Update

I can't believe it's Thursday already. Sorry it has been a few days since my last update. I've barely had time for a shower lately and I'm so tired all the time. Friday was a really good night, he slept through most of the night. In fact, I woke up worried about him since I had hardly heard a peep and I had to go check on him which of course just woke him up. But Saturday and Sunday were really rough. I don't know if it's because it was the first two nights without his pain patch (he hasn't been acting like he's in pain) or if he is just utterly tired of the crate routine. I think Richard and I got like two hours of sleep at a time with lots of cleaning disasters. Let's just say, I told Vinny, what happens in the crate, stays in the crate. :o) It wasn't a pretty sight though, that's for sure. We're trying our best to get him back on a normal eating and bathroom routine. We've also been taking turns sitting next to him on the floor while he wears his harness. This way he gets to be out a little bit but we can make sure he doesn't try to get up and run or jump. He's doing a little better at night but now his injured arm is looking funny. Yesterday I noticed that there's sort of a knot or protusion right on the side of his elbow area. At first I thought it looked odd and I didn't remember seeing it before. Then I told myself to not be hyper-focused that his swelling is finally going down and perhaps we're just now seeing the little bone there and it looks bigger because there's a plate or pin there. Richard assured me that the pin wouldn't just come loose so I'm not sure what's going on. He's not running, jumping, or playing. He'salmost always in the crate (sometimes he does though shake his head or try to move around in the crate) and when we take him out to the bathroom we carry him and then let him lightly walk about to go. They said he could do that, as long as it was carefully and not too much. This morning the area looks a little red and if I lightly touch it, whatever that is behind the skin does feel rather pokey. I'll really be in bad way if a pin or plate is loose. I don't think I can handle that, and I can't imagine how that could happen, Richard says they drill them into the bone really good. They didn't say that when the swelling goes down that we'd be able to see anything there, if so, I wish they would have so I'm not worrying about it. I think we're taking him in later just to be on the safe side. His follow up isn't until Wednesday and I don't want to take a risk by waiting that long. Of course, they want $100 just to look at it. When there's a will there's a way. I've been watching the vet shows on the animal channel where people's animals have had even more expensive surgeries and they just make it work. Although, it seems those vets have been willing to break up the fee where as mine didn't even give us an option other then signing him over. I'm still upset we had to go through that nightmare. It's better to be safe then sorry though, so we'll just have to do what we have to. As I write this, he's been whiny at me from the crate. I did have him in our room to keep him from being disrupted, but with his arm being a concern for me, I want to know whether or not he's moving about. He's finally quiet after I gave him a "Shhh." I've been watching the Dog Whisperer I can't believe I'm admitting this and Cesar Millan was saying that whenever an accident has happened with a dog, the owners often feel so terrible that they overcompensate and carry anxiousness over to the dog and become over protective. This in turn makes the dog feel insecure and he also doesn't sense you're in control. I don't want to become so over protective that I'm driving myself and the dog crazy. :o) I love his outgoing, frisky, and friendly personality, there's no way I want to see him become nervous and anxious because I can't let go of some horrible accident that happened to him. Cesar said dogs live in the moment, not in the past and not in the future. So I do have to let this go. Reliving it in my head and worrying about what might happen later isn't going to do anyone any good and I don't want to be that person. I've been firm with him when he needs to calm down, he's not going to get his feelings hurt, I'm keeping him from hurting himself. Once I stood there at the crate and calmly told him, "Vinny, no. Shhh!" I saw a big difference. Whew. I of course have upped his Cheerio intake just a little. I can't help it. He's like my baby. I'll try to get some pictures up here later or at his Flickr set, I just wanted to post an update while I had a moment. Thanks again to all who are Vinny's friends, Melissa & Vinny