Update

Re: Cheer Up Chinzi !
by Annaret on Wed Oct 22, 2008 10:51 am

A SPECIAL THANK YOU…
I would like to thank the following people for not only freely giving their expert advice on Chinzi’s injury, but also caring, listening and truly making themselves available to assist in whichever way needed during her road to recovery:

Dr. Stephen Maberly BVSc (Hons) and Dr. Elzet Rossouw from Goedemoed and Durbanville Animal Hospital who performed the surgery on the day of the accident. Dr. Maberly left his kid’s birthday party in order to come in and perform the surgery immediately.

Charmaine, the veterinary nurse who with lots of love and care made sure that Chinzi’s splint and bandage was magnificantly prepared to last for the time necessary.The staff at Goedemoed Animal Hospital , in particular Gillian and Debbie, who never got tired of my phone calls and always helped where they could and as quick as they could.

Dr. Thomas at Durbanville Animal Hospital for researching homeopathic medicine specifically to aid tendon healing and prescribing tablets for Chinzi on my request.

Dr. Alasdair G Cameron (Scotland) - Managing Partner at Baker & McVeigh Clinic, International Equine Injury Specialists – giving expert advice on injury, healing and aftercare, access courtesy of Glendyr’s husband David.

Dr. Vere Allin (UK & SA) – Founder & Former Operator of Cape Vet Hospital - small & large animal clinic specialising in sport's injuries - a Goldmine of Information & experience. Retired but offered info & help with Chinzi anytime from now til whenever as special, special favour.

Last but not least, Marinette Prinsloo (Teeling) BSc Physiotherapy, MSc Animal Studies working with Chinzi’s rehab program. She also consulted various vets and specialists in order to provide the best guidance and treatment possible. Marinette is one of only two veterinary phsyios qualified with a Masters degree in the country.

For all these people I am truly thankful! Without you guys we would have been lost, but now we are content being in good hands and doing the very best for Chinzi’s health and happiness that we possibly can.

Re: Cheer Up Chinzi !
by Annaret on Sat Nov 01, 2008 9:43 pm

Whew... been so busy, haven't posted an update for almost two weeks!

Good news, still... so far so good. Chinzi is doing better than expected at these early stages of her recovery. I've learnt more about tendons than I probably thought I ever would, and for now there's nothing to complain about.

Chinzi has slowly started putting weight on the foot during the last 10 days, and we are now at the stage where she walks on it permanently. She's not allowed to run or trot yet, although she sometimes seems to think we are absolutely nuts in trying to slow her down! " 'cos mom, I feel fine! "

She is absolutely LOVING the swimming sessions. Since my last post she's been getting quite swimming fit! She sees Marinette for treatment and therapy every Tuesday and Thursday, then we try to work in some extra swimming over the weekends. Last weekend she had 2 good sessions on Sat and Sun. This week we're going to try do the same. Thursday this week was the first time she swam without her life jacket and she had to work much harder as she now had to keep herself afloat as well. She was very comfortable in the water, so all good. She's now kicking evenly with both back legs, which is great as it was understandably slightly uneven in the beginning. Today she had her second session without the life-jacket and she didn't want to stop swimming... she just carried on and on and on... I eventually had to hold her to rest a bit, as she was just ready and rearing to go again each time she brought me back the ball. She also raced Chelsey in the pool a bit, and that competitive flyball racing adrenalin could kick in somewhat in a safe environment. She absolutely loved having a friend swim with her and we'll probably have some more races tomorrow. She also practised her swimmers turn quite a bit, so watch out for Chinzi's return flyballers!

The only unfortunate thing at the moment, is that she picked up some more weight... she is now almost 1.5kg heavier than she was at the time of the injury of which about 0.6kg she picked up since she started swimming... Although she doesn't seem to get tired quickly from the swimming, she's obviously not getting the same exercise as she would with running, and probably building some muscle which also slightly adds to the weight. So, we look forward to her being able to start running... but that will probably be quite a while still. We will start with controlled jogs in the beginning, on leash and minimal amounts initially, slowly building it up, should the signs be favourable to do so.

Well, that's some news for now, will keep you posted on progress.

Thanks again for all the interest and care, it means a lot to us to know that so many of you are rooting for Chinzi's full recovery and thinking of her in this time.

Wags&Kisses from Chinz...