How do parents do it? See their children in pain, I mean. Porter is laying on my office floor, crying in pain, and I am crying along with him. It makes me ache to see him in such obvious pain & discomfort.
I called our vet yesterday to make sure Porter's progress was on track, and he suggested that we might need to be working him a little harder. Porter will apply light pressure on his leg & foot, but if he has his way about it, he'll just hobble about on 3 legs. The key to this surgery being successful is for Porter to use his leg right away so it will heal properly.
I took him for a slightly longer walk last night, and on the way back, he laid down in the middle of the road. I had to literally pick him up off the ground, and then apologized to him the rest of the way home. Later on, we did his physical therapy, excercising his leg's range of motion as you would if a human had hip surgery, and it was clearly bothering him more than the previous night. Adam worked his leg, while I tried to comfort him & keep him from wriggling around. When Porter's cries & yelps started to escalate, I made Adam stop. I just couldn't take it anymore.
We have a follow-up appointment this morning with Dr. Taylor, and I think that well help ease my mind that we are doing what we should in terms of his recovery. I of course fear that we're either working him too hard, or not hard enough. Adam & I did let Porter know that we paid good money for that hip, and he damn well better use it! We'll have none of this 3-leg hobbling nonsense.
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