The anti-inflammatory seems to be really working and we’re optimistic that we can get his pain back under control and get more time with a good quality of life.
Monday, Aug 5 I had to go to the office for work, and Gizmo was up to greet me at the door and demand his cuddles as usual when I got home. He ate without any fuss, and it generally felt like a normal day. Of course, a normal day for Gizmo still involves some limping, but it felt like things are moving in the right direction.
Tuesday, Aug 6 Gizmo did great in his physical therapy. They’ve been able to increase his walking on the treadmill instead of just minimal time with floating as we’ve been doing a few times recently. He also had a recheck with the orthopedic specialist, and we had a down-to-earth conversation about his prognosis. His left hip has certainly lost muscle mass, and the right knee has very limited range of motion. Under normal conditions, we may have done x-rays. Now, there isn’t much of a point. We can’t do surgery if we find something. We just need to see if we can get the limping under control and have him rebuild muscle. The only other thing we could try is a round of antibiotics in case the joint is starting to turn septic again – so we did decide to pursue that just in case. His orthopedic vet agrees that we can keep going to see if we can manage the pain enough to get him moving and rebuilding muscle since he’s in an upswing and generally happy, but suggested that if Gizmo takes another downturn we should have another conversation about quality of life. Gizmo is pretty much maxed out on the pain meds he can take at this point. We could also try Librella once more. We did it a couple of times in the past, but I stopped it because I felt like it helped but then there was always a crash a week or two later that ultimately didn’t make it worthwhile. However, if we’re talking end of life and desperate, we could give it one more go if I’d like. We’ll see. We did another ketamine shot for now. I bought him a plain cheeseburger after for being such a good patient boy with the vet. For over 7 years I did not give him people food, and now he can have whatever he wants.
Later that evening was our neighborhood block party. Colin hitched Gizmo up in the cart and he went out to visit with the neighbors (and their dogs) with us. Despite already having done physical therapy, Gizmo was happy to be up and moving around in the cart and socializing. Our neighbors commented on the fact that he still seems happy, and they enjoyed watching him get around in the cart. It was a good day.