I brought BHRR’s Ava Marie in to work with me today at KAH. Around 1:30 AM – 2:00 AM today; I noticed that her ‘good’ leg – the right one that had the ACL repair surgery back on May 21st, 2010 have a large odd shaped lump. I felt it and it looked almost like a really bad blown vein yet I knew that was not it and thought at one point it could have been an allergic reaction to something like a spider bite yet that did not seem right either and checked her temperature and it was normal and she was acting herself. I made an appointment first thing today for her and by the time we got to KAH; the large odd shaped lump was no longer ‘squishy’ yet very hard to the touch. That indicated to me that it is most likely fluid of some sort and the Vet confirmed this by doing an aspirate. It was synovial fluid and looked clear and did not appear to be infected yet the Vet had it spun down and looked more closely at it. The diagnosis is that by all the compensation that BHRR’s Ava Marie has had to do on this leg due to recovering from her leg leg ACL repair surgery(and we took the sutures out today while we were there…what a great girl!); that she developed a small tear and it was leaking. The Vet was not concerned that this would indicate any impact on her ACL and we discussed that most likely that Ava Marie will need to have this drained again in the future and possibly more than once. This is the leg that Dr. Liston drained a seroma from when I brought her in for a recheck and to remove her staples. The odd thing was as per the blog post that I made that the seroma was below the knee and it occured many days after her surgery. I am soooooooooooo relieved that we are not looking at anything more serious and the Vet felt so bad for Ava Marie with her very swollen knees with the arthritis. The Vet also could not believe that Ava Marie was 2 years old as she is so calm, well mannered and quiet. 😀 NOR with how amazing she was with all that poking, prodding that had to be done on her knees. I cannot stress enough about how incredible this Dane is!!!! Every time I took Ava Marie outside or when another person did, she just wanted to get into my truck to come home…..she just has been at the Vets far too many times and she just wanted to come home. WELL, we are home now and she is resting comfortably in the triage area and I will take her to LAH when Dr. Liston is back from holidays for a final ‘sign off’ on that leg and we will monitor her closely in case she needs more drainage. At this time, she will not be going up for adoption when we first anticipated she would as we want her as healthy as possible. Her weight today was 70.3 KGS(154.66 pounds) and she looked PERFECT for her size/age at this time. She is going to do some more filling out over the next year but she is right where I want her to be for the moment and gosh, she is stunning!

BHRR’s Ava Marie had a bit of a set back on Tuesday. She was feeling a bit fiesty and tried to ‘trot’ from the master bedroom to the main floor area and did not quite make the corner and hit her healing knee on the wall frame. She went down and the sounds she was making just ripped through my heart. I initially thought she had caused herself serious damage.  😥 I was right behind her yet had not been quick enough to get her collar to ‘force’ her to slow down. Idid manage to get her to the triage area – just a few feet away and she did not weight bear on the leg at all. I gave her a Deramaxx 100 mg, monitored her closely and looked the leg over and was one step away from calling one of her Vets as she was still whimpering a bit and I realised that she ‘scared’ herself more than anything else. For sure, it had to have hurt like the dickens yet the whole thing scared her more than it hurt and after much loving and some rest; she was all up for her breakfast(when Ava Marie does not eat, YOU know something is wrong) and had her antibiotics(we have kept her on a longer course and moved her to Clavamox 375 mg) and she was up to going out for a pee. I spent a good part of my AM, watching her and in a heartbeat I would have brought her in if I suspected anything wrong and will continue to monitor yet things seem back to norm. It shall be two weeks on Friday since her surgery and I shall remove her sutures at that time and bring her in next week for a recheck at LAH(Dr. Liston himself is away on vacation until September 7th or so) and I might wait until he is back to get his official ‘sign off’ on her leg. After that, a couple more weeks of rehab work at BHRR and then BHRR’s Ava Marie should be ready to be placed up for adoption AND even saying those words just ‘catches’ at me BUT it is what we do here and I know so many are going to miss her, so whomever adopts her; please stay in touch! 😀 This amazing dream of a Great Dane has touched the hearts of many across the world. I am adding a photo below of her leg from August 23rd and shall also add it to her ‘Ava’s Action Assistance Fundraiser‘ Page. We are still awaiting the collection on ONE item from her ONLINE Auction and when we have that sorted out; we will post the grand total raised between her ONLINE Auction and donations made direct to her account during that time. Ava Marie also decided about three nights ago that she was SO DONE with the triage area for sleeping at night and made her way to the master bedroom, settled herself on one of the dog beds and turned her head to the wall, refusing to look at me in case I was going to ask her to go back to the triage area! LOL No, you do not have too Ava Marie! AND, when I came home from dropping the wee ones at daycamp, who was all snuggled on one of our leather couches with BHRR’s Potter??? NONE other than Ava Marie herself! AND she looked very settled in and was making no move to get off in a hurry! LOL Silly girl! NO LEATHER RULE here at BHRR Missy!  😛

BHRR’s Ava Marie – August 23rd, 2010 – 10 days post-op