The ice on our street has melted enough that we have a clear path for 3 houses before we have to cross a short patch of packed snow to get to the clear path on the south side of the street for 3 more houses. This works out pretty well for our 5 minute walks, but we're going to increase our time by 5 minutes on one of our walks tomorrow, so I'm not sure what we'll do -- 2 laps in the same area?
Maybe tomorrow morning we'll try the other direction and see if we have a clearer path down the street on the west side of our house. It's a busier street, so there's more dry pavement, but there's more of a chance of meeting a car and since Winston wants to chase them, I try to avoid that while we're practically in the middle of the street.
Decisions... decisions....
December 30, 2009
December 28, 2009
December 28, 2009: Day 26, Close call with the ice
The ice on our street is starting to melt, so if we can make it across the middle part of the street, we can walk on clear pavement. Before today, it hasn't been bad; the ice is crunchy and has traction. Unfortunately today that changed.
I bundled up the dogs into their coats before we left the house and we walked down the driveway to the street. The driveway is totally clear of snow and ice, but there is a thick patch of ice on the street right at the end of our driveway. Once Winston stepped onto that, all of his feet slipped. Luckily his reaction to slipping was to immediately sit down. I was't sure if he could stand back up safely, but I also wasn't sure how to get him back onto dry pavement so I tried coaxing him back toward me. As soon as he started to stand back up, his feet slid again and he sat back down. I finally ended up grabbing the neck and tail ends of his coat and dragged him back towards me. He slid so easily it was like he was on wet glass. Scary! I got him to the edge of the ice and he stood back up and we walked back up the drive to go into the yard instead.
Winston doesn't think walking around the yard "counts" as a walk, so he's been bugging me to take him out for a real walk. He stands at the baby gate across the top of the stairs and stares at me. Then he'll walk to me and walk back to the baby gate (just to make sure I understood what he was asking). Once we get downstairs, he goes to the front door and isn't happy when I tell him we;re going out back. Of course, once we're out there he's happy enough to walk around both the back and the front yard -- it just doesn't count as a walk.
In the house Winston doesn't really walk on his leg. Outside, he puts weight on it, but in the house he's still treating it like he did before his surgery. I'm not sure if this is just habit or if there's some other reason, but I suspect that it's habit.
I bundled up the dogs into their coats before we left the house and we walked down the driveway to the street. The driveway is totally clear of snow and ice, but there is a thick patch of ice on the street right at the end of our driveway. Once Winston stepped onto that, all of his feet slipped. Luckily his reaction to slipping was to immediately sit down. I was't sure if he could stand back up safely, but I also wasn't sure how to get him back onto dry pavement so I tried coaxing him back toward me. As soon as he started to stand back up, his feet slid again and he sat back down. I finally ended up grabbing the neck and tail ends of his coat and dragged him back towards me. He slid so easily it was like he was on wet glass. Scary! I got him to the edge of the ice and he stood back up and we walked back up the drive to go into the yard instead.
Winston doesn't think walking around the yard "counts" as a walk, so he's been bugging me to take him out for a real walk. He stands at the baby gate across the top of the stairs and stares at me. Then he'll walk to me and walk back to the baby gate (just to make sure I understood what he was asking). Once we get downstairs, he goes to the front door and isn't happy when I tell him we;re going out back. Of course, once we're out there he's happy enough to walk around both the back and the front yard -- it just doesn't count as a walk.
In the house Winston doesn't really walk on his leg. Outside, he puts weight on it, but in the house he's still treating it like he did before his surgery. I'm not sure if this is just habit or if there's some other reason, but I suspect that it's habit.
December 26, 2009
December 26, 2009: Day 24, All is well
We've had a pleasantly uneventful holiday. No new snow yesterday but it was COLD. We bundled the dogs up into their coats and got them out for three walks in addition to regular potty breaks. At this point there's not much difference between our walks and their potty breaks other than for a potty break we don't put their coats on (trying to encourage speed there...) and Josie isn't on a leash. They both circle the yard sniffing all the smells. In the snow, I can see tracks of everyone who's been in the yard. Cats, rabbits, and even a fox. The "backyard rabbits" are living under our shed, we can see the hole that they've dug to get under there. One of these days I'll have to make a little one-way trap door and see if we can get them out of there and finish putting rocks around that side so that they can't easily dig their way under there again. I just don't have the heart to do it right now when it's so cold and snowy.
Today we woke up to snow. It showed just enough to cover the bare asphalt on our driveway before it stopped and then it got sunny. Sunglasses were a must for me on our walks today. The dogs don't seem to mind, but I'm sure the glare must still affect them. Our street is snow packed and icy in places. I could see Winston slip a little every once in awhile. I tried to keep him walking in the middle rather than towards an edge since that seemed to be more snow and less ice. Hopefully we'll warm up enough to melt the street soon. If we don't, I'll have to resort to doing laps in the yard. I'll open the gate to the front yard and we'll walk the entire perimeter. It's not bad when we're only walking 5 minutes, but gets boring when we're aiming for 10. Luckily we're still at 5 for most of this coming week. Towards the end of the week, we'll start increasing one walk to 10 and then after a couple of days I'll move that to two and then in a couple of days we'll do all three walks at 10 minutes each.
Today we woke up to snow. It showed just enough to cover the bare asphalt on our driveway before it stopped and then it got sunny. Sunglasses were a must for me on our walks today. The dogs don't seem to mind, but I'm sure the glare must still affect them. Our street is snow packed and icy in places. I could see Winston slip a little every once in awhile. I tried to keep him walking in the middle rather than towards an edge since that seemed to be more snow and less ice. Hopefully we'll warm up enough to melt the street soon. If we don't, I'll have to resort to doing laps in the yard. I'll open the gate to the front yard and we'll walk the entire perimeter. It's not bad when we're only walking 5 minutes, but gets boring when we're aiming for 10. Luckily we're still at 5 for most of this coming week. Towards the end of the week, we'll start increasing one walk to 10 and then after a couple of days I'll move that to two and then in a couple of days we'll do all three walks at 10 minutes each.
December 24, 2009
December 24, 2009: Day 22 Merry Christmas
We've broken out the dog coats to walk in the snow for the past couple of days. Today the snow has stopped and it's bright and sunny and beautiful. The snow on our street is still fluffy and "safe for Winston to walk on", so we've already been out a couple of times today. We're all so happy and thankful.
Merry Christmas to everyone!
Merry Christmas to everyone!
December 22, 2009
December 22, 2009: Day 20 -- GREAT NEWS!
They took him back to remove the bandage and next thing I knew Dr. Flynn came out and asked if I'd seen the seroma lately. I said that I'd been peeking at it but that it was hard to get a good look or perpective while it's in the bandage. He said that it was pretty small and that he didn't think that they could get the bandage tight enough to put enough pressure on it. He thought it would be a better idea to get Winston moving so that the lymphatic fluids can do their thing (my words, not his). I know that Winston would rather be walking than laying around in a bandage so this sounded good to me. Dr Flynn thought they were putting a new bandage on so he went back to see. He said if it was already on, I could take it off in a day or two.
A few minutes later he came back out with an unbandaged Winston. The seroma does look smaller. I felt it and it feels totally different than it did last week. It's all firm and lumpy with no thin patches that feel like I could poke a finger into it. HOORAY!
We went for a five minute walk as soon as we got home. I also let him try going up the stairs. No problems there. Later on he had no problems going back down (that's the scary part), so I decided to move him upstairs permanently. I moved his bed up there and both dogs settled in a circle around his bed like yin and yang. I tried to get a picture, but by the time I got the camera, Winston sat up and watched our neighbor walk her dog by. It's a happy picture anyway.
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