When life gives you…..

Shane & I were talking last night, and realized that somehow the entire past 7 days are just gone. I have little recollection of the days, yet I also remember some of the moments all too well.

Somehow in a week's span we managed to:

Tuesday! Yay Baxter got his cast off!! It was so quick. 10mins with the doctor and then they hand him to me and basically say he's good to go. His leg smelled something awful and he wouldn't walk on it. I was confused and asked a bunch of questions, but the doctor said the tendon healed perfectly, and aside from the dermatitis from the bandages he could go for walks and basically get back to normal slowly. I was shocked. I picked him up into the truck and headed home.

And this is where things went BAD. For the entire 20 minute ride home he was going after the foot. I was reaching back trying to grab him, screaming at him. I didn't know what else to do, Even if I pulled over I knew he would only stop for as long as I could hold him away from the foot.

I got him home and had him pinned down on the ground (with my entire strength) while I used one hand to call trying to find someone to help. Within 30minutes I had friends to the rescue delivering a cone head to at least prevent him from licking. 30minutes of dogmom WWF (yes, he is THAT strong), a rawhide, a kong full of peanut butter and for the first time ever I was actually scared that he could hurt me (he was very close to snapping at me). Finally after all that… cone head plus sedation and I got him to rest.

This picture doesn't come close to showing how bad his foot looked. His foot & toes were twice the size, it was FIRE red from the licking and he had no ankle definition. He passed out for about 4 hours straight. I left him alone and headed out on my bike ride, which I'm still not sure I would do again. I was stressed the whole time and my head was somewhere else. When I got home and realized he hadn't moved, I was actually relieved. The leg didn't look any worse, but it still looked so bad. I called the hospital to make sure any of this was "normal." I was told I needed to bring him in asap to get him looked at… And this is where everything changed….

My doctor wasn't in, but the specialist there was told to take a look at him and call my doctor with an update. I got him back to the hospital at about 5pm and that is where he stayed for the next 48 hours. There was no definitive diagnosis, but they were treating it as worst case scenerio of a blood clot. He was given massages, and hydrotherapy every 2-4 hours and administered aspirin.

While all this was happening Shane was stuck in a leadership meeting and couldn't even take my calls. I was a train wreck. After 6 weeks of his achilles surgery I was so excited to get him back to normal. He needed it, we all needed it. I tend to always think it will be ok, but after what happened last year to Abby and how we lost her so suddenly in the span of 24 hours, plus the concern from the doctors I was scared to DEATH. Shane was able to stop by and visit him on his way home late that night, which helped me calm down a little.

Wednesday was much of the same. A little bit of change to his condition (for the better), but they still wanted to keep him another night. I went to spend about an hour with him where he spent most of the time trying to get me to open the door and take him home. Apparently (when I called to check on him later that night), my visit with him had him all wound up. It took them several hours to get him calmed down :(

Thursday I was a mess again. It was early afternoon and I still hadn't received an update from the surgeon. I finally called (they are used to my stalking) and the doc apologized. He told me he was a cluster this am, but that Baxter was doing well. Still swollen, but we could come get him any time.

Shane picked him up late that afternoon and brought him home. He was given a larger cone head and we had our hands full trying to help him walk around, giving him massage and hydrotherapy every 6 hours (lifting him in and out of tub).

That night we lifted him up on the couch and took his cone off for a while. He nuzzled his head on my lap and passed out snoring on my belly for a good 2 hours.

The first two nights sucked. He was restless and loud with that damn cone head. However, the leg was improving and he was getting around a bit more. Saturday when I returned from my long bike ride my girlfriends came in to visit with him. He seemed to REALLY like that. We all sat out by the pool and we let him walk around a bit. He seemed to be improving and loved the extra attention.

By Sunday the improvements were even more noticeable. We were able to give him more time with out the cone head (as long as he wasn't licking), the swelling was going down significantly and he was starting to actually walk on it vs hopping on 3 legs. We gave him more time outside (he LOVES laying in the sun) while I iced my legs post final big ass workout of the week!

Today has been even better. He's walking on it most of the time, unless he wants to go fast - then he isn't confident so he goes 3 legged (seems odd he's faster that way?). The swelling in his foot is gone and there is more definition to his lower leg. He still has swelling at the ankle point, but it's so so much better.

It's so surreal (and FANTASTIC) having him walk around again. For the first time in 7 weeks we are able to give him some freedom and not have him crated or barricaded off. Tomorrow is our check up with the doc, where I'm (fingers crossed) praying he gives us the ok to take him to Mexico for a long weekend. I think the entire family needs some beachy R & R.

So other than the doggy emergency, the rest of the Lapan's seem to be on the mend. I've been on a crazy 3 week training build that just ended yesterday. The month of February was swim/bike focused and by the end of the month I will have added over 600 miles of cycling and over 50,000 yards of swimming in the past 28days to the Ironman bank.

Shane has his cast off and started PT with the hopes of getting back outside on his bike next week. His strength is mobility are both improving.

Juliette just had her second blood work taken this morning to see if her Valley Fever levels have changed. Her spirits are up and she has more energy than we have seen in 3 months.

While things have been insane, stressful, busy, sad, relived and terrified all at once… We also added a new/fun member to the family. After I sold mini-me, we just seemed to be missing something… So, meet the NEW mini-me!