A Good Ending to a Bad Day

Yesterday evening, Justin and I took Lexie up to his parents' house without her sisters.  We thought maybe the little solo adventure might raise her spirits.  However, as usual, when she got into the back seat of the car, she just laid down and didn't even bother sticking her head out the window. 

When we got to his parents' house, she did really well navigating through the unfamiliar environment, and was even kind of lovey with Justin's folks, which kind of surprised me since she's only been around them maybe twice before.  We had brought some of her canned food with us because we were hoping that the excitement might spark her appetite a little, but she wasn't interested in the dog food at all.  As we were eating the delicious chicken enchiladas that Justin's mother had made for dinner, however, Lexie seemed to perk up a bit.  She seemed interested in the smell of our dinner, so finally Justin said he was going to give her his leftovers to see if she'd eat.  Boy, did she ever!  In fact, she seemed to enjoy the enchiladas so much that Justin's mother told him to go fix her another plate, which Lexie also eagerly gobbled up!  I cannot tell you how happy this made me.  :)

After we ate dinner, we went out to the back yard for a little impromptu photo session.  (Disclaimer:  Justin did not want to be a photo because he is several months past due for a haircut, but we all insisted he be in at least one.)

After taking photos, we went back inside to visit for a bit, and Lexie made herself right at home.  I don't know how she knew that Justin's mother had laid out a big comforter on the living room floor for her, but Lexie walked right over to it and plopped down.  In fact, when it was time to go, I had a hard time getting her off the comforter to put on her harness.  I don't think she wanted to leave!

The best part of the evening, though, was the ride home.  Once again, we rolled down the windows for Lexie, but expected her to just lay down in the back seat.  Instead, I turned around to find her doing this:

She was smiling with her head out the back window!!!  Justin and I were beaming!  In fact, we circled the block three more times just because we didn't want her to stop smiling.  I tried to grab a photo of her with my Nikon, but by the time I had it set up she had relaxed a little and wasn't as smiley.  She still looks very happy and peaceful, though:

Needless to say, Lexie was pretty worn out after such an exciting evening.  She barely even noticed when our friends came over to watch HBO shows.  However, she did let out a few of her signature moans and groans to let people know that she would like to be rubbed and pet, which also made me smile.  At one point, Sam laid down near Lexie on the floor, and Lexie kept moaning and wiggling closer and closer to Sam.  She wanted to cuddle with her so badly!  Finally, she made her way over to Sam's paws and laid her chin on them, and that seemed to be enough to satisfy her cuddle needs:

I went to bed a very happy momma last night.  This morning, Lexie still didn't want to eat very much, but I managed to get her to take her antibiotics and one Tramadol.  I asked Justin to see if he could get her to eat some more, and I told him I was going to leave it up to him whether or not to give her another Tramadol (her usual dose is two every 8-12 hours, but we really would like to start weening her, as I'm curious if the pain medication is contributing to her decreased appetite and general shakiness/weakness). 

She seemed pretty alert this morning, though.  While I had her outside on her leash, I noticed a girl walking towards us in the distance.  I didn't want to make eye contact with the girl when she walked by us, though, because I was afraid she may stop to talk to us and then Lexie would bark at her.  So, I just kept talking to Lou as the girl approached, and I noticed that Lexie was sort of "watching" her as she walked by.  I thought, "Wow!  That's pretty amazing.  She didn't even try to bark!"  So, I glanced up at the walker, and it turned out to be Kristy, who was standing there looking kind of offended that I was ignoring her.  I laughed and apologized, explaining that I didn't recognize her from a distance and also explaining why I was trying not to make eye contact.  As Kristy and I were speaking, Lexie started walking towards her.  When she reached Kristy's legs, she gave her a little "Dobe hug" to her shins, which kind of melted me a little.  Lexie really does love Kristy.  (Please check out Kristy's blog, which is full of nutrition, fitness, and even financial tips, as well as some funny little stories about her day-to-day happenings.)

Anyway, what I'm learning is that there are probably going to be "good days" and "bad days" for quite a while until all this dust finally settles.  I was expecting more of a steady progression from "bad" to "good" days during Lexie's recovery process, but it just doesn't seem to be working out that way.  If only all of her bad days could end as well as yesterday.  Here's hoping they will from now on.  :)

Making Momma Worry

Yeah, I'm worrying a little about my Lou.  She's not eating, she's losing weight, but she's also drinking a TON of water and peeing inside the house.  I thought her increased thirst and decreased appetite might be side effects to her Tramadol (pain medication).  We tried cutting back her pain medication for about a day, but then the following night I noticed she was trembling.  So, we decided we might be trying to ween her off the pain medication too soon and resumed giving her two Tramadol in the morning and two more at night.

As for her desire to eat, it's hard to tell if she's just being picky or if she's genuinely not hungry.  Justin and I ate dinner at restaurants almost every night this past week so that the girls wouldn't smell our food and think that they had any food options other than their own dog food.  Despite our brilliant plan, Lexie never seemed interested in eating her own food.  I got her to nibble some dog food a few nights ago, but it wasn't much, and I didn't see her eat again for two whole days afterwards.  Obviously, this started to worry us, so Justin and I decided last night to give into Lexie's "hunger strike," if that's what it was, to see if she'd eat some people food.  If she turned her nose up at the people food, then we'd know there was a more serious problem happening.

Well, after Lexie anxiously gobbled up an entire package of faux crab meat and two slices of American cheese last night, we've determined that she does still have an appetite after all.  Now, the question is how do we get her to start eating dog food again?!?!  We've thought about buying some canned food and mixing it in with her dry food, but you have to remember that Jocie and Sam are going to want to eat the canned food, too, and canned food is more expensive than dry food.  Therefore, we're kind of afraid to "spoil" them on canned food, as well.  Lexie HAS to eat, though!  She's lost so much weight that I noticed her harness is actually falling off of her now.  She also seems kind of weak on her feet.  

Then, there's the issue of Lexie using the dining room rug as her new toilet.  This is infuriating me, but I have no idea what to do!  The couple of times that I've actually caught her peeing on the rug, I've told her "no," rushed her outside, and then praised her like crazy when she finished peeing in the grass.  I just feel bad yelling at her too much because she drinks a TON of water, so I know she must have to pee a lot, and we're not there at all hours of the day to let her out every time she needs to go.  I'm just worried that maybe this amount of thirst, especially coupled with a decreased appetite, could possibly be a sign that something isn't right.  On the other hand, I'm also worried that she might get into the habit of peeing in the dining room whenever she has to go instead of trying to hold it until I can take her outside.

UUUuuuuuuugggghhhhh!!!!!!  

On a better note, her incisions are looking fantastic.  The swelling over her right eye is looking better and better every day.  Here is a comparison of how she looked Monday compared to how she looked yesterday:

You can see how much the swelling has gone down, and also how her eyes are kind of "sinking in" now.  I just wish I could be happier about the healing progress, but for the time being I'm just too worried about everything else.  She does have an appointment to have her stitches removed this coming Wednesday, though, so I plan to talk about all these concerns with Dr. Ellis.