Lucky Lola

The pregnancy is going along well and I have nothing exciting to report, so I figured I'd blog about the dogs. I don't think they will get as much blog space after the baby is born, so to be fair I think I should give them some now. This entry is mostly about Lola. I'll write about Maddie's OCD some other time. Believe me, that is an entry all by itself.

Some of you may not know that we have a Million Dollar Dog. We call her Lola, but my brother calls her Lucky. We rescued her as a puppy through the Australian Shepherd Rescue Association of Georgia (wonderful organization, by the way). In case you are not aware, I'll give you a brief medical history on Lola.
Shortly after we got her in the fall of '06 she stopped eating or drinking and we realized she couldn't bend her neck to put her head down. What is the worst that could be wrong if you can't bend your neck? Oh yes, our Lola had Meningitis. I did not realize dogs could get Meningitis but they can, and it is not contagious like with humans. Rather than antibiotics, the dogs are given steroids. So Lola began a SIX month round of steroids where she became ravenously hungry and retained so much water that she looked like a pot belly pig. :) In the Spring of '07 we finally (after several attempts) were able to wean her off the steroids and she began to lose the extra weight.
In the summer of '07 Lola began limping and it became obvious that she has a bladder infection. We took her in to the vet ( our 2nd home) and they confirmed the infection but thought it might be a good idea to check for bladder stones. They said it was not common, but "after all, this IS Lola". We had the x-rays to check for bladder stones, and guess what? Good news, she didn't have stones! I was truly shocked. And then the vet said "But we did see something else disturbing which could be the reason for the limp." In her x-rays it appeared that she had hip dysplasia on the side where she was limping. To make this long story much shorter, we decided to have a salvage procedure where they basically remove the hip joint and ball of the femur. Smaller dogs can grow enough scar tissue to create a false joint. And it worked! Lola was a new dog after that. She slowly got her strength back and eventually began running faster than Maddie. Recently she'd been catching the frisbee several feet in the air (and knocking Maddie out of the way to get to it)! We recently joked that it was good she was doing so well because she has reached her "lifetime maximum" from the Bozard family. We gave her the one shot at surgery and fortunately she responded well. :)
With Lola feeling better and the new backyard with plenty of space to run, the dogs have had a blast. They have chased the ball together, they like to tackle each other and seem to have boundless energy. Recently though Lola has shown her limitations. A few days ago she began limping (not too unusual, especially if it is going to rain) and we gave her medicine. Then she began holding her bad leg up and not putting any weight on it at all. Today we went to the vet where she had to get a cortisone shot for her hip. The vet thinks the joint is just very irritated and will do better with rest. But after all, this IS Lola.