Today wasn't an overly exciting day. Newton had his bandage changed once again. Although today, he got out of the mini-van on his own without me needing to get help. I think that is pretty cool. Since the gang at VCA Douglas County Animal Hospital knew that Newton would be going up to CSU tomorrow, they put the pretty paw bandage on. I had to get a good chuckle out of that.

Last night, Dr. Perry sent me an email. The culture results from his incision infection came back and it looks like another antibiotic is needed (Newton is so not going to be a happy boy). One of the bugs that was in his incision is relatively resistant to the Cephalexin. Therefore, in addition to the Cephalexin, Newton will have to take 3 tablets of Enrofloxacin (136 MG) twice a day.

As for the histopath results of Newton's limb, the preliminary results came back as inflammatory with numerous infiltrates of immune cells (lymphocytes and plasma cells) with no signs of infectious agents. No overt tumor cells were noted in these preliminary sections. In essence, the wait continues.

I think that Newton would rather take car rides to the dog park than to the vets...although he is quite the trooper. Today, Newton saw Dr. Rewick.

Newton is still feeling a bit run down. I'm hoping that this new set of antibiotics will help (they are certainly expensive enough). For the first round, I hid them in McDonald's Double Cheeseburgers (only a buck). He must have been hungry because he scarfed them down. Getting his Cephalexin and round two of the Enrofloxacin down was a different story.

I wish that I could get Newton to eat something. He didn't even want to eat any chicken skin...which is one of his favorites. I just want my boy to feel better. It hurts me to see him this way. I want my Newton back.

We went back to VCA Douglas County Animal Hospital to have his bandage changed. Today, Dr. Eppard saw him. She said that the incision is still looking good. I also had her draw some blood so that we can send it in to Canine Health Information Center (CHIC). CHIC was started by the Canine Health Foundation's (CHF) in cooperation with Orthopedic foundation for Animals (OFA). CHIC is developing a database which will serve as an information resource for researchers, breeders, and dog owners.

Of course, it wasn't until I got home and couldn't figure out why Newton's t-shirt was all wet, when I realized that Dr. Eppard didn't bandage the "Y" portion of his incision or the drain. That will teach me not to pay attention.

Newton spends most of the morning in his room (not sure if he is still feeling run down from the surgery or if he is depressed). In the afternoon, he is a bit more social and will come hang out with me. He doesn't seem to want to eat much either.

I decided to sleep on the couch so that Newton could cuddle with me.

Newton is still doing well. The swelling in his right leg is going down. Although his back legs seem to be a bit stiff. He spent most of the day either lounging in front of the TV or sleeping in his room.

Laura came over and helped me change his bandage. He is still seeping quite a bit and his incision (while the hole isn't nearly as big) doesn't look any different to me. Of course, it wasn't until after I got the new bandage on that I realized that I didn't take any pictures. Opps, my bad!

Dr. Perry wanted us to have the bandage changed everyday. So, we loaded up the mini van once again and headed to VCA Douglas County Animal Hospital. Newton weighed in at 152 lbs. Since Dr. Roberts is still on vacation, we saw Dr. McVicker. She said that everything looked good and showed me how to do the bandage so that I wouldn't get hit with an emergency room charge if I had them change it on Sunday.

Newton is doing pretty well today. He is still a bit lethargic, but is eating well and is a bit more spunky than he was on Friday. As I figured, he is not a fan of the new antibiotic addition and is doing everything in his power to avoid any pills. He is also being a brat when it comes to changing his t-shirt.

I realized today that I am going to have to get me a new car. Getting into a Jeep Wrangler that has a 3.5 inch lift just isn't going to be an option. At the moment, I am leaning towards a Honda element.