Nine Days to Go

It's been exactly one week since Marge's appointment.  We have 9 more days to go until our next appointment on the 30th.

She seems to be doing pretty well.  I no longer notice any significant limp.  However, I'm not sure if she's 100% sound yet on that left front shoulder.  Between the fact that her activity is limited (which means I can't truly assess her gait) and the idea that I'm basically looking for something to be wrong, I'm convinced that she is still slightly off.  But, I may just be putting that idea in my head.

We've been very good about following the rules, which include:

• Two short leash walks a day
• Avoiding the stairs completely (except for the stairs in to and out of my house)
• No strenuous activity like running or jumping
• Shoulder stretches

Of course, Marge occasionally has a mind of her own.  While I wasn't home yesterday, I found out that she ran laps around my house right before dinner time.  I definitely was not happy to hear that. However, I've taken a decently active dog and dropped her activity level to basically nil.. it's to be expected that she is going to be raring to go.  

My mind continues to wander to our next appointment and what will come of it. Hopefully, I'll be told that she is looking good and can start a strengthening program. However, if I'm told that the resting phase of this is not yet over, I'm not sure what I'll do.  I'll likely get another opinion (probably my own regular vet's opinion first).  Obviously, we may not be back to really strenuous activities like agility for a bit longer, but I think Marge will go nuts if we can't at least add back in some long walks. 

My goal for Marge in the upcoming weeks is actually not what you might expect it to be.  What I would really like most is for Marge to be able to go on a hike with me by sometime in October.  Rather than overload on agility trials, I'd really like to spend most of my free time in October with Marge hiking, with some trials scattered here and there. Fingers crossed...