updated July25, 2001
June 11, 2001
Just a quick note from Jessie the night before his second surgery.
Linda has the house all warmed up and is getting ready to give me my final bath before my hip surgery tomorrow. Boy the house sure feels nice! Linda was awfully busy cleaning and washing out her laundry room, getting all my bedding washed up and my wire kennel all fixed up. Seems very familiar with what happened last time I went to Dr. Munjar for my first hip surgery.
Linda said to enjoy tonight in bed with her as tomorrow night it is back in the old cage for me, back on the leash when I go outside and I will be living in that old laundry room round the clock. But it really isn't too bad since Linda brings in the TV and good reading material and light and spend lots of time with me on the floor.
I sure am lucky to have my best friend, Linda taking such good care of me. What would I ever do without her?
So I am off to see Dr. Munjar tomorrow morning and then we start this all over again. But at least it will be the last time. Sure glad dogs have only 2 hips!!! I love you all for everything Golden Bond and its supporters are doing for me. It makes me feel very humble to know that we are just $200.00 shy of making our goal of $6,000.00. Wow, aren't you all something.
I had the opportunity to spend time with Jessie today. It was a beautiful day and he was outside enjoying the sunny, warm day. Linda had him in a confined area so he could not just take off after a squirrel. He was obviously enjoying being outside.
Jessie seems to be limiting the amount of weight he puts on this new hip. He seems more tentative on the leg when he is walking. He will even hop some and hold up his leg. Since this replacement was such a good fit it is felt this is happening because his leg muscles have atrophied so much that it is more difficult to walk without a limp.
Linda continues the range of motion exercises with him several times a day. He isn't real fond of them but he puts up with them and is really quite a good patient.
Jessie is still confined to the laundry room. It is really quite a lush place with seating for all. Several beds for Jessie and a cushion for Linda. The TV is left on much of the time for companionship for Jessie and entertainment for Linda, of course.
Linda will be getting some new pictures of Jessie for us all to see. Those sad eyes and sweet disposition just melt your heart. We may even think about bringing him to the July 15th meeting at the Oregon Humane Society, if he is up to it and Dr. Munjar approves. Wouldn't that be fun!!!
Thats me with Linda
(my most excellent foster Mother) getting ready to see Dr Munjar.
June 27, 2001
Today was Jessie's two week check up with Dr. Munjar. Linda decided to sedate him to keep him a little more calm so we came in looking like the walking dead! Jessie's lower eye lids just missed hitting the floor.
Dr. Munjar was extremely pleased with Jessie's progress. It is so interesting comparing how Jessie now reacts to having his legs moved in all directions and how he reacted on that very first visit. That first time, if you remember, he made little bites up and down my arm. Now he just lays there looking around like no big deal.
Jessie's only problem, if you want to call it that, is his total lack of muscle in the new hip. There is basically no muscle. It actually sinks in so he has work to do building up that muscle. Linda moves and stretches the leg and is giving him longer walks but he is quite a way from normal muscle tone. Dr. Munjar's clinic is in the process of putting in a hydrotherapy pool, but it is not ready yet. He also will be hiring a vet specific to physical therapy for animals. So that is pretty impressive. We'll just hope it is completed in time to help Jessie.
Jessie however, is now sitting on that hip, not limping much at all and rolls over on the hip too. The only thing he is not yet doing is scratching his head with that leg.
I took pictures of Jessie today so we should have pictures on the web soon. You will see that the hair is growing back on the first hip, the left one, and he's still pretty shaved looking on the right. Jessie got a clean bill of health, the stitches came out and all is well.
The best news is that Jessie will be able to join us at our next Golden Bond meeting ( Jesse's Coming Out Party!) which takes place at the Oregon Humane Society on Columbia Blvd. Portland, Sunday July 15 , 2001 at 1 pm. It is in the education room which are the door just to the right of the main entrance. Because Jessie will be there we probably should not invite our own dogs as Jessie will be excited enough with just people, let alone dogs and people! If it is a cloudy and cool day, then we could put Jessie in the car and the rest of the dogs could come in the room. It's always fun to see everyone's dogs plus all the foster dogs.
That is it for now. Again, I just can't thank people enough for their generous donation to Jessie's worthy cause. He really is a sweet dog and will be treasure to adopt.
Jessie has had lots of company this week. First of all Murphy, the dog with cataracts, came for a five day visit as his foster home went on vacation. They played a lot under the watchful eye of Linda. Actually she felt the exercise was good as Jessie is no longer limping and gets around and up and down (on furniture that is) quite easily now. They had a great time renewing their friendship.
Now there is an elderly girl, we named Autumn, with Linda and Jessie. We picked her up from the couple that found her as a stray. She was quiet a mess as she must have been on her own for sometime or else very poorly cared for. She went directly to the vet on Saturday and after a initial visit it was decided to take some blood and have her return on Tuesday. So Autumn is now sharing space with Jessie and Linda. Autumn is pretty slow on her feet so not a lot of playing is going on she is certainly something to keep Jessie interested.
Jessie will be the main attraction on Sunday at the GB meeting at the Humane Society at l pm. We think that it would also be fun to have Murphy join us as he is another special needs boy. Maybe Autumn will also be up to visiting. This will be a good time for everyone to see our special needs kids as this will be a focus of the meeting. Dr. Bill Hughes may not be able to attend but I hope to be able to share some of his thoughts.
I think you all will be quite pleased with Jessie's ability to get around. Needless to say he will be in Heaven as people is just about all he will focus on. He literally won't know where to go first.
See you all on Sunday. We are asking that you not bring your own Goldens as it may be too overwhelming for Jessie.
Thanks, Patsy.
July 16,2001
As you all know, yesterday was Jessie's big coming out party at the Golden Bond general meeting. And that he did!! He never stopped greeting, running, rolling over on his back or whatever from the time he walked into the Humane Society until we all left. What a cutie! He was just beside himself with all the people and attention. He definitely was telling all of us that "Hey look guys, see what I can do on my new hips?" And yes, he can do just about anything.
We also were able to meet and spend some time with Murphy, the 4 year old male that will be having cataract surgery this Thursday. He is a real sweetheart and definitely won everyone's hearts. Also joining us was a fairly recently rescued dog, Autumn, who is about 11 years old and big and sweet and just about pure white. We're looking for a calm foster home for her. She is now fostering with Jessie.
So it was an enjoyable get-together but for Jessie it was a real blow-out! In fact we talked about the fact that it is time to put Jessie on the web-site as his four week check-up is next week and then he really can be adopted. So look for Jessie appearing on our web-site soon. The time seems to have flown by from when we decided to go ahead and do the surgery to now when he is a new bionic dog. We'll have one more update after his surgery, then he'll be up for adoption and the final update will be who is Jessie's forever home. I know that we will all look forward to that! Thanks for hanging in there with us through all this. I think we all agree that it was certainly worth it.
Thanks, Patsy
July 25,2001
Jessie had his last check up for his hip today. He had x-rays to make sure all was well and would continue to be so. Dr. Munjar was able to do a full extension of both hips with no reaction from Jessie as to discomfort. When Jessie first had this done before surgery, the extension was so painful that he tried to bite anyone close enough to make contact and had to be sedated. Today, no problem!
As you know, Jessie is now on the web-site and up for adoption. He will need another check up in six months, which would be in December. Also, Dr. Munjar would like to meet with the adopters, before the adoption is final, to make sure that they fully understand all that Jessie has been through. There are some precautions to be aware of. Not so much for activity but the understanding that the hips are actually foreign objects in his body so there needs to be awareness that infection is a possibility if he has a cut as it could settle in the hips.
Jessie is a new dog. He really needs an active family who will give him all the time and attention he desires. So we will look forward to Jessie finding his forever home soon!
Thanks again for all help and concern that you all have shown Jessie.
Patsy