alright, now I have time to update, mind you, I don't have the xrays from the vet and will add them later along with the correct angles .

   I called the vet at 3 pm to see how Brina was doing and was told she was in surgery at that moment and the vet would call me when it was all over. The call came at 5:15 pm.

   The surgery went better than expected, it appears her cruciate ligament was 100% torn and they were amazed she was still walking on it.  I can't go into the mechanics of the operation because to be honest, I wouldn't be able to do it justice, I know they changed the angle of her "knee" anything under 10 that they achieve is great, Brina's was 6 degree.  The vet spent quite a bit of time explaining to us what to expect, what to watch for and how to treat it. We have a vet tech who specializes in physical therapy and will make an appointment with us if we so desire.  we were given antibiotics, 3 times a day , her metacam was increased to 33ml once a day and to our amazement, human painkillers that Larry had to pick up at our pharmacy 100mg tramadol twice a day or if needed 3 a day for 14 days. Thank god they also make her drowsy, for some reason, dogs don't understand "no activity" and "ouchie". Ok, armed with some knowledge, some xray viewing we waited for them to bring us our poor, drugged, sick , "I'll be so sore, and limp you'll have to carry me out to the bed you made in the car for me".
  silly us

   Our first clue that we were in for some fun was hearing her trademark "screaming" coming at us from down the hall. She flew at us, we had to  hold her tight to calm her down, slipped off  the vets leash and put ours on and our new best friend, the outward hound up and out sling was put into place.
http://www.pooch.ca/shopexd.asp?id=536

   It was a struggle to slow her down to lift her into the car. She panted, whined and just wouldn't settle down . we had her "room" all ready and waiting for her.
Puppy pen filled with comforters, a roll of carpet leading to it, non slip scatter mats all around it and leading to the sunroom where she exits to go do her duty.

   She cried and seemed to be in a lot of discomfort from the ride home and I had to climb in the pen to sit with her holding onto her leash. A  short leash should be left on them for the first 4 weeks and man, does it come in handy.
Larry went to fill her perscription and we gave her a pain pill as soon as he got back, within 20 minutes she got drowsy and finally laid down to rest.

within 5 minutes she popped back up and started the whining again, we took her outside and low and behold the poor pupper had to pee, once back inside I gave her a frozen marrow bone which she set to work on.  One thing we did not expect was her great appetite!! I've added yogurt to her meal to help counteract the effects of the antibiotic on the good bacteria in her stomach. So far there is no runs or no vomiting which we were told to expect. Another surprise to us was that we were told she would have a hard time going poo, that because of the pain when squatting that we may have to give her something if she doesn't go after 3 days, well, along about 10 pm she started whining and hubs again put on her sling and took her out, she went!! thank god *L*.
     We have to watch her ankle/hock for swelling, some is normal and fluid build up there is also normal, to an extent, we massage the place a few times a day. They enjoy having the shaved area rubbed and the whole leg gently massaged, if you're squeamish then I'd advise not looking at the next picture of her incesion

The red is normal bruising on a dog, I've counted roughly 15 staples which will be removed fri Jan 21. 

    Night came and we debated whether to put her cone on or trust her not to lick the area, we left it off, Brina is pretty good at the command "leave it" and so far she's listened to us. My blow up bed was in place , she was given her second pain pill, oh and you know when they need it, Brina would switch positions trying to get comfortable, thats when you knew. So off I go to get into my pj's, Brina was sleeping on her comforters...................."was"....this is what I came out to see.

she was on my bed *L*, she shifted over to her comforters and we settled down to sleep, if she tried to leave her area I'd know because she would have to climb over me, she shifted positions many times through the night but stayed on the comforters, so our first night camping out together in the living room was a success. Until I got up to make a coffee *L* she always did steal warm spots.

 Day two began, I've divided her meal into 3 parts so that with each one she can receive an antibiotic, plus it breaks up her day.  Once she has her pain pill , 1 at 8 am and 1 at 8 pm, she thinks she's all better and gets energized for about 30 minutes so my suggestion to anyone going through this is buy some kongs! I have 3 that I'm rotating and I also freeze them. They keep her busy for a good half hour, I fill hers with some of her kibble, crumbled bacon, shredded cheese (but not if your dog is constipated), mix a teaspoon of yogurt in it and then stuff the kong sealing it up with peanut butter. We let her follow her carpet and lay in the kitchen for a bit, gives her a change of scenery and allows me to do a bit of work out there. Plan on being house bound for a couple weeks at least. I don't mind this part at all, her recover is first and foremost to us, I also plan on spending as many nights as needed sleeping beside her.  I'll try to update as much as possible and will add the x-rays, before and after surgery when I receive them. If you have any questions please feel free to email me and I'll do my best to answer them in layman's terms.
  oh , and on a side note? (why I love and trust our vet) we were given a high a low estimate on the operation and were surprised when it turned out to be 200. cheaper than the low estimate.