December 18, 2009: Day 16, Physical Therapy and back in a bandage

Winston's attitude is great and he's happy to be walking.  I had to go to the office yesterday so Don watched the pups in the morning and my mom came to sit with her "granddoggers" as she calls them.  Winston didn't get a walk until I got home, but by the time we went to bed, he got three walks so we're still right on schedule. 

When I got home yesterday it seemed as if his seroma was slightly larger than it has been.  It's so hard to tell when you look at the thing every day.  That's why I end up taking a lot of pictures so that I can compare pictures to each other.  It also looks different when he's standing up than it does when he's lying down.  Best to compare it when he's standing up.  Anyway, when I did the hot compresses for the rest of the day, it seemed as though there was a real thin spot in his skin.  It almost felt like I could push my finger right through it if I tried. 

Today we went in for physical therapy and the therapist also noticed the thin spot and she wanted to have the surgeons look at it.  After our therapy session we saw Dr. Duerr and he thought that they should bandage the leg to put pressure on the seroma and give the tissues a chance to seal.  They put the full-leg bandage on and I'm supposed to watch it closely for either slippage where his toes get covered or separation of the two middle toes which would indicate swelling.  I'll be setting the alarm tonight so that I can check on him every few hours.  If I see either swelling or slipping, I'm supposed to take the bandage off and call them (and we'll probably get a new bandage put on).  If all goes well, they'd like to see the bandage stay on for a week.  I doubt we'll make it that long before we'll have to go in for a change just because it gets all bunched up, but we'll sure try.