Sunday, June 06, 2010

Trooper Is Sloooowly Convalescing

The Old Man pants like he has emphysema thanks to sinus passages that were crushed by a groundhog eight years ago, and his back end is as weak as it ever was thanks to old age, and the tendon in his left front paw is still wrecked from being hit by a car at the top of my driveway two weeks ago, but Trooper is still very much alive and sloooowly (maybe) recovering.

Very slowly, but I think it is happening.

Trooper sleeps or rests all day and night in my study (nice sunny window, two fans, two dog beds, and a monster crate so he can visit with my son's Pit Bull without the two dogs actually playing (the larger dog is still young and a bit rambunctious for the broken old man).

Trooper stands up a lot without walking, and he can hobble a few feet and go to the bathroom on his own. He is not in pain so far as I can tell. He will hobble on his own as much as 30 feet, but he does not push out much farther than that as there is no reason to. He knows he is injured.

Time may yet work for him. We shall see. Progress is very slow, as I expected from this injury. It may take months. It may not happen at all. He is an Old Man with more than one issue.
.

10 comments:

Seahorse said...

Sounds like positive news so far. I've wanted to ask about Trooper but figured you'd update when there was one. All good wishes to the old campaigner.

Seahorse :)

Marie said...

Happy for the update. We're still pulling for him here. Give him a nice head scratch from me.

Jonathan Setter said...

great news. i was wondering how it was going with him. we'll all get where he is at one day too. take it easy Trooper, there is no hurry..

dp said...

Good for Trooper. Terriers have an extraordinary resilience.

I would like to know exactly what you meant when you wrote that his sinus were crushed.

dp said...

Good for Trooper. Terriers have an extraordinary resilience. I would like to know exactly what you meant when you write that his sinus were crushed.

PBurns said...

Exactly what it sounds like -- a groundhog is more than you think it is. A very rare sort of thing caused by a very hard dog in a very bad spot underground, and the cause of Trooper's retirement.

P.

YesBiscuit! said...

How prophetic a name for this dog!

seeker said...

Good news on Trooper. I've been thinking about him.
I found the blog about Sailor. I was saddened by the fact of her passing and I'm sorry for your loss of a great friend. Her and Trooper's exploits are monumental reading.
How many terriers do you have now besides Trooper and Mountain?
Debi C
who has some furry ghosts of her own.

PBurns said...

Just Pearl, along with the other two. You ony really need one good dog to hunt, but two is a good idea if you are out a lot.

P.

joyce kesling, CDBC said...

8-) glad to hear he's doing OK