Dixie showing off her mobility skills.

Adam's better at this video thing.

I think Dixie is feeling pretty good today. We took a walk down to the end of the block (4 houses down!) and back. She wanted to go further, but I didn't have a leash with me. Those bunnies – I just know she'll go after one if she sees one. Last thing I want to see is a major face plant!


Dixie's back!

Dixie's been laying on her left side where her leg used to be. I think that's a good sign. It is the most bruised today though. It's weird. The top part of the incision doesn't have bruising; all the bruising is on the bottom. I guess gravity is the cause. It's redish-purple. I think it will be gone by next week. I'm only giving her a Tramadol and Rimadyl in the AM and PM now. No point in giving her more drugs than she needs. She's also still taking her Cepha antibiotic and will finish that whole bottle in a couple weeks.

Dixie's incision.

I ordered some medicines from 1-800-PetMeds yesterday. No shipping, no tax and $5 coupon code! Sweet. I ordered a big bottle of Super Joint Enhancer Chewable Tablets and Super VitaChews (both on sale!). As soon as they show up, Dixie will start taking those too. They are chewable—no more shoving my finger down her throat! Except for her fish oil pills, but wrap it up with a little lunch meat or bread, and it goes down like… like lunch meat or bread. Ha.

We are hoping to get back into our house today. Although it's not off to a very good start—the A/C guy forgot to set his alarm and was 2 hours late this morning… *sigh*

Life's pretty good.

Dixie on the way to the vet, laying in a very awkward position. It was funny.

Dixie had a check up this morning. She has been given a clean bill of health and doesn't need to see the vet again until Tuesday, September 8 to get her stitches out. Dr. Stephanie said she looks great. She pressed on Dixie's chest around the incision and Dixie didn't even flinch. There is a little more bruising today than before, but I think that is normal. We also think Dixie's muscles and joints are more sore today, so the doc recommended giving her a Rimadyl. It's an anti-inflammatory and should help. For some reason, I thought it was another pain killer. Dr. Higgins gave her a 24-hr shot of it on Wednesday, so she just went one day without it.

We visited our friend Clint today for a bagel breakfast. Dixie got to meet his and Melissa's two little dogs Willie and Mason. Dixie seemed to really like the two boys, and even ran-hopped around with them. She's also getting good at hopping over things. She totally jumped over a foot-tall wall and didn't face-plant.

Even though we've been travelling a lot lately, we kind of feel like skipping town again. Wish we knew someone up in Payson or up north somewhere. Dixie can't hike right now, but just laying a blanket out in the woods for a picnic sounds delightful. For now, we are held up at the Hattaway's until tomorrow (fingers crossed).

"When it rains, it pours." More like, when it's hot, it gets hotter.

Well, our air conditioner has officially crapped out. It needs a new compressor or to be sent to the dump and replaced with a new, more efficient unit. Dixie, our computers and I toughed it out until about 3pm when it got up to 90 degrees in the house. It was just too hot for a post-amp patient (I'm learning the lingo!) and our computers shouldn't be running in high temps. So we packed up the Beetle with Dixie and her stuff in the hatchback and the iMac buckled in the front seat. Oh boy, how nice cold A/C feels blowing on your face.

In the back seat earlier last week.

At my parents' house, Dixie met up with Roxy and Pixie. They could tell something was wrong with Dixie—there was definitely extra sniffing. They all settled down pretty quickly. Adam met up with us after meeting with the A/C sales guy. We laid on the couch cooling off.

We headed south in Scottsdale to the Hattaway's. Lucky for us, they are off having fun on vaca so there was an empty house for us to crash in. We could have stayed at my parents, but Dixie can't maneuver stairs yet. I didn't want to have to carry her up and down the stairs to the bedroom.

Dixie on drugs.

Dixie slept like a log, unlike me. I tossed and turned all night. I think today calls for a nap!

Good news — Dixie is only taking one kind of pain killer now, Tramadol. We'll see how she does!