Surgery Update Days 29 - 33

We've just gotten home from a long weekend away. But that was no excuse for more drama in Sadie's surgery saga! I thought we'd finally have a week with only two vet visits, but last week there were four. Here's the run-down:

Thursday
Thursday morning, Dr. V called and left me a message saying that he had been thinking about Sadie a lot, couldn't sleep the night before and decided to email her case history summary to Dr. Jimi Cook to ask for advice. He wanted us to come in for x-rays to see if we could figure out why she was not putting weight on the leg. Guess he was concerned after all!

Even though I REALLY had to go home and pack for our big trip, I took her in that afternoon and had the x-rays done. The x-rays did show some swelling around the joint and a small little speck on the outside of the joint. Dr. V was not sure what the spec was, but he was worried that it might be a little piece of bone that had gotten logged there. He said that if that were the case, he would have to go in and remove it.

Dr. V left when we did, to drive the x-rays over to an orthopedic surgeon in a neighboring city to give an expert opinion. Let's call him Dr. K. I don't think we've used that letter yet... Anyway, I received a call later that night from Dr. V, with good news. The little "spec" on the x-ray was not a bone chip, but a calcification on the lateral meniscus that he said was unrelated to the TightRope. Dr. K said the amount of swelling was normal for 4 weeks post-op. He also said that there was very little swelling around the bone tunnel and actual TightRope, which is good. If there was an infection, there'd be excessive swelling in that area. He also said that the TightRope itself was positioned correctly. Dr. K thought that if there was no infection, Sadie would recover well, with proper therapy.

Dr. V asked me to come in early next week to send another fluid sample to the lab to do a cytology and again make absolutely sure there is no infection. He also lifted her "bedrest" restriction, saying she could walk from room to room, and even go up the stairs - slowly. He called in a pain medication prescription for Sadie to a vet near my parents' in Chicago.

Friday
Friday morning my husband and I had to leave our girls and Sadie with my parents, as we were flying to Texas for a wedding. My parent's LOVE Sadie and were great to take up her care while we were gone. Dad picked up her pain meds at the local vet and after 1 hour of taking it, said Sadie was noticeably different. Her personality perked up and she started to put weight on the leg!!! For the medical people reading this, she is now getting half a 75mg tablet of Deracoxib each day.

Saturday
Sadie has been doing great. Appetite is still hearty and she's putting weight on the leg. Dad wasn't real keen on the wrapping techniques I showed him, so he bought a box of giant Band-aids and put one on. There was hardly any seepage left, he told me.

Sunday
We returned home in the late afternoon to a NEW DOG! She was walking on the leg 60% of the time and was SOOOOO happy to see us. We had to very strongly scold her as she tried to run and jump all over when we came in the door. I don't think I had even realized it, but Sadie's personality had been rather depressed the past few weeks. But it was amazing the difference. She was chewing on toys (hadn't had interest before) and the tail was going non-stop.

I took off dad's band-aid from Saturday and there was just a tiny 1/4 inch spot of fluid on it. That is NOTHING, people! The hole had almost completely closed.



Monday
We are home now, and I picked up another 5 days of her two antibiotics. We go to Dr. V tomorrow for the panel to be run, but I just don't think there's any chance she has an infection. She was just in pain from the swelling. With the pain meds, she is a totally different dog. We'll see, though. That is the final test. Once the incision is totally healed, we'll take her for a consultation for rehab and water therapy. I promise to bring my camera for that - it will be pretty funny I'm sure.