I promised you an update on Sampson after he saw the surgeon, which was last night.

The physical therapist had already updated him to Sampson’s little set back a couple of weeks ago, and he wanted to take an x-ray of Sampson’s knee, which he did.

The x-ray showed that the knee is stable, which was the ultimate goal, and now we need to find what works best for Sampson to help him heal.

I told him what our vet thought, and he examined Sampson and agreed his Iliopsoas muscle was definitely tender.  He explained it as similar to the pain experienced with a groin pull.  A nagging, constant pain.  He told me he’d consulted with another surgeon in the practice and asked if he’d ever heard of going in and cutting the Iliopsoas or injecting it with something and thankfully the other surgeon said no.  If he had suggested it, I would have never agreed to it anyway.

We talked about him going back in and looking around as the therapist had suggested.  She really feels like it’s a Meniscus but Dr. Lesham and I both agreed we are not ready to take that route right now.

I like people who are real and I like this surgeon.   We sat on the floor in the exam room with Sampson laying next to me and talked about Sampson’s surgery and recovery.

I shared how frustrated I am with Sampson’s recovery, how everyone that shared their stories with me before surgery had a far different outcome.  That this wasn’t the recovery I had anticipated for Sampson.  I also told him I thought I was too strict when Sampson came home and had perhaps hindered Sampson’s recovery.

He shared he is frustrated as well.  He said, “Sampson got a shit run.”  He went on to say that Sampson is such a good dog and this isn’t the recovery that he wanted for him either.  He assured me that none of what is going on is my fault.

I told Dr. Lesham Sampson had had an acupuncture treatment and he was so excited.  I told him we saw some improvement in Sampson after one treatment which surprised him, his experience is typically it takes a few treatments.  At this point he would like to see us continue with the acupuncture and check in with him in a couple of weeks.

Then we went to physical therapy and I asked if the underwater treadmill was the best option at this point, considering he has a pulled muscle.  I thought perhaps he would benefit from the cold laser treatment.  She agreed to switch out the treadmill therapy for cold laser.

So that’s where we’re at.  We are not pursuing surgery at this time, but we will be upping his glucosamine, setting him up with some acupuncture therapy and finishing his last three or four therapy appointments with cold laser.

I’m like a fine wine Mama, it takes time.

My book.  

I’m back writing again (for the moment.)  This week I hit the 40,000 word mark.  The typical book is between 80,000 to 100,000 words, so I’m about half way there.

I think the plot is there, I just need to tweak it some and add more detail.  I apologize for not visiting your blogs, but I want to take advantage of the creativity while I have the motivation. 🙂

JONES CHEW GIVEAWAY

Don’t forget to enter our giveaway for some awesome treats from Jones Natural Chews!!  If you missed it, it’s HERE.

Welcome to Thursday’s Barks and Bytes Blog hop hosted by 2 Brown Dogs and Heart Like a Dog.

The Barks and Bytes hop is for anything at all and all bloggers are welcome.  You don’t have to be a dog blog to join. 

For new blog hoppers, a blog hop is list of links that is shared on multiple blogs.  In order to be fair to all participants we ask you to please use the linky list.  If your blog does not support a linky list, please link back to your hosts.