We went to Columbia today to meet Dr. Cook (Mesa's orthopedic surgeon) and solidify our plan of attack for Mesa's knee. He will have surgery tomorrow morning - the "tightrope" procedure - to repair his torn cruciate ligament in his right leg. We will head back to MU on Saturday to bring him home.

Dr. Cook was really nice (just like Dr. Beachner said!!). He gave us lots of good info and made me feel more comfortable with the surgery. We left Mesa in very caring and capable hands....but it was still really hard to go!!!

The next few days will be spent preparing the house for Mesa's return. We have an awesome home-made ramp to cover the steps to get Mesa outside (thanks Gpa Don!!) He will have to be confined to a pretty small area, so we are planning to convert the kitchen into a "recovery room." The shopping list will include: rugs to cover all of the hardwood floors, a new dog bed, bones and chew toys to keep The Big busy, lots and lots of pill pockets and an e-collar (cone!). The recovery period is at least 8 weeks, so we have a long road ahead of us!