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So, Blue has been limping since Easter.
At first we thought it was soft tissue damage – a couple of weeks rest and she was right again.

Until the next time.

Over the space of six months she spent half her time ‘resting’ with no walks, interspersed with her usual mad galumphing around the fields.

But the limp just never went away.

Anti-inflammatories helped, and eventually the vet said she needed a second opinion.

X rays were taken, mailed over to a nearby Vet Hospital (who have been totally amazing), and the diagnosis came back within the hour – she has wear on her cruciate ligaments in her knee, and she needs a Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy.

Of course she does.

WHAT?

Basically, her cruciate ligament is a bit duff, is slowly tearing and isn’t holding her knee in place properly. So she needed to have the top of her tibia sliced off, swivelled, and replaced so that the top went from angled to level, meaning less stress on the ligament (if you’re that interested, you can read all about it here )

So it goes like so:

Oh, did I mention a  large metal plate would be involved?

Once this was done, she needed to be kept calm and still.

Yuh. Right.

This is The Enthusiast we’re talking about here.

She’s not to walk anywhere except toilet breaks (on the lead) for 2 weeks, and then we start on 5 minute walks a day, increasing by 5 minutes every week.

The op was done two days ago – today she’s home, very quiet and VERY sorry for herself. But it went well, and she’ll soon be over the initial shock of the op. That’s when the fun will really begin, I suspect…

All I can say is All hail John Lewis and their Pet Insurance – the entire £7,500 bill was settled instantly without any issue. It’s going to be a LONG few months – for us as much as for Blue…

Yet another glooooorious autumn day, so we did what every other self-respecting family did and took ourselves out into it.

Perfect, perfect day...

walking in the magic woods, searching for elves.

Jolly found a real actual magic wand

there was magic everywhere we looked

And this is a rather smug-looking Bad Bad Dog. She chased a deer, got lost and couldn't find us for ten minutes. By the time she got back she couldn't walk on her bad leg - she had to lie down for ten minutes before we could get her to hobble back to the car. Idiot dog.

You arrived unexpectedly – a large dollop of a bear-puppy, all tummy and feet and soft nuzzly nose.
You have wormed your way into the hearts of us all, with your reckless joy, your infectious endless enthusiasm, your unending need for affection, your constant happy presence and your still, calm, reassuring watchfulness of us all.
You steal food, you eat the wallpaper, you are constantly broken, you sleep upside down, you refuse to learn to walk in a dignified manner, and you snore louder than a dwarf with a  cold… what on earth did we do without you?

Scrambled eggs for breakfast – perfectly cooked by no.1 Jolly offered me a cup of tea – and then whispered loudly to No.1 “will you show me how to make Mummy a cup of tea?”.

Sofa time with my small people, with the most magnificent cards and gifts any mother got. Sorry, I know your love yours, but quite clearly – mine were Best.

An afternoon exploring and running and jumping on a hill fort – and the obligatory game of Block. Which Blue was particularly bad at, giving away every hiders position one after another with smug irrespressibly bouncy glee, no matter how often we hissed at her to go away.

Home for movie night, and the boys ‘treating’ me – to  their very favourite burger-and-chips-from-the-pizza-shop. *eyeroll*. But hey, I didn’t cook.

From Pink - a hand-flower, and a picture of me. Yes my feet are that big and red.

Jollys card - get that Roman mosaic.

And from Boy - an acrostic poem:

M is for making me Happy

O is for Outstanding Mothering

T is for treating me sweets and chocolate

H is for Having you around

E is for Everything you have done for me

R is for being ready to help me.

And from No.1 - an origami card, plus (accidentally) my favourite quote from my hero Winnie the Pooh "If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus one day so I never have to live without you"

And No.1 also made me this most beautiful of sculptures in Art.

Five on a hill

Always the same - the boys explore

... and Pink tries very hard to keep up