk about our obedience competition, and because I love my dogs (probably too much) I like taking lots of pictures of them and sharing them with other like-minded addicts.

Today, though, I'm breaking my rule of not getting serious on my blog. I will ask for the collective goodwill of the dog-crazy people who drop in, if you could, just send a good thought towards Elliott. He has suffered a gigantic setback in his ACL recovery, and so far we don't know what has happened or how to go forward.

About a week ago he started hopping on 3 legs seemingly out of nowhere. He has been to the rehab vet twice and, while she is pretty certain that his ACL repair has not failed, we are hoping to get together for a consult with the surgeon who did the repair soon just to see what he thinks might be going on. The knee itself seems fine. There is tenderness at the back of the leg, so we are hoping that what might have happened is a strain or sprain to a muscle. However, here we are at day 7 of basically what continues to be non weight-bearing hopping around. We have rested him aggressively and gone back to square one: no walks, or only very short 5 minute walks (hops); no stairs; no uncontrolled activity of any kind. I have to open my mind to the possibility that the repair has somehow failed or that something else quite serious is going on in that leg. After almost 6 months of good improvement this is extremely hard to deal with and emotionally draining.

I am not typically a touchy-feely kind of person but I will shamelessly ask for anyone who cares to, to send a good thought Elliott's way. Maybe it will make a difference, who knows.