Ella home again...

It was a tough weekend for mom, dad and dog... it always is those first couple of days after major surgery, but things are slowly returning to normal. It has been almost one weekend since she had the operation, and at her checkup today, the Dr. was impressed with her recovery thus far.

Over the weekend she cried relentlessly -- her arm was significantly swollen and even had some bruising that seemed to be getting worse and worse. But by Sunday night, things took a turn for the better – the swelling had begun to go down and the bruise has all but disappeared. She is even starting to walk around a bit.

If I were to explain Ella’s operation in the simplest terms it is that the irreparable broken bone in her right arm was removed altogether. The Dr. removed the bone that allows the elbow to bend and then moves around some ligaments and tendons to support the area missing this bone. The arm is then set at 110 degrees permanently, and as a result, that arm is a hair shorter than her left. She’ll never be able to bend the elbow, but what she does get out of it, is a lifetime of being pain-free in that arm.

Normally, a dog who has one healthy arm and one bad one, the logical thing to do would be to amputate the bad one. After all, three-legged dogs live just as normal a life as four-legged ones. But in Ella’s case, it was too much to ask of the healed arm that had been severely broken to be her sole front support system.

The stitches in her arm will be taken out next week and then there is a good chance that Ella’s Dr.’s visits will be reduced to just every other week. Two weeks from our next appointment, Ella will have x-rays done to see how the arm is healing. Then, perhaps, it will be time to move forward with the heart surgery and the minor surgery on the left elbow to remove the plates. THEN, we can consider spaying her… besides the fact that there is enough homeless dogs out there, and because of her severe heart condition, dogs like Ella should never be bred. In the meantime, Jason and I will just have to keep a watchful eye when she is romping around with other dogs!!

Since Ella is the trooper that she is, and is on her way to a speedy, if not gimpy, recovery, I don’t expect I will be posting that regularly -- only at crucial times when she has these life-changing operations.

I believe that in some remote recess of Ella’s brain, she knows how many people - family, friends, doormen, neighbors, doctors, vet techs, receptionists, passersby – are rooting for her, and it has enriched her life. The support received, the lessons learned and the relationships made during this experience, has certainly enriched ours. So as always, thank you.