Apollo Is Doing Well

Apollo had his TPLO surgery last Wednesday, and is doing very well. We brought him home on Thursday afternoon. We are doing our best to keep him very calm, and feel pretty lucky that we are starting out with such a calm dog already. We are letting him roam free around the house while we are home, but he gets locked up in the laundry room while we are away. He is going a little stir crazy being cooped up in the house all the time, but he'll have to wait another 4 weeks before he can leave the house for short walks. Here are some pics of his leg after surgery.

He gets his staples out in 10 more days, and until then he has to wear the dreaded e-collar, or cone-head as we like to call it. He hasn't quite learned the finer points of managing the cone. He runs into everything with it, and then struggles to navigate around things. It's rather funny, but Apollo isn't laughing. Here is a pic when we first put the collar on him, and he was amused by it.

This second picture shows how he feels about it now.

That is not a very happy dog.

Matthew Makes a Funny

Friday night after the football game (Andrew's team won, by the way), we were walking to the car and Matthew sees a bright star in the sky.

He says to me, "Wow Mommy look at that beautiful star in the sky."
I said, "Yeah, buddy, pretty cool isn't it?"
He says, "Yeah, that's something you don't see every night."

I had to spend the next five minutes explaining to him why I was laughing so hard. Kids sure are good for a laugh sometimes.

Doggie Woes

So, it was determined that Apollo definitely needs a TPLO surgery, and we had to make some tough decisions about that last week. He is 8 years old, but still likely has another 4-6 years of life in him. It would be a different choice is he were already 12 years old. In the end, we chose to do the surgery for Apollo despite the financial and emotional hardships involved. He is one of our babies, and we just couldn't live with the other alternatives.

So, Apollo goes in for surgery this coming Wednesday. The hardest part will be the recovery - we have to keep him quiet (no exercise or excitement of any kind) for several weeks, and then very limited exercise for another 6-8 weeks after that. He's a Lab for crying out loud! And he needs to lose 15 pounds to reduce the risk of rupturing his ACL on the other leg. This isn't going to be easy for anyone. In the end, if all goes well, it will be worth it. He'll be able to return to normal activity for the rest of his days, which we hope are many.

Weekend Highs

Even though poor Apollo got injured this weekend (see post below), we did manage to squeeze in some good stuff, too. Here are some of the highlights of our weekend...

Andrew's high school football team won their first game of the season, 35-0.

Matthew rode his bike without training wheels for the first time.

Family miniature golf - always an adventure with Kayla. "Kayla, don't pick up all the other balls." "Kayla, get out of the water!"

Family dinner over at my parents house. Seeing my Dad doing so well just fills my heart with happiness. Our kids are so happy to be able to see Grandpa again.

2 hours of shopping for Melissa - alone.

2 park visits

Watched America's Funniest Videos with the kids on the couch - laughing together while cuddling is so wonderful.

Convinced Kayla that taking a nap would make the entire family much happier, and she actually bought it.

A visit to Bed Bath and Beyond with the kids. Kayla informs me half way through, "Mommy, I love you...but this is so booooooring."

Snuggling with my son and having him tell me that he loves me to "the end of the Universe."

Good times...

Our "First Baby" Gets Injured

On May 10, 1001, Andrew and I became the proud parents of the best darned chocolate lab one could ever ask for. He really is the best dog ever - so sweet and mellow. Apollo is wonderful with our kids, and we all adore him. The only time you ever see any sign of aggression is when the gas & electric company comes to check the meters in the back yard. You would think we have an attack dog living with us the way he barks and puts on such a great show - he does not like strangers or small rodents coming anywhere near the back yard uninvited. It's just the way I like it. He comes back in his dog door wagging his tail, proud of his big show.

For those of you sorority sisters out there, this behavior reminds me so much of how Andrew used to be called out to the front yard at the frat house when anyone uninvited showed up. He would puff out his chest and act tough, scaring off anyone with any real sense, but then would turn around and give us a big goofy smile.

Well, we threw a ball for Apollo Saturday afternoon and he chased after it with his normal gusto. Now Apollo is a retriever that doesn't actually retrieve. He just chases after the ball and then eats grass. You have to go physically get the ball and throw it again for him. I went to "retrieve" the ball and saw that Apollo wasn't putting any weight on his back foot. After careful examination we couldn't see or feel anything, and he didn't indicate any pain.

The next day we took him to the ER vet because there was no improvement, and were devastated to hear the he has torn his ACL, and will likely need surgery ($$$$) to recover any normal use of his back leg. It is so heartbreaking to see your pet injured and know that his quality of life has been impacted. This unfortunately means the end of any more doggie daycare for Apollo - his most favorite activity, next to eating cat poop.

[Insert sigh of frustration here]. Is it too much to ask that we just get to the end of the year without anyone else in our family visiting the ER, please?