Slow Progress...

We thought that Daisy's recovery would mostly be about pain, but we had a completely different complication that we weren't expecting. She has lost control of her bowel and leaks while she is sleeping.

Lying down for dinner...

She doesn't have the drop foot so much anymore and is trying to use her leg normally which is a relief. She is also a lot more perky, even though she is still sedated and we are getting a glimpse of the "old" Daisy that was hidden over the past couple of days. She even gazed longingly at the sofa and I am sure was contemplating how to get up! We borrowed a huge crate from her dog walker and it has made all the difference as she has space now to turn around and stretch as she needs to. And because I am such a good shopper, I found some blankets for $3 a piece so I went crazy and bought 7 so that we can cycle them through the wash and keep her crate clean.

The incision...

The bruising is starting to come out and there is a lot of oedema around her stifle joint. She was also shaking a lot yesterday so because of these concerns, we put a call into to the specialist. Because it was Sunday, the call went through to the vet tech on duty who took all our concerns and phoned the on-call vet. He called straight back and gave us the advice and reassurance that we needed.

The bruising starting to appear

For the swelling, he recommended a warm compress if she would tolerate it, and for the pain he said that we can increase her medication. The shaking could be from pain, but we were advised to keep an eye on it. And the poop issue? Apparently this sometimes happens because of anaesthesia and should stop within a few days. She was also very bloated when she got home and I am sure that the drug cocktail that she is on, doesn't help. Jet has been using a towel as a makeshift sling to help take some of the weight of her back legs and it seems to help a little.

Jet walking her with a sling to help support her back legs

We have also reduced her food as she has gone from active dog to sedentary dog. She used to get 1.5 cups twice a day and we have reduced it to 3/4 cup twice a day of the dry food and we camouflage her meds in some of those meat rolls that we chop up into squares. She is such a good girl about everything and only needs a little food incentive to go back into her crate after her mini walks.

Last night we both searched the internet about the TPLO surgery to find out more about her recovery time. Everything said that the first 2 weeks are the hardest and it should start to improve rapidly after that. But also, to keep her from putting too much pressure on her leg for the full 8 weeks to avoid lengthening the recovery time.

So while Daisy has been laid up, Charlotte has decided that it's time she learn some tricks and has been shaking paws on command! We'll see how long it lasts this time. Last time she did this it only lasted for one day. She is so funny. Obstinate, but funny!

The obstinate (but endearing) Charlotte...

Vegas, Dogs & Surgery

I haven't blogged for an eternity, even though I had planned to do one on "moving to Vegas". Although life has had it's ebbs and flows, it's been pretty non-stop since we moved into our house, and even more so since January. I started a couple of subjects at school and working out with a trainer, while Jet has been working crazy hours at the restaurant. There has been many a night when he has come home to find his family asleep!

My initial paralyzing fear of scorpions has passed with the regular inspection by a pest control professional and the girls are settling in well and have thanked us a thousand times over for installing a pet door which allows them in and our at their leisure!

One weekend in late January, Jet and I took the girls out for a walk, only to have Daisy present with an all too familiar lameness. Years ago, when I was living in Australia, our family dog had this very same thing, so immediately I recognized the symptom and felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. But before jumping to any conclusions, we decided to watch her for a few days to see whether it disappeared, and then take her to the vet if it didn't. Over those next few days, we noticed that she was favoring her back left leg so I took her into a new vet in Vegas. It's the same one our dog walker uses, so he came recommended which is always nice when you move to a new place.

My suspicion was right, but we needed to clear it up with a specialist consultation as it was the sort of problem that needed surgery. So after another consultation with her regular vet and the surgeon, my initial reaction was confirmed. Luxating patella and a possible torn anterior cruciate ligament. Unbelieveable. And all we were doing at the time she started showing symptoms was walking around our neighborhood! This is a problem that is presenting more and more because of inbreeding, and as Daisy is a pure AmStaff, it wasn't a surprise to the vets.

A luxating patella, from what I understand, is when the groove in the head of the femur is too shallow to prevent the kneecap from moving laterally. This then puts pressure on the knee joint and creates the ligament problem inside the joint itself as the ligament should be locked in place with no side to side or front to back movement. It's this ligament movement and ultimately a tear or rupture that causes the pain. Apparently some dogs can have a luxating patella and it will never be an issue for them. Daisy wasn't so lucky.

Yesterday was the big day! We had to take her in between 7am and 8am, with a nil by mouth policy in place for her from midnight the night before. She looked at me with that innocent, trusting face, and I felt just terrible. But the surgeon promised to call with an update as soon as surgery was finished, and true to his word, I got the "all clear" call at 12.30pm!

Surgery was straight-forward and successful. He went in and cleaned out the joint, then did the surgery where he corrected the angle of the joint and he created a deeper groove in the femur for the patella to sit in. The operation is called "TPLO" which stands for "Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy". What they do is instead of repairing or replacing the cruciate ligament, they cut the head off the tibia and change the angle so there is no pressure on the joint and femur and tibia are alining straight (as they are supposed to). The head of the bone is reattached to the rest of the tibia using a metal plate on the inside of the leg. It's really amazing, and the surgeon was telling us that he had done this surgery on a police dog who had just returned to duty with a totally successful surgery.

After one night in the ICU (and apparently lots of love from the vet nurses), we picked up Daisy this morning and although happy to see us, she was quite heavily sedated and very, very sore. She is such a hyperactive dog that there was no way that we could keep her calm without some pharmaceutical assistance! We bought her one of those blow-up neck pillows so that she won't lick her sutures but so far, she hasn't needed it. She is totally out and sleeping peacefully in her crate.

Princess Daisy in jail!

I have been taking her out every couple of hours for potty breaks, and although she does what she is supposed to, she seems to be happy to go back into her crate and go to sleep again. We have one step at the back door, and she can't negotiate that yet which is no surprise. She gets her front legs outside then realizes that she can't bear any weight on her back legs so she just stands there until we lift her rear and place it on the same level as her front legs. She's a smartie!

My past experience was a little different, in that the surgery was the more simpler version where they recreate the action of the ligament with coated wire. This seemed to be less intrusive and had the scar in a different position. It also wears down over time, where the TPLO surgery is permanent and once the bone fuses back together with the help of the metal plate, there is no way that it will move or wear down. With the amount of pressure that Daisy puts on her legs when she is running and playing, strength and permanency is key.

We have already had one call to the surgery! She had a drop foot when we got her home. The toes on the leg that had the surgery were curling under and she was walking on the top of her foot. Apparently this is normal for the first couple of days, but if it continues, we will need to take her back in. But as far as Day 1 is going, she is fine. Using her leg as she feels comfortable, and sleeping a lot! Tomorrow is Jet's day off so we will both be here to help her which will be much better. I hope to update the blog daily with her progress... Daisy has a lot of fans!

And Charlotte? Her publicist issued a "no comment" statement as she was sunbathing at the time of this post as she hadn't yet had a chance to talk to her sister!!!

My work blog...

For all my peeps that are eagerly awaiting blogs on my foodie adventures, please read them on my work blog!

www.simple-gourmet.blogspot.com

I post there almost every day. And if it's not me that's posting, it's Taji or Mel but the blogs are always fabulous!

New York, New York

We're back. Exhausted, and back to a relatively normal life. We had the 3 most beautiful days ever - glorious sunny days, not too hot, not too cold. I didn't have very clear expectations of New York before we arrived. And I don't just mean actually in Manhattan - I didn't even realize that Manhattan was an island until I started plotting our restaurant destinations on a map! I know. It's embarrassing.

So I will say this: Sex in the City has a lot to answer for. It totally glamorized Manhattan. How is it that Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha always looked clean? Manhattan is not clean! Sure the streets are well kept, but after a day of touring around, I felt like I was coated in a layer of the city. I went into sensory overload - so much noise, so many people, all moving at such a rapid rate. Fortunately Wendy (a friend of Jet's) invited us out to her place at Long Island City in Queens which was a brief window into what inner city suburbia is all about. Calm, green, quiet and clean. The contrast was totally astonishing!

As a child, I used to watch the TV show Fame, religiously every week. I wanted to be on that show. But even though I desperately wanted to be in the show, I was turned off by the grimness of New York. I didn't think it was really like that, but in fact I just discovered that Fame is more real than Sex in the City! New York has the extremes of wealth and poverty, but it's also an island where tiny apartments sell for $2 million and rent for $3,000 plus per month. It's an island where struggling artists have to share these tiny apartments with 10 other people just to make ends meet. I can appreciate that Manhattan has everything one could ever want or need, but is it worth the sacrifice of one's privacy? Obviously millions of people think so.

Don't get me wrong - I loved my few days in NY. And I'd like to go back and enjoy the city at a more leisurely pace. It just made me realize that LA is my home. Even though I'm moving to Vegas. I know. It's a complicated situation.

So now I've covered my 'overview' of NY, I can move on to Leaving Los Angeles...

Living in Las Vegas...

Here is a fabulous quote from a local Las Vegas resident (and someone I know) about buying water from Northern Nevada:

"Oh we'll get it - we're bandits out here!"

I love it.

Cupcake Adventures Part 1 : Sprinkles

Today, even though I am proudly American, I’m going to play the foreign card. I grew up in Australia, and lived in England briefly before deciding to make Los Angeles my home. I’ve also seen quite a large chunk of the globe as traveling was almost a second career. However, until I lived in America, I had never understood the amazing phenomenon of The Cupcake.

Sure, cupcakes exist in other parts of the world – that’s not a surprise. It’s the zest in which Americans embrace the whole Cupcake Culture that is truly astonishing to me. I can even make quite a lengthy list of cupcake stores – which are simply stores that only sell cupcakes. And to my surprise some months ago, my colleagues were discussing which ones they preferred and why! I stood back in awe. I then discovered, when researching cupcakes on the internet, that Los Angeles is the second biggest cupcake city in the country.

So, in an attempt to embrace more American pop culture and understand more about where I have chosen to live, I too have started sampling cupcakes from different outlets in LA.

Presenting: Sprinkles!

This is actually my second foray into the world of cupcakes. I will revisit my first taste in a later blog when I can add a photo. So this is a dark chocolate cupcake from Sprinkles in Newport Beach and it was the first time my friends had been to a Sprinkles when there wasn’t a line out the door! Remember that people. 3pm on a Tuesday seems to be the magic hour. 

The Verdict... The frosting was very sweet and there was almost as much frosting as there was cake, which, for me is a little much. The cake was also quite soft and if you are going to load the cupcake with that much frosting, I would have preferred the cake a little firmer. It had a nice flavor though and overall I enjoyed my cupcake, but I will be able to compare more when I have tasted others.

There will be more cupcake adventures. Stay tuned.

This post can also be read at www.simple-gourmet.blogspot.com

The Quandary

I'm at a loss. This really doesn't happen that often either. I've been back from my holiday for some time now, and my plan was to continue blogging. But I discovered, on my return, that it's not as easy as I once assumed... I simply don't know what to blog about!

Although my travel blog was about travel, food and all-round adventure, finding that in my regular life has been a challenge, to say the least.  I don't have a lot of "adventure" in LA and I don't travel every weekend like I used to in Europe. But there is one thing. I eat. I'm not a foodie like those that can be found on chowhound or the like, but I like to try stuff, for lack of a better word. So that's what I'm going to do. I'll write about my food adventures!

But don't be mistaken - I am not a typical 'foodie' or even a critic. My intention is not to annihilate food joints with the pointy end of my pen! I'll write more from the human side, as this is a far more comfortable angle for me.

So there you have it. Keep your eyes peeled.