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Max's TPLO saga

Life is good...

Have you ever had one of those years that life was just REALLY GOOD? I'm having one of those years....everything is good!! I'm feeling great, I've lost a little weight (I loooook mahvelous, dahling), I'm walking two miles a day, Mom is feeding me really tasty food.....ahhhhhh. Life is good. We even had a teeny-tiny little snow recently....you can see that I LOVE to lay in the snow...and do my snow plow impersonation. I really wanted to play with Trouble, but Mom wouldn't let us because Trouble's leg is hurting. That's ok....I attacked Mom and tore her gloves up pretty badly, which was fun.

I hope all of my buds are having a REALLY GOOD year, just like me.

Santa drives a big brown truck?????

*Disclaimer* For those pups that believe that Santa is a short, fat elf that arrives in a sleigh with eight tiny reindeer, I hate to break the news....Santa is really the UPS man!!! Our favorite guy in a brown suit delivered a BIG box to our house the other day that smells WONDERFUL...I can smell all sorts of my favorite streats in the box!! In fact, I was sniffing so hard, I almost sucked the box into my snout!! It's mine...ALL MINE!! Darn...Mom snagged the box and took it upstairs. She said I can't have it until Christmas morning. ...and I have to share with Trouble!! I LOVE Christmas morning when my stocking is filled with various smoky tasting dehydrated bovine parts. Ahhhhhhh...I can't wait!!!

This is a pretty special Christmas for me...last year, I wasn't doing very well at Christmastime and didn't want to do much. Things got worse in the following months, and I really didn't think I'd see another Christmas. Horrors!!! But after my two TPLO surgeries, I feel like a puppy again and I think this will be my best Christmas ever!! I may even play with a toy if I get one. Mom and Dad said that I got two new knees for Christmas this year, which is a pretty special gift. I'm doing GREAT now...I'm walking two miles every day on the Greenway, I'm playing again, I'm RUNNING!!! Not to brag, but I'd have to say....I'm MARVELOUS!

I hope all my puppy buddy's Christmas is as great as mine will be. Have a wonderful New Year....and be nice to the guy in the brown suit who drives the big brown truck!!! He's the guy that really counts!

WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY...WE CAN REBUILD HIM

Well...I'm officially a Six Million Dollar Dog. Well, not quite, but I do have two bionic knees now!! Yep...I had the TPLO on my right leg August 1 and there has been no looking back!! I feel TERRIFIC!!! This leg healed up even quicker and much better than my left leg did! Mom couldn't believe how nicely my incision healed in just a few days (because I was such a "good boy" and never tried to lick!) I started walking well on my leg four days after surgery, and am trying every chance I get to trot off and make my great escape. I am 19 days post-TPLO today and I feel better than I have felt in two years!! The only sad part is that my left leg will never be completely normal because when the vet performed the second traditional surgery, he broke off a bone fragment that has lodged behind my knee. If only I had had the TPLO done first on BOTH legs, I'd be a perfect dog again. Mom still thinks I'm perfect, even though I do walk a little funny. I have character...or perhaps, I am a character??!!
All I can say is that the ortho surgeon at the VA-MD Regional School of Veterinary Medicine is my hero. If it were not for the excellent care that I received there and that they convinced mom and dad to try the TPLO surgery, I probably wouldn't be here today. I sure was in a lot of pain and I hated not being able to walk. Today, I'm a new dog...sort of like being a puppy again. my future looks bright...now, where did I put my shades??