June Update

Its been a little crazy for me and lucas this past month.  We have moved back ‘home’ for the summer and I have started a summer job.  He’s been doing okay on his prozac and we have seen a change esp when we leave him.  He’s an independent man now lol.  His back has healed pretty good, you can hardly see the scar now.  But there is still some concern we have about his going “more potty”  issue (#2).  For the past month everytime he goes #2 his legs get ‘locked’ in that position and basically his legs go paralyzed.  there no feeling. he cant get up and walk.  its the strangest thing and the only way to get him out of that position is to put him in the bath tub and he puts his butt and legs right under the hot water, its like a relief to him.  But then hes fine and back to running around the house like hes ‘normal’.  All other times he’s perfect.  we couldnt ask for a better recovery from him.  He’s even been wanting to go on long walks too, so this leg lock is just a mystery to us.   We go back to the doctor on the 18th of July and we’re gonna talk to him about it.  But im assuming theres really not much we can do and just hope its a stage that he will get better in time.   This past weekend was the first time it didnt happen to him.  So maybe we are heading that way.  I  still do therapy on him even tho im not home during the day, we try to get an hour in after i come home for work.  Of course all he wants to do is play and eat when i get home.  lol.  im at work now but ill post a few pics later.

Back to Doctors and a Weekend Road Trip!

We went to a  new veterinarian here in indy on friday.  He is very smart and the best thing is lucas isnt scared or nervous around him.    He’s known to be the best in Indiana and only the best for lucas.  We ended up spending over an hour talking to the him about lucas…everything from day one.  We have always thought he had separation issues, but since his surgeries it has gotten worse.   We told  the doc about when anytime we leave he flips out, screams, throws tantrums, and leaves us pee and poop to come home to.  He was officially diagnosed with Separation Anxiety and was put on Prozac.  lol its kinda funny looking back at the convo at the doctors office.  I mean a dog on prozac? we told the rest of the family and they laughed and thought we were joking.  But 10 million dogs suffer from Separation Anxiety.   They put him on Reconcile and to do basic training and the “bond” training from Eli Lilly.

We took a road trip to my brothers place this weekend, n I was a little worried about going but we went and he behaved so good! he got his own room and we started the bond training by awarding his good behavior.  We start taking the pills tomorrow so I hope he does well on them and starts showing signs of improvement.

belly rub from brother nick

getting ready for twilight

Why is Harley in every pic?!?

Lucas playin in the “baby room”

He’s back home

We went to pick up lukie from the hospital this morning.  He looked thousand times better then how he was on Thursday altho he is still a bit weak but now that we have him home hes doing  better.  He got some naps in, some food in him and at the end of the day he was playing with harley.   Hes on a very strict diet.  He’s on prescription dog food (which heee lovesss) and chicken with small amounts of water every few hours at least for a few days.   He’s taking ranitidine (Zantac)  and metronidazole (Flagyl) which he doesn’t like.   I swear he heard him say yuck after i gave it to him.  Hopefully he will continue letting me shoot it down his throat for the next week.  I got some pics then im off to bed.  I havent slept for past 3 nights.  I couldnt function without my lucas.

After picking up lukie.  i liked his band-aid. 

Back home

His tummy is shaved from his ultrasound he got.

Lukies teeth are cute.

Day 28: Back in Hospital…

Poor lil lukie woke up early yesterday morning (5 am)and starting having diarrhea.  I didn’t think much of it because he’s had diarrhea just few weeks before.  I gave him a shower and 2 hrs later I was off to take a final.   Then when i came home around 10 there was diarrhea and vomit everywhere in his crate.  so much that he was covered in it and all his blankets was full of it.    I pulled him out of the crate and he started his diarrhea again AND vomit all at the same time.  That went on for an hour til i called the doctor.  She told us to bring him in as soon as possible.   I waited for my parents for a LONG 2 hours…consisting of continuous vomit, (*later knowing it was actually bloody vomit*) so much that i couldn’t keep up on cleaning it…I def  need to call Stanley Steamer asap. So we finally get him to the hospital and he was given an ultrasound on tummy, it came up good…everything looked normal.   She figured that he just had some sort of virus and wanted to keep him for a few days to make sure he stops vomiting and starts to eat and drink like normal.   I haven’t heard anything from when i left there yesterday.   The doctor is gonna call this afternoon to give us an update and i hope its a good one.

*update*

Doctor just called She said after we left she did the blood work  and she figured he was going to be dehydrated but he was extremely dehydrated. Everything on his blood work came back bad, nothing was ‘normal’. She believes and most of the doctors agreed with her that he has HGE.  (Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis)    He probably wouldn’t of made it another night.  I’m glad we took him in when we did!  They want to keep him another night to try to get more food in him…we gotta fatten him up again…he lost alottt of weight!

Taken May 1….Have I ever mention that he LOVES laundry and is obsessed with washing machines and dryers lol

May 1 NO LUKIEEE!!! lol He’s always so “proud” of himself when he gets milk cartons.

May 4…no sun.

May 5  Laying out!!

May 7 (yesterday) around 11.    he looked…like death.

Day 20: Staples are out

Tuesday we took him to get his staples removed and since he was walking and doing good he got released.     The nurse said 2 more weeks in crate (i say forever) and now we can start his water therapy!! yay!!

This is lucas everyday still working his puppy dog eyes and making me feel sorry for him just to get a treat.

Before staples are removed

After…you can see the two scars now but in few months wont even know theres any scars.

Lukies going to the door now!!    another big improvement.   Still not one pee accident in the house.  (cant say the same for pooping)

I couldn’t resist not putting this up!  at the vet hospital there was these two whippets….the “wife” was pregnant and scared and the “husband” was  on alert and protective. LOL so very cute!!  Too bad lukie cant have a girlfriend and have babies.  Altho honestly i dont think lucas would make a good father nor a good husband.  He’d be the type to cheat and neglect or kill his kids by shaking them at the neck. LOL.   Hes too immature to have all those responsibilities.

Day 11: First Steps…

He walks!!!…kinda.  Past few days he’s gotten stronger in his legs and is standing longer but hes just not sure what to do after he stands.  I been trying to teach him and show him his legs DO move and tonight he tried it on his own. He’s still not sure how to move that left leg yet or where it even is.  I’m constantly putting it in the “right place”. In time he will learn and in a few months he’ll be running around the house like he always does. I’m just so surprised and proud at how he’s improving so much faster then his last surgery.

Lukie covered himself up!! He’s a pro even when paralyzed.

Day 9: New Diet and Haircut

Finally lucas pooped!  We ended up calling the doctor yesterday and she told us to go get a can of pumpkin, Metamucil and can dog food (cause he wasnt eating his dry food…they spoiled him WAY too much while staying at the hospital). Saturday we were running around everywhere getting those items and I believe we went to 4 different stores and 3 hours later we had everything. (petco is an hour away and we kept forgetting metamucil, went back twice to get it.)  and can you believe walmart was out of pumpkin? lol  but in the end of the day there was poop and everybody was happy.   Today lucas got a new haircut(e). Not that he needed one…he IS half shaved.  But his ears were bothering him and me too.  They are cute when they are long and makes him have a puppy dog face BUT his hair gets into the food and water and hes so OCD about all that.  He’s ears get wet then he gets cold or his dog food gets in his ears then i have to clean it off with a huggie and then hes wet…and cold.  Then I have to deal with the whine and his over exaggerate shaking lol.

new diet minus the pumpkin

Hes always covering his face when he sleeps.  (new habit)

typical boy, always have control of the remote. (look how long the ears are)

his favorite wool blanket

new haircut(e)

Day 7: Standing and Wagging!

Good News:  He has started wagging his tail  and is starting to stand up on his own! He still likes to drag his butt along tho.  Bad News:  He hasnt pooped since tuesday (the 3 hr diarrhea night) which has been 3 days!  We called the doc today and they said its just a side effect of the tramadol pain meds.  This morning he also threw up his breakfast and amoxicillin.  I hope by tomorrow he will go or i think the doc needs to tell me what i can do or at least give us something so he can go.  I think i rather take the diarrhea then not have anything come out at all.   He’s doing better outside…he actually started walking a bit with his ‘red legs’.  (He drags his left leg as you can see in the video i posted.)  I think tonight he got in his mind that he wanted to see his best friend Hank so he started walking over where we usually wait and see if hes out.  He stood there for about 3 mins waiting and hoping he would come around the corner. lol he never did.  I posted some pics and some videos…. 

LOL I laughed so hard at this picture.  Is he trying to wink??  I took alot of pics in a row and he was either just standing there ‘normal’ in them or hes trying to kiss me and then there was this picture of him winking LOL!

i get kisses!

He’s walking outside with his “red legs”…you can def tell he has no idea where his left leg is.  But his right leg is moving pretty good.

He stands

Day 5: Rough first night

Our first night was a little rough.  I’m sure I got prolly 2 hrs total.  He slept good until about 1 am then he began having diarrhea, we were up dealing with that for a few hours til i just had to tell him he’s fine and to try to sleep thru his tummy pain. (Note to self: Avoid  dairy products with amoxicillin.)  About 5ish he woke up again and I took him outside to get that idea that he needs to pee  AND he FINALLY peed!!!  I was so happy!! I didnt even have to express his bladder at all this time.  Hes actually controling it and waiting for when we go outside too. He doing alot better with his bladder then the last time.  Our first full day was good, his whining has stopped! yay  and he has been trying to stand up but hes not there yet. I started his therapy but he gets frustrated and tired after about 5 mins I get alot of loud “sighs” and “argh” lol.  His left leg has lost all his feeling and his right leg has about 40-50% of his feeling.   I def need to spend extra time on his left one.  Tomorrow I hope to get 10 good mins in every 4 hrs.

He PEED!!!  I couldnt be more proud!!

After the rough night…

Dinner time and no more cottage cheese for now.

Day 4: He’s Home!!!

He’s home!!!  Hes doing okay.  He whines ALOT…which is normal right now. He still hasn’t peed on his own yet.  I’m hoping by tomorrow he will or at least in the next few days.   He is totally different from how he was last time when we brought him home.  After his first surgery he pretty well slept and did nothing for the first few days.   This time he seems to be himself but just VERY whiny. Tonight,  I had a few toys in his crate when he got home; thinking that will help him (like last time) but he was very bad with them, he wanted to play his ‘bury toy’ (in blanket) then ‘find’ it game.  I ended up taking all his toys away but his ‘harley’ (cause nobody touchs ‘harley’ lol).   Lukie is asleep now so i think im gonna get ready to get some rest too.  Last surgery he woke me up every 2 hrs in the night so again…im preparing for that but who knows how he will be THIS time around.  I’ll post more updates later…good night!

the toy he was ‘bad’ with.

8 staples last time….19 staples this time…whoa!!

few mins later after i took away all his toys….he went “sigh” really loud and just layed down and whined

nobody touches harley lol its night night time