Cooper & Spicy's Kingdom : 22 Hours

Hi everyone! I hope your Monday is off to a good start. Ours couldn't be better. At 3:40 this morning, we were awaken to the sweet sound of our furnace. Twenty-two hours earlier, we lost power due to some kind of Hydro equipment malfunction. We still don't know exactly what happened and why it took so long for the hydro to get restored as most people in the West Island got their power back much earlier. We were told by our city councillor that it is being investigated. Regardless, we were happy to have our heat back...our house dipped to 11 celsius during the night. By the time we got up at 6:30, it was already up to 15 celsius. As you can imagine, we slept with layers on and loads of blankets on our bed, including our two doggies who snuggled up against us all night. We could hardly move.

Enough about this and on to more important news, Russell's TKR surgery. Everything went as planned. We got to the hospital at 9:30 am last Thursday, Russell walked into the OR at 1:15 pm and returned to his room from recovery at 5:45 pm. I was waiting for him. It was a beautiful sight to see him joking around with the nursing staff. Given the time of day, there was no physio nor was he taken out of bed. Russell took great interest in telling me all about his surgery...he didn't feel a thing of course but heard everything...the sawing, the hammering, the conversation between the surgeon and the residents, he even smelt the grout that they used to put everything together. Although he was fully aware of everything going on around him, he felt as if his lower body didn't belong to him. Kind of cool, don't you think?

Russell came home Saturday afternoon. His release was conditional on being able to go up four steps on his own, with the use of a cane. The physiotherapist was impressed and gave him the thumbs up. His recovery since getting home is going as expected. Today, he had his first physio session and it went well. He was able to bend his knee at 74 degrees. When he left the hospital, it was between 55 and 60. The goal is to be able to bend it at 90 degrees by day 14 following surgery. Today is day 4, so he's on track to achieve this goal, no problem. The nurse also came today to change his dressing. His leg is quite swollen, to be expected. His staples will be removed next Monday. He's been doing his exercises religiously, while resting as he should. The pain is very intense but managed with a little "blue" pill and a couple of "white" pills. On a range of 0 to 10, he was told to never let the pain be above 4, so he is being smart about using his temporary new "best friends".

Of course, being home means that he sleeps better, eats better (surprise?) and is surrounded with love all around. No better way to recuperate I say. So, we're glad it's behind us. Although the rehabilitation is intense and quite long, each day can only get better. Getting a new knee is no small feat but the end result will far outweigh the pain he had with his old knee. As Russell's mom used to say on New Year's Day, "out with the old, in with the new".

Other than that, it is life as usual for me, more or less. Last week, I resumed Fun Obedience class with Cooper. It was a fun start to the new year as we did a Rally match. Spicy and I visited the residents the week prior and we had a nice visit. I will return to the gym this week. Russell can't drive for six weeks so I'm the designated driver for a while.

Cooper and Spicy are doing wonderful and are so happy to have their daddy home. They looked for him the two nights that Russell was in the hospital. They say that dogs can sense when their humans are sick or not well. So true. They have been by his side since he came home. Heartwarming to watch.

That's it for my blog this week. I leave you with a few photos that I took at Fun Obedience and a couple of Spicy's visit with the residents. Have a great week everyone!