Greetings, my friends. Unfortunately this is not a happy Monday for my husband and me. Or Lacey, our precious golden retriever. We had to take her to the vet at 7:00 am this morning for surgery to repair her ACL. Trust me when I say it was stressful for us all. I feel so bad for our sweet girl…..
This all started around July 4th weekend. We went to my parent’s lake house to visit with family and cook out for the holiday. Of course we took Lacey, who loves the lake. All of the adults were sitting on the porch visiting and Lacey went down to the beach area where the teen-age kids were swimming and playing in the water. Lacey went with them and was swimming as usual. When the kids decided to go for a jet ski ride, I called Lacey to come up on the porch with us. No one saw what happened but when she came up the hill, she was limping and favoring her rear left leg. The only explanation we can think of is she tried to climb up the rock seawall and got her foot stuck. (My parents do have a set of stairs and a beach area but I guess Lacey chose the rocks instead.) Here is Lacey on our boat. This girl LOVES being on and in the water!
Because Lacey was still putting some weight on her leg, we thought perhaps she simply sprained her foot or leg. We took her to the vet the following day and they determined she had not broken a toe or bone and probably just sprained her foot. They gave us anti-inflammatory and pain meds and sent her home with instructions to come back in a few weeks if she didn’t get better. Some days she seemed fine and wanted to play and others she wouldn’t put much pressure on that foot. We figured because she is 8 ½ years old maybe she just wasn’t healing as quickly.
Last week we took Lacey back to the vet because she just wasn’t bouncing back. The vet put her to sleep to perform a sedation x-ray and determined she had in fact torn her ACL. (anterior cruciate ligament) Surgery was scheduled initially for this Thursday but they had a cancellation, thus an opening for today. The vet said Lacey is an excellent candidate for the surgery because she is only 8 and in very good physical condition. (i.e. good hips, not over weight, etc.) We couldn’t feed her anything this morning prior to the surgery so we took her out to go potty then took her to the vet.
Once we got to the vet a sweet couple was getting back into their car from dropping off their dog. We were getting Lacey out of the car when the gentleman said something like, he guessed all of the dogs were coming in for x-rays today. I told him that Lacey was actually coming in for surgery to repair her ACL. I think he could tell I was upset so he asked if they could pray for her. Of course I said yes. So, my husband came around to the side and the husband and wife prayed over Lacey and prayed for us. He also prayed for the doctor performing the surgery and for a quick and complete recovery for Lacey. I can’t tell you how much this moved me! I’m writing this with tears in my eyes for the stranger’s kindness and compassion. Some people wouldn’t think to pray for a pet, but this man knew how much Lacey means to us and for him to reach out and pray for us in the parking lot really touched my heart. (This was Lacey last night wanting to play frisbee despite her injured leg.)
After the prayer the couple petted Lacey, and we took her inside. We signed the consent forms and left Lacey and Lamb Chop with the vet assistant. We wanted Lacey to have something comforting and familiar when she wakes up from surgery and LC is her favorite toy. They explained the surgery is very painful so they will keep her sedated most of today and tonight. Tomorrow they will wake her up, feed her and get her on her feet. She won’t be able to come home until Wednesday after 3:00 pm. She will have weeks of rehab but we hope she will be back to her bouncy self soon.
Because Lacey will have stitches in her leg we need to keep her from licking or scratching the wound as it heals. I saw a great idea online while I was researching this surgery. Someone cut a sleeve off of a sweatshirt and used it as a cover for the dog’s leg. We did something similar when Lacey had a hot spot on her face. I covered her foot with a sock and taped it so she couldn’t scratch her face with her nails. It worked! So, I”m going to fashion some sort of cover for her leg so she won’t have to wear the dreaded cone. I’ll let you know what I come up with and if it works.
The vet’s office is supposed to call us around noon today to update us on the surgery and how Lacey faired. I wish we could see her but that would probably only confuse and upset her. Hopefully the days will pass quickly, and by Wednesday I know she will be anxious to come home. I was so worried about her this morning but after the gentleman prayed for us, I really have a peace about the whole thing. For our family and friends who have already sent encouraging words and prayers, we thank you.
Thank you, to you my friends and family, for being here and supporting me, my blog and for loving Lacey! I will keep you posted on her progress. I hope you have a wonderful and blessed day! Much love, Dell <3
1 comment
Praying for our sweet Lacy. 💗