Happy Birthday Mags!

Ok, so this is a bit late.  Maggie turned TWO on Sept. 29.  This year her birthday was a lot more low-key than last year.  No party, no cake, no party hats to torment her.  When I was in Vegas over my birthday I stopped at a dog store and bought her a Happy Birthday cookie and set it aside for her big day.

Her day was spent sleeping in, playing, laying around - just like every other day.  She went NUTS for the cookie though.  She scarfed it right down.  She did make a trip to the vet to get her knee drained though.  They all wished her a Happy Birthday.  Her Facebook friends also wished her a happy day and I even got a few texts.  So glad she is loved by so many people.

We sure do love our Mags.  She was a brightness for me in a time of darkness and loneliness when I so needed something to love and take care of.  That is why she means so terribly much to us and we'd do anything for her.  Not just because she's the sweetest thing and absolutely endearing and brave and tough and has those big brown eyes.  Which are all comments we hear frequently at the vet's when they talk about how she's one of their favorites.  It's a good thing too because we're there almost every other day, no lie.

 Maggie's poor leg has been swelling up with fluid again.  It is sooooo frustrating because after the surgery (second), the infection, etc. she was finally starting to get confident on it and start getting around.  (Note all the pills she was taking - inflammation, two antibiotics, three seizure pills, two pepto-like pills and one immodium).  As she has gotten up and on her leg it just keeps swelling.  The fluid last time is what dislocated her knee so we go to the vet every few days to ensure that doesn't happen.

When we were there last week the doc made her cry (which she RARELY does, she's so tough and stoic) which in turn made me cry.  He didn't charge me for the visit, I think because I cried.  haha  No, he's been amazing and has charged us for maybe 25% of this whole thing because he expects optimal results and will work until we get there.

We've been biding our time until she could see the orthopedic specialist who came last Wednesday.  The good news was that the knee inflammation isn't something totally rare and kooky, but the bad news is the only way to fix it is with ANOTHER surgery.  So I have her scheduled for Monday.  It makes me absolutely sick (the vet too) that she has to go through this all over again, back at square one.  Pain for days and unable to walk for a while.  I just can't even fathom or think about it too much, it breaks my heart to little itty bitty pieces.  But it has to happen and there is no reason to prolong the inevitable and the sooner we do this, the sooner she can get better.  Prayers for our pup please!

What they are doing this time is more aggressive.  What is causing the inflammation is that her patella is slightly twisted so it's not allowing her knee cap to be completely stable (it's still sliding a bit) and it's causing things to swell. So what they have to do is cut off part of the bone, reposition it, pin it and make sure that knee cap isn't going anywhere. I told him if there was anything slightly wrong to be as aggressive as possible and fix everything so we can be on the road to recovery.  What I've learned with Mags is that she usually needs the most aggressive treatment possible to be healed.  And somehow we always take our time and go through all our options before arriving at that conclusion and it takes us MONTHS to resolve.

So she'll be having her third knee surgery in three months.  We are so glad that she has a good doctor who cares so much and we'll be so glad when this is all behind us.