Stu Update 4

Hey everyone! Happy belated Easter!

We had an exciting weekend at the Ruddick/Haller household. Barry came in town Wednesday night to be at the house for the furniture delivery Thursday! So we now have a house almost full of furniture. We are still missing our new sectional and ottoman, but I'm just happy to have a table. I will post more on that tomorrow/tonight/whenever I get motivated.

The real point of this post is to let you all know that it has been 2 weeks since little Stu had his back surgery, and he is doing so so so well! He is such a trooper. 2 weeks of kennel rest down, 2 to go!

The first couple days he didn't really move at all, I had to hold him up when he went to the bathroom, cause he couldn't work his legs, but he did have control over his bladder, which is a really good sign!

After a few days he was able to put pressure on his back legs, so if I set him down he could stay standing if I was making sure he didn't fall from side to side. Then he was able to stand up from a laying position, which is huge!! He got lots of chicken treats for that! Every day we work on his standing to make sure he isn't developing a weird swagger (which the Dr's and Barry call a "gate", I call a "swagger" cause he looks like a drunk).

Then Stu started to move his left leg, and if he started to tip over he could catch himself on the left side!

Now he can use both legs and actually walk!!!! He is amazing! He still is a little shaky but he is really walking! You can tell he is really proud of himself!

I'm so happy with the results of the surgery, and we still have two weeks to go!

Here are some pics of my baby!

Stu's scar is about 5 inches long and has 10 staples (or did until he got ahold of one). He has to wear a soft cone whenever he is by himself cause he cannot be trusted on pain medication.

Here is Stu sitting on Barry, (they are both so cute) this is just after Barry got home on Wednesday and Stu was so excited! I think Stewie loves him more than me! He can't be out of his kennel for very long, but I figured it was a special occasion!

Stu sleeping last night while I watched Role Models and the King's Speech!

Tomorrow morning is our first vet appointment following the surgery! Hopefully the doctor will tell us that Stu is doing awesome, and they can take the staples out! I'll let you know!

Stu Update 3

Now I'm mildly obsessed, but I figure that's ok!

STEWIE'S COMING HOME!!!!

The doctor called this morning and said that Stewie was going to the bathroom all by himself so he was free to come home.

Since I drove the carpool today (yes I do that) I couldn't leave work, before the required 4 o'clock pick-up time. We could pick him up after, but the surgery staff would not be there to answer all our questions. So Barry drove from Norman to go and get him!! He was planning on coming anyways, but he shouldered the burden alone!

Stewie will be on strict cage rest for the next 4 weeks. He is allowed out to go the bathroom, but that is it. He needs time to heal, but I can still sit outside with him or carry him around for 15 minutes at a time.

He still can't walk, but he is putting pressure on his back legs. So if he starts to drag them, we are supposed to correct him. He is like a baby, we need to teach him the right way to walk, and dragging is not the right way. I will also have to hold his back up while he goes to the bathroom, until he can fully stand on his own!!

I'm just really glad he will be home, and hopefully by the time Barry graduates, Stu will be almost back to normal!!! Then we are going to have a graduation/yey for walking party, if anyone is interested.

I will upload some picks when I get home!!!

Stu update 2

We only called the vet twice today, which I was very happy with, I would have called every hour if not for my very smart and reasonable future husband, who insisted that nothing would be served by calling and harassing the doctors :)

Anyways, the surgeon spoke with us this morning and told us that Stu did great over night, he still can't use his legs or urinate by himself, but that was normal with the inflammation from the hernia and the surgery. He did say that Stewie had been taken off his IV and they were switching to oral pain medication which is a good sign.

When I called the vet tech this afternoon she informed me that she had been carrying stu around all day, he was in good spirits and he went outside to try and walk today. He still has no use of his right leg, but his left is starting track, another good sign.

We were very lucky to find the doctor that we did, someone with a ton of expertise in small animal neurosurgery, but Barry has been doing research on the topic and a lot of puppies are not as lucky.

http://dodgerslist.com/ is A website that is dedicated to informing puppy parents about what their options are and where to take a dog if this happens to them. So just in case!!

We will talk to the doctor again tomorrow morning and get a better idea of when we can bring the big guy home!

Stewie Update

On Saturday, my wonderful chihuhua Stewie, slipped a disk in his back. We have no idea how it happened, but over the course of Saturday and Sunday, Stu lost all use of his back legs and the ability to pee. I have never seen anything so scary and desperately sad. We went to three different vets (one saturday, two Sunday) and finally found one that actually knew what they were talking about. They sent him home Sunday night, but Monday morning he was much worse. So we took him back and they immediately put him into surgery.

He is now out of surgery and so far all the signs are good that he will make a full recovery.

But I have to say this has been so hard, I had no idea how hard the idea of loosing your dog is, especially after only a year and a half.

So if you have time say a little pray for Stu!!!

I will keep you updated!

BLOG AWARD :)

I knew I was good at this whole blog thing, and it is about time that someone recognized all the hard work I have put in on my 6 posts so far in my blogs existence. Just Kidding.... But Megan over at The Greens gave me this wonderful award.

So here is it my friends.

This award means that I have to tell you all 7 random facts about myself.

1. I have two precious puppies that have been with Barry for the past 3 days, and I miss them terribly. I will attach a baby picture of Stu that I found this week while he was gone and I wanted to cry.

And here are both my babies. They like to snuggle at night.....how freaking cute is that.

2. I love breakfast, all of it. Oatmeal, omelets, french toast, fruit, yogurt. I love it at all times of the day, and as much as I don't want to admit this, I made pancakes for dinner last night. I will tell you that pancakes are way way way better with peanut butter on them.

Now I'm starving :(

3. Every year after winter, I get nervous to start running outside. How weird is that. I will run on the treadmill, but the idea of running outside makes me tired. Once I make myself I'm fine, but the first time takes me a couple months to work up to. Not there yet!

4. I have a phobia that all headaches = brain tumors! I found an article about it yesterday at CNN.com

Article Here:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/04/07/ep.headache.brain.tumor/index.html?hpt=Sbin

Anyways.. I sent this link to Barry with the title "I told you so"  He responded and told me that he had already seen it, and was hoping I wouldn't. Haha.

5. I love love love Microsoft Excel My favorite thing at work is figuring out how to automate reports, and getting others excited to automate with me. I love it, and my group hates me for it :) I'm sorry if you are reading this.

6. I have spent the past 3 days of my life trying to get our new lawn watered. 2 days for the backyard and 1 day for the front. At this point I don't care how much a sprinkler system cost. Its worth it. Its opportunity cost, and my time is expensive!!!

7. We have a new car in the family!!!! Barry got a new truck and I'm super excited for him. Please see below. PS Barry also got me a huge surprise with his purchase.

His new toy:

My new toy

Yes its a keychain...WOOP

Megan this was all for you!