It’s been about a month of living with Bailie’s leg injury now. We sure wish she would tell us how she did it, but she is remaining tight lipped about that information. Tuesday, Bailie had her ultrasound appointment at TC Rehab to check on the injury from the inside. Once again, we apologize for poor photos, but the photographer was focusing on the appointment again, not on photography. I guess that is a good thing.
We were not expecting any real good news because she is still limping on her back right leg now and then. To start the appointment, Bailie had to have her back right side shaved for the ultrasound to work properly. At first she was unsure about the razor, but she did well and did not need to be sedated.
It didn’t take long and a nice patch of her back right side was shaved. Shaving doesn’t hurt, and with her skin colors, it doesn’t even stick out too much!
One thing we did learn about her furs is how thick they are close to the skin. She has real thin furs, so we have always wondered why she doesn’t freeze in the winter. Now we know that close to the skin it is super thick.
Next it was up on the table for the ultrasound. No sedation was needed because she was very cooperative, and she provided steady tail thumping the entire twenty minutes.
As we suspected, she is still injured and the area is starting to develop scar tissue. Now what? After getting a look in the inside, we know she has a grade three strain on her right Tensor Fascia Latae, and a grade two strain on her right Sartorius. When the leg injury spot is touched, she is definitely in pain, but it is a small area the size of a postage stamp. Dr. Julia looked at her knee too, but it looks perfect!
The plan now is to keep resting, no wild pants, long walks, jumping, or other silly business until at least August. Starting next week for three weeks she will have therapeutic ultrasound treatments twice a week. Complete healing takes six to eight weeks. Another shaving opportunity will present itself the beginning of August for an ultrasound recheck. If things look good, she will get a plan for returning to normal activity. Some good news is that if it heals properly, the chances of it happening again are slim.
What about the barn hunt last weekend, or future nose work? Bailie is not Madison! She is a slower searcher, doesn’t dive and fly around a barn hunt course, so she was fine there. Nose work is a pretty quiet sport for her, and her body. She is faster than I am in searches, but she doesn’t jump around on things in search areas, so she continues to do that. Another positive about sports events is she is forced to be in her kennel or the car which keeps her from moving around to much and lets her injured area rest more.
We are super thankful the injury is something that will heal. No surgery is required, and it could be so much worse. Mom and my sisters are having a hard time dealing with it because they are normally so active. My sisters don’t understand why they are not allowed to play, and that is hard on Mom. Nonetheless, we are thankful it is getting better, we have a great rehab vet close by, and Bailie is healing.
We are joining Brian’s Home Blog in the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop!
We are so glad that it will heal up with enough time and I’m sure it’s tough not being able to romp n’ roll. Heal up soon sweet Bailie. Thanks for joining the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop!
Thank you. It is hard for her to have to scale back on fun, but in the long run it will pay off.
I’m with you… it will take a while but it will heal… we send positive thoughts, potp and healing hugs to you Bailie and we hope that the recheck in august brings super good news to you…
We sure hope so because resting is not something our family does very well.
That’s kind of a good news, bad news thing. Bad she is still in pain, and recovery is a couple more months. But good she doesn’t need surgery.
She isn’t really in pain much unless she overdoes it, but then after a step or two she is fine again. It would be easier to keep her resting if she was in pain.
Not 100% positive report but a problem that can be cured with out surgery- so on whole – good news.
Not only no surgery, but it will heal, unlike tendons that do not…someone explained that to my mom 😉
Aw, poor Bailie. I can so relate to your Mom’s sadness. When Callie tore her first ACL, Shadow strained hers late last year, and Ducky sprained her wrist last summer doing zoomies…knowing they didn’t understand why they had to rest and just wanted to play was tough on me too. We know it’s best for them, but having to enforce it is so hard on us, emotionally. But the good news is it’s NOT a tear and assuming it heals properly – which it probably will – it won’t happen again. So, hugs all around – especially for your Mom – and POTP to Bailie from Shadow and Ducky. (BTW, Shadow still has another week of rest while the stem cells migrate through her body. So the two girls can commiserate this week.)
They should get together and have a dog bed party. Not being able to have fun is a real bummer. At least she can do some things.
What a model patient Bailie was during her ultrasound! Now…hopefully she can take it easy for a bit while everything heals. Hopefully the warm weather will help make her(and Madison) more tired.
xoxo,
Jakey, Arty & Rosy
We will be traveling a lot, and that forces them to keep quiet which is good. Otherwise, they are content to wrestle and chase in the house which is not allowed, but no regard for the rules.
Your mom is so smart to keep working with the doctors. Thank goodness no surgery! Good work Mom on gathering more and more information! We have two comments: that tongue! we do that too at the vet –pant, pant, pant. And the TAIL! how hilarious. She thumped along the entire time! Well, fingers crossed for Bailie to stay calm and continue healing. Interesting post, Emma. Have a good day. your doodle friend Dash
Thank you my friends. The tail thumping really amused Dr. Julia. We would expect a broken tail, not these leg muscles being broken!
I’m happy that there is no mention of surgery. A patient patient is a good patient.
If Madison was not around, it would be a lot easier, but by evening she is very frustrated and refuses to leave Bailie alone. It is tough.
Bailie we hope you heal really well. And while you are on rest, make the most of it – go for the extra special treats and scritches!
Mom has scaled back her food and treats since she isn’t working out much, but she still gets some, and plenty of snuggling too.
Glad she is getting better and she did such a great job at the vets!! ♥️
Normally dogs are sedated for it all, but even at the first exam, she was such a good patient, they knew she would be fine without sedation. Smart pup.
Her hair really is thick next to her skin! That is very interesting. We are glad that her injury will heal and are sending our love to y’all.
The keeping the wild pants at bay is the hardest part of it all!
Oh thank DOG that no surgery is required and that it will heal! Also I am happy that she can still participate in some “lower key” activities til August, at least she won’t just be sitting around. That has to be at least somewhat of a relief for you!
It is. Mom says it is like her broken ankle, depressing. When you are used to being active all the time, it is hard to sit around.
We are glad Bailie is making progress, but know it must be so tough to have to continue to keep her quiet. At least she can still do some of her sports! That’s a very good thing. Hang in there!
We know it is what has to be done, but we all feel bad she feels so good but still can’t do what she wants to do.
Glad you got good news.
We are too, thank you.
So glad it’s something that’ll heal without surgery. Hope she’s feeling better soon.
She feels great most of the time, and that is a problem because she doesn’t want to rest. Hopefully the therapy will help and she will heal soon.
Good luck with the rest of your healing.
It sure takes a long time. We are all tired of her having to rest.
So glad it will heal. With it being summer couldn’t be a more pawfect time to not be moving around so much since it’s so hot.
xoxo,
Matt & Matilda
Better now than in the winter, but still hard to not race around and play.
It is really hard having to be patient and wait. When Soth had surgery, he and Rye were so sad that they couldn’t play, so I think that’s probably the hardest part! I’m glad that noseworks and barn hunt are still allowed–that has to make things a little easier!
It is hard for Madison and Bailie since they have played every day almost since the day Madison arrived. They both are sad when they are told no to playing, but we hope the therapy helps and in a few weeks Bailie will be clear to have more fun again.