Nikki the Rottweiler

It’s only been 3 days since the surgery… Hard to believe actually when you look at Nikki and see just how far she’s come since Tuesday night.

I took this photo after coming home from work today. As I was putting my stuff in the office here, I heard a dog coming my way, assumed it was Sasha, and then was surprised to see Nikki! She had hopped in from the family room, then turned around and went back to the dining room to lay down…

Last night was  a good night. Mary and I decided that we’d try the “normal routine” and let Nikki sleep in her own bed in our room. So, when it came time to go to bed, I helped Nikki up the stairs, and she went to her normal spot and laid down.. She was a bit restless (She’s on a lower dose of Tramadol now) but that settled down fairly quickly..

She woke up once around 3:20am, whined for a minute, but then went right back to sleep. When my alarm went off at 5 this morning, she was still sleeping soundly..

After the normal shower/shave/etc. routine, I took the dogs outside (helped Nikki down the stairs, which she was a bit unsure of, but it didn’t take her long to realize that I literally had her back) and decided to remove the sling and let Nikki try to go to the bathroom on her own. She took off and “ran” (not sure you can call it that, but we’ll pretend) around the lawn, then did her business. She then came back towards me and sat down. I put the sling on her, got her back up the stairs to the deck, and then back in the house. She drank, then waited patiently for me to bring her treats. (The morning ritual is that all the dogs get a few treats once they come in from their business)

While at work, Mary let me know that Nikki was having a very normal day, was playful, and managed to spend some time outside in the sun as well. She also has a healthy appetite!

When I got home, Nikki was very playful and happy. Very much like her normal self..

You can see in the photos that we have wood floors throughout the main level of our house. Mary has distributed throw rugs over much of the wood, but for whatever reason, Nikki enjoys laying on the wood. She can’t get enough traction to stand when she’s laying on the wood like that, but she’s so smart that she’s figured out if she crawls to a rug, she can get the traction that she needs. It’s all about adjustment, and I am just completely and totally amazed at how quickly Nikki is adjusting to all of this..

Tomorrow is Saturday, so I’ll get to spend more of the day here at home with Nikki and see for myself how she’s healing.

We see Dr. Pyne again on Monday afternoon, and then I’m sure I’m going to start worrying about the next phase of the treatment (We don’t yet know the results of the pathology testing on the removed leg).

This entry was posted on January 22, 2010 at 17:12 and is filed under Post Surgery, Recovery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.