It’s 8 AM on February 6, and we must drop Bilbo off at Town and Country Animal Hospital by 9, where Dr. Lazar will do his CCL surgery. We have no idea what exactly to expect. Bilbo weighs 100 pounds. One of the suggestions we had was a sling device to help get him out and back in from bathroom breaks. We bought the GingerLead Sling ahead of time. Bilbo is scheduled for 1 PM surgery. We hear there are two CCL procedures today – both large dogs.

The anxiety is high in our house. My daughter is very agitated but we are trying to keep her busy. She is already hyper-vigilant so, keeping her anxiety low without Bilbo to help is hard. Periodically she calls him using sign language. She experienced a life of loss in her early beginnings.  Loss of her culture, her language, and more. Introducing her to animals changed all of us. When we first brought her home from China, she wouldn’t have anything to do with us – with people in general, but she was so interested and even fascinated with our dogs.

This interest sent me on researching service dog. We found an amazing agency in Xenia, Ohio called 4 Paws for Ability.

One thing that was extremely helpful for her was to keep her on schedule with her therapist and other activities. (Tennis, walking, and visiting Amy)

See 2nd Day Post OP