He is loving his walks again. He is convinced I am evil because I won't let him return to his normal activities. He believes he is 100% healed and should be allowed to do whatever he wants. So he spends a lot of time whining and telling me so.
I was going to take video of him on his walk today and post it. His leg is looking great.

!! !!

I'm so glad to hear he's doing better!

Love, love, love happy endings!

What's your observation of the left knee now?

So good to hear, Hamm, I'm in need of good news these days.

It is still hard to evaluate his left knee. He is still on Rimadyl, which is an anti-inflammatory medication. But here is what I see: the swelling is gone and he shows no sign of pain in his left knee.
He has his follow up X-rays on 12-3-12, those are to assure proper healing in the right knee. I am going to ask to surgeon to do an exam to check the status of the left, and if he thinks it necessary, maybe do an X-ray of the left.
I am hopeful that the previous swelling was just due to bearing the extra weight.
The surgeon has said that there is a 50-70% chance that he will tear the cruciate in his left knee at some point. I just pray that if it happens, it happens after 7-15-13. Then insurance will cover $2500 of the cost.
The surgeon has also said that once the knees are repaired, we may be able to do lifelong pain management for the hips. The hips may not ever need surgery. Boy wouldn't that be nice.

A couple of crappy cell phone videos of Patrón walking today:
Maybe someone can help me embed them....
View My Video
View My Video

Here you go, HAMM. What a joy to see how well Patron is doing.

<embed width="440" height="420" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://v6.tinypic.com/player.swf?file=27wy2r&s=6"><br><font><a href="http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=27wy2r&s=6">Original Video</a> - More videos at <a href="http://tinypic.com">TinyPic</a></font>

<embed width="440" height="420" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://v6.tinypic.com/player.swf?file=2wrf7sm&s=6"><br><font><a href="http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=2wrf7sm&s=6">Original Video</a> - More videos at <a href="http://tinypic.com">TinyPic</a></font>

Thank you for the embed. Today is 3 weeks post surgery and what a difference!
I've started letting him sleep in the bedroom again, I just close the bedroom door so he can't run amok if he hears a noise. He's been sleeping so much better now that he is back where he is used to being.
I just have to say thanks once again to everyone who helped us on this chaotic journey.

Have you looked into a brace for his left knee? A lot of dogs are helped with a brace instead of surgery. Below is the website:

http://orthopets.com/gallery1a.htm

Wow, HAMM, he looks great! So glad to see this!