Surgery Update - One Year Later

Wow - I can't believe I forgot to post on the one year anniversary of Sadie's Tightrope CCL surgery! In a way it's a good thing, because it means that things have been going very well.

Sadie is doing great! She gets some glucosamine chondroitin each morning with her food (to help with arthritis) but other than that she's med free and pain free. I still get paranoid about letting her run around and get too crazy spinning and jumping. My worse fear is that the other leg will give out or she'll re-injure the bad leg.

But she's really done well. She still doesn't have the same range of motion in the "bad leg" but it's only noticeable when she sits (it doesn't bend as much). I took a video to show how spry she is, but ironically filmed a spill! :-( Thankfully it didn't effect her at all. A testament to her healing and the success of the Tightrope procedure.

Surgery Update: Week 16

Well it's been a while since I've updated on Sadie's leg! In this case, no news is good news. She has been doing fabulous. While she still lacks some range of motion in the bad leg, she is walking, running, jumping, and playing on it. Every so often, she'll get up from a nap and take a little hop step, and favors the "good" leg when standing for a while, but she is a four-legged dog!

At Christmas she was finally allowed to play with her buddy Sampson and they enjoyed each other's company. (Previous visits they were kept apart so Sadie would not be tempted to overdo it.)

Thank you for all your prayers and concerns throughout this journey.

Enjoy this evidence of a happy puppy:

Surgery Update: Week 10

Last week Sadie had to stay in the dog kennel while we were in Florida. I felt nervous about it, but had to trust that she would be ok. The kennel was great about allowing some special provisions for her. She was able to have her dog bed from home, her own food/treats, and two 15 minute leash walks each day.

She VERY excited to see us yesterday, and immediately got a bath and went to sleep on her pillow in the family room. Unfortunately, she got sick on Saturday, and rubbed her nose raw. It's pretty bad, poor baby. She has also lost some weight and was 66 lbs today. :-(

We went for her physical therapy today and she did very well. Holly said she wasn't favoring her leg in the cavaletti and she did 1.5 minutes on a balancing board. That was interesting. A large round board with a little ball underneath. We positioned her four feet on the board and Holly used her foot to help balance and cause Sadie to shift her weight onto different legs. I just held her head to keep her from jumping off it.

Then we finished with the water treadmill for about 18 minutes? She did SO GREAT! I was immensely proud. She took treats the whole time, and even stopped panting so hard toward the end. I never would have believed how well she'd adapt to that.

Thursday is our last therapy appointment. Then it will be up to us to keep up with the exercise program at home. Go Sadie!

Surgery Update: Week 8

Sadie's had three physical therapy appointments now. Halfway done! Today I had the girls with me, so she went back with Holly alone. Holly said she did great. Last time, Sadie was very nervous about going over the cavaletti. She kept trying to duck out of them, or else drag me through them at a racing speed. But, I guess she did just fine today. She was on the water treadmill for a while, too, and all by herself! I'm amazed and thrilled at how well that's been going.

We are doing our best to keep up with the exercises and stretching that she needs at home. To be honest, it's a lot, and we're not getting it all done, but are doing the best we can.

I bought her a sweater from Old Navy that will help with our increasingly long walks in the increasingly cold weather.

Surgery Update: 7 Weeks

Today was a huge milestone for Sadie - her first day of physical therapy! My awesome friend Julie came over to watch the girls, as the first appointment was supposed to be 2 hours long. And it pretty much was.

The therapist, Holly, was very, very, very nice and great with Sadie. I loved her. We spent a while going over Sadie's case history and she did an exam of Sadie - basically getting a baseline of heart rate and temp, but focusing on all of her joints and the range of motion on all her legs. She thought that Sadie's "bad" knee joint felt "really good." However, there's not much muscle mass there and Sadie has about 20 degrees less than normal range of motion in that leg.

Holly said that she is probably not likely to regain 100% range of motion, due to the heavy amount of scar tissue that has been built up in there. She recommended we stay on pain meds throughout her therapy, or at least just give her a pain pill on the days she has therapy. We will do six sessions, and about two a week (ideally).

Holly sent us home with a list of exercises and stretches to do with Sadie. She's not a vet herself, but she was very knowledgeable and I almost wish we had seen her sooner. She mentioned that it may have been better for Sadie to have been walking around a bit on the leg, even while it was still draining and open. She also suggested maybe heating it a bit during that time might have stimulated blood flow to the area and helped flush out the "bad stuff." But, she said that different folks have different opinions on that. It doesn't do us any good to play the "what if" game at this point.

Now what you're all curious about: the infamous WATER TREADMILL (aka water DREADmill...). Sadie did great! I was shocked! We only did about 3 minutes of it, and will gradually build up. There was one moment at the beginning where she briefly freaked out, but after that she walked steadily on. You can tell she was very nervous about it, though, since she was panting heavily and would not take a treat during or right after the experience.

I took a video, true to word, but was so caught up in the moment that most of it is sideways... Oops! I found some software to edit it back to normal, so enjoy. Future sessions will be around an hour long. I may bring the girls with me to some of them, especially when Sadie is more comfortable with the treadmill. I trust Holly, she greatly impressed me.

Surgery Update: 6 Weeks!

Well, I am happy to report that six weeks post-op, the hole has finally healed up! It's scabby and crusty looking, but it is CLOSED. All the test results that Dr. V received back showed no infection. God has protected Sadie greatly, considering how long it took for that incision to heal.

We got the green light to begin therapy and have an initial 2 hour consultation next Tuesday. I'm thrilled! I spoke with the therapist on the phone and she thought we would be looking at 6-8 weeks of therapy. With Thanksgiving week in the middle of that, it may be January when we're done, but I have high hopes.

Next step - give that dog a BATH! :-)

Surgery Update: Days 34 - 38

Tuesday
Took Sadie to Dr. V where she got some joint fluid extracted from her knee to be sent in for tests. Dr. V was pleased that she was putting weight on her leg again, of course. He also flushed out the little hole with saline, and found that it all ran out clear. Sadie literally dragged him out the door when he offered to walk her back out to the lobby... She is a strong girl!

Thursday
Dr. V called to say that everything looked normal with the cytology report. Hooray! Now we're waiting on the "panel" results to know for sure we're in the clear, as far as infection goes.

Friday
Took Sadie to Dr. D for a flushing of the hole and advice about her e-collar. I had been to two pet stores and found that the collar we have is the biggest they sell. But Sadie has been managing to pick at the bandaids we've put on the hole. I fear she has eaten several of them... They did not have a bigger collar, but we decided to double-up with this wonderful inner-tube. So far, this combo has helped keep her away from the bandage.


She's got such a long, thin neck and a long, narrow snout that it's hard to keep her away from that knee. Another reason one of her nick-names is "Snout Snout."

Saturday
Sadie's hole is almost completely closed! I am SO excited! I am hoping that we can go have a consultation with the physical therapist as early as next week. Still haven't heard back on the panel results.

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.

Surgery Update: Day 28

Another day, another vet visit. :-) Saw Dr. V this morning and he thought Sadie looked much improved. He said not to worry at all about the internal pocket, about the drainage, about her not putting weight on it or the turned in toe. I guess that the pocket that Dr. D was concerned about is "the path" from the TightRope, according to Dr. V. He said it will take time, but she'll heal up just fine. He did say that it will take some special therapy, though, and again mentioned the famous hydro-therapy. But again, that cannot begin until the wound is healed. I asked about packing it with something to help that internal pocket heal faster, but he said he would want to consult with Dr. Cook first.

He said no walks right now, but we could start manipulating the joint gently, while she's laying down, for 5 rotations twice a day. I told him I was very concerned about her not putting her leg down at all, and that she won't even put it down when she poops. He said it will come back in time. The tech said that her dog did the same thing after his surgery, but he's fine now. I was tempted to ask how long his wound took to heal, but didn't.

He flushed out the hole and rebandaged it up using the new stirrup method. He also sent me home with the special tape that he used. My tape just isn't sticky enough. I will post again with pictures and description of how to do this bandage on a dog's knee. Hopefully it stays on as long as last time!

Here is a shot taken head-on, directly between her front legs. It looks like a side-shot, but her leg is just that twisted:


Dr. D called me back Monday night after talking to the therapist they use, and she agreed that we can't do the water treadmill with an open wound. No surprise there. But there are other things we can try, like a dry treadmill, or even some special machines that they have to stimulate the muscles. I guess a therapy session will run about $120. Ouch. That was not great to hear. We can't afford to do many of those right now.

So - where does this leave us? I don't know. What do we do and who do we believe? I have been challenged personally to trust God and know He is in control. Things have not gone according to MY plan, but God knows what plan will bring Him the most glory. I believe He brought Sadie into our life, as she is the perfect dog for our family, and I believe that He cares about her, too. My friend Kristy reminded me that "if God cares about the sparrows, he certainly cares about Sadie and her leg."

Luke 12:6 "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God."

Surgery Update: Day 26

Tomorrow marks four weeks from Sadie's TightRope surgery. I went for a check-up with Dr. D. I was hoping he'd be impressed with the improvements in the hole. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

Dr. V faxed him the information from Dr. Cook, about not putting in a drain tube, so he was aware that we didn't do that last week. He just said that he'll follow whatever Dr. V would like for Sadie's treatment to be. However, he didn't think that it was any better than last week. The hole is closing up from the outside, but it is still just as big on the inside and still seeping fluid. He was again concerned if the outside healed up too soon, we would have issues with the fluid building up on the inside.

Sadie's hip area is very noticeably bony and scrawny. I mentioned this to Doug yesterday. Dr. D says it is because she has lost so much muscle in that leg. It is just skin and bone, no muscle. That is also why she absolutely WILL NOT put weight on the leg. She just hops around on three legs and never sets down the bum leg. When she stands straight, the hurt leg just limply hangs there, with the toe slightly turned in.

Dr. D warned me that this is not good. The hole is still there, and not healing. We can't start the highly recommended water therapy until the hole is closed. And the longer we go with her not using it, the more we risk permanent disuse. (Yeah, I still don't know how therapeutic water therapy would be with my massively aqua-phobic Dobie, but we've GOT to make it work for her. There's no choice. It's the best thing for her rehabilitation.)

Even if she were to heal up fine, he is concerned that having not used the leg in so long, she will not go back to using it. In his experience, that is the case. He pretty much said that we should not expect her to get back to 100%, even if everything goes well from here on out. He tried to prepare me for the possibility that she may never use the leg again.

But he also said that maybe she will start improving very soon and we'll be able to start therapy and get some usable back. He doesn't know. Nobody knows. I certainly don't know! He's going to call the therapist and let me know what she thinks.

I got into the car with the girls and just started bawling. Again. I've shed so many tears over this dog! I thought that we were doing better, but now I just don't know.

I realize that I'm not really "giving this to God" as Doug keeps reminding me to. I feel silly and selfish even asking others to pray, since this is orthopedic surgery on a DOG and really not important compared to all the crushing humanitarian issues in our world today. I don't know why, but I can't let it go. Then I think, what if this were one of my girls? How big of a mess would I be then? All my flaws of control and worry are totally being brought front and center through this situation. If Sadie's doing well, then I feel great. If we're getting bad reports, then my world is crashing down. That's how I feel right now.

We'll see what the rehab therapist has to say about her case and I go to see Dr. V on Wednesday. Should be interesting.

Surgery Update: Day 24

I had been hesitating to put it in writing, but Sadie has shown some definite signs of improvement over the past three days. By yesterday morning, "the hole" looked about half the size that it did on Monday. It is narrower and not as deep. (Click here to see it.) Hooray! It was still leaking quite of bit of fluid, however, and I was still changing bandages 3-4 times a day.

Yesterday afternoon, my great friends Dionne and Kristi watched my girls so I could take Sadie over to Dr. V's for an appointment. I was pretty sure Sadie still needed a drain tube, given the amount of fluid that was still there.

Dr. V agreed that it looked better. However, he was not in favor of putting in a drain tube. Apparently, he had been in touch with Dr. James Cook (the one who developed the TightRope technique)about Sadie's case. Dr. Cook recommended that we continue to use the compression bandages and let the hole heal on it's own. A drain tube may just cause additional irritation to an area that has already had a lot.

I told Dr. V I was concerned that if the hole closed up, but the fluid was still building up, that we might risk a rupture lower down in her leg, where the incision has already healed. He said that wouldn't happen. He said that the hole wouldn't close until the fluid had stopped or slowed down significantly.

So, I won't argue with Dr. Cook's advice. But I am greatly encouraged by the amount of healing that's taken place just in the past few days.

Dr. V also showed me a new way to bandage Sadie's knee, that may help keep it from slipping down so much. We'll see how it works. If it is better than what I've been doing, I'll probably blog about it, since I've been googling for ideas in that area and not found anything helpful.

The back of her leg has been rubbed raw from all the bandaging. Poor pup. I just slather some neosporin on, put a Telfa pad over it and wrap away.

Sadie's still been a great girl, laying down all day and night (yes, I'm still sleeping next to her) and has been eating her food without coaxing.

I feel so much better. Thank you for your prayer, it was felt in a big way this week.

Surgery Update: Day 21

It's been 3 weeks since Sadie's TightRope surgery. Needless to say, we're just not where I thought we'd be. The hole is still there, and showing no signs of improving. We went back to our vet yesterday, and saw Dr. D. He flushed it out with the Zenodine really well. He thought that the interior "pocket" was much bigger than it was when we he saw it last Monday, and recommended that we have Dr. V put a drain tube in.

I have an appointment for Thursday with Dr. V to get that done.

This has been a rough couple days for me. Just feeling sorry for Sadie, for myself and the whole situation. It's been hard to keep negative thoughts out of my head and see an end in sight: changing bandages several times a day, seeing the doctor 4 times a week, keeping meds straight and cleaning up blood and vomit (and pee and poop from E) on a regular basis. Then there are the issues of keeping up the house, and trying to give attention to my girls as well as Doug.

In light of this, I made myself think of some positive things:
* Yesterday Sadie ate both meals without being hand-fed
* She's shown no signs of pain after being off pain-meds for 3 days
* There is no infection in the incision at all
* She's beginning to put a little weight back on her leg and toe-touching sometimes
* My dad's visit for a few days last week was a HUGE help
* Doug's been great at helping out with everything. What an awesome husband he is.

Surgery Update: Day 19

I spoke to Dr. D on the phone yesterday. I gave him an update from Dr. V. He said that I could still take Sadie there to have the hole flushed, but they actually use diluted Zenodine, not iodine. That was my misunderstanding from last Monday.

He said that as long as the drainage continues, the hole will not close. He said we may need to insert a drain tube to help the fluid drain out further down below her knee, to give that hole a chance to close and heal. I am SO grateful that they have been so awesome in letting me do so much follow-up there at no cost. I have to go on Monday to get more antibiotics for Sadie. Doug and I plan to see Dr. V once a week and Dr. D or C once a week for flushing and check-ups.

So far, she's not shown any pain after coming off the two pain meds, so that's good. She still requires a lot of coaxing and tricks to eat, but she's had two small meals of dry food for the past 3 days! That's good.

Here's Sadie's newest look, and our attempt to keep her bandages from rubbing her skin raw:

Surgery Update: Day 17

This update mainly pertains to yesterday and Sadie's visit back to Dr. V, the surgeon. He said that he spoke a couple times with Dr. C and had a faxed copy of all the notes from their office. He assured me that he concurs with everything they've done and thinks they've done great with her.

Obviously, there was a huge hole in the incision, which was continuing to leak out quite a bit of fluid. He called it serosanguineous, meaning a mixture of serum and blood.

He looked at "the hole" and said, "Wow, you can see right down to the tissue, there." Yeah, not good, I thought. Then he said, "and gosh isn't nice and pink and healthy looking!" I had to laugh to myself. This is a true silver lining guy! If you want to see "the hole", click here. It is too nasty to post.

We are to keep her on heavy restriction until the drainage stops and the hole scars up. This is likely to be "weeks" not "days", so bummer. He also would like it to be rebandaged and flushed with chlorhexidine every 2-3 days. He emphasised several times that he is more than happy for us to come in and see him as often as possible, but understands that the drive is a bit far. If we decide to do the flushing with Dr. C, then he would like to see us in two weeks at the latest.

As for Sadie's lack of appetite, he recommended going off both pain meds for a couple days and see if that helps. If she doesn't seem in much pain, then we're done, but if she's hurting, then we'll add just one of them back.

I've been able to get her to eat her dry dog food from my hand, with peanut butter on it and with a lot of coaxing. We've cut the amount WAY down from normal, since she is literally on bed rest and laying down 95% of each day.

Guess we're in for a long wait. My prayer focus is still for infection to stay far away and for the hole to close up soon, so we can begin rehab.

Surgery Update: Day 15

Today we saw yet another vet! Dr. G recently joined Dr. C and Dr. D at their practice. (This is starting to sound like alphabet soup...) She removed Sadie's bandage. There was still a "hole" where the seroma had been on Monday, but when she pressed around it, nothing came out! Yeah! I was very pleased. She said it had calcified (I think?) and there was no more seroma. Unfortunately, she said that the hole would not close up, but just needed to scar over. She recommended that we remove the staples, since some of them were starting to get embedded in the skin. Sadie did great for the staple removal. Dr. G commented on how calm and good Sadie was. She really has been a trouper throughout this ordeal.

Once the staples were removed, Sadie turned her head sharply to try and lick the spot. I said "No, Sadie!" and then she kind of went to sit down. When her knee bent, a stream of goop shot out all over the upper part of my pants. "There it is," I said, "the seroma's still there." But Dr. G said that it was too deep to be a seroma. "Seromas" she said, "are just under the skin and this is deeper." I mentioned that Dr. D had wanted to flush it out with iodine today and Friday, but she was very opposed to that. She said it's way too deep and she didn't know where it went. She said, "what if I put iodine in there and it doesn't come out? No, I don't feel comfortable with that at all."

She recommended that I take Sadie back to Dr. V and get the next steps from him. The culture from Monday still hadn't come back, but she didn't think that it looked infected. She took the soiled bandage back to Dr. C to consult and he concurred that it didn't smell bad (he was doing surgery). He concurred that I should take Sadie to Dr. V and get his opinion on rehab, etc.

We bandaged her knee just around "the hole" and they sent me home with supplies to re-bandage it on my own. I did this tonight (it just doesn't stay in place when not wrapped around her waist) and was sickened to see that "the hole" was twice as big as in the morning. :-(

I'm curious to hear what Dr. V thinks about it tomorrow. Sadie is still not eating much and really isn't putting any weight on the bad leg, which worries me. She'll be out of pain meds tomorrow, too, so we'll see what Dr. V recommends. Putting the small pills in marshmallows seems to work well and Michelle's peanut butter trick helps with the bigger ones.

I don't know what to think anymore. We're just persevering and praying hard for her.

Surgery Update: Day 13

Today, Sadie's appointment was with a third vet, Dr. D, who works with Dr. C. I was very anxious to see what was underneath that bandage after the weekend. Saturday night I noticed that it had bled through, and Sunday she stopped putting weight on her leg. Her stomach is still not feeling well. Sunday morning (early) she threw up twice. She's on a total bland diet now, for a few days at least.

I also decided to sleep downstairs next to her kennel until she can do stairs again. She rubbed her poor little nose raw and bloody while trying to get our attention Saturday night. We just didn't hear her, but I guess she needed to go out. Her towel was covered with hundreds of little blood spots where she kept rubbing her nose. Great! Another wound...

ANYWAY, Dr. D cut off the bandage and the incision was much improved from Friday. The whole thing has closed up, except for that pesky little spot by the seroma. The seroma was still leaking. The bandage was VERY yucky and evidence that there had been a significant amount of discharge over the weekend. Dr. C came in to see what it looked like and discuss things with Dr. D.

They flushed it out with iodine, and rebandaged it up. I made appointments for Wednesday and Friday to repeat the flushing and bandaging. Dr. D didn't think that there was any sign of infection, but we added a second antibiotic to her "meds" and will be keeping a close eye on things.

Julie was kind enough to watch the girls for me during the appointment (THANK YOU!), which was especially nice considering that this was a pretty messy and bloody visit. However, when I got home, I immediately saw that she had already bled through the bandage. I called the vet, and they asked me to come back in to re-bandage again. Sigh. So after nap, we all headed back to the vet again, where they took her back, re-bandaged and sent us home again. Hopefully we won't have to go back until Wednesday!

I brought some cookies for them and a thank you note from Sadie, which they loved. Although it's a bit of a pain to keep taking her in, it's only 10 minutes away and everyone has been SO great there. I can't say enough good things about them.

Surgery Update: Day 10

We took Sadie this morning back to Dr. C for a new bandage and check up. Dionne's around-the-waist bandage held up pretty well, but pretty much fell apart when I was getting her into the van. She was still bleeding a bit.

Dr. C mentioned that one seroma had stopped bleeding but the other one was still seeping. He bandaged her up pretty good. I think this one will hold through the weekend (cross my fingers). No signs of infection, either. I guess he talked to Dr. V and they are not quite agreeing with Sadie's condition.


It's been interesting to be "in the middle," having a dog be the patient of two different vets. I believe they are both good docs, but with very different approaches. Dr. C is very cautious and is up front with all the worst case scenarios. Dr. V is pretty relaxed and optimistic about any issue we've had. I think that I need to take a middle stance. I can't let myself get too stressed about all the bad things that Dr. C says *could* happen, but I also don't want to become too lax and not be concerned at all when Dr. V says she is great and progressing normally. Does this make sense?

All I know is that I researched the heck out of this CCL thing, and am still very happy with our decision to do the TightRope. Even with TPLO, the incision could still have been slow to heal. She's been a great patient (excluding removing the first two staples...) and has resigned herself to laying down on her new bed or kennel all the time.

Surgery Update: Day 9

Unfortunately, no news is bad news for Sadie. WARNING: This will be a long post. :-)Yesterday she started to bleed and seep again a bit. I thought it was due to having the 5 additional staples put into her leg and just kept an eye on it.

This morning I needed to take her out of her kennel to potty before leaving for Bible Study. She stepped out of the kennel and blood started to stream down her leg and drizzle all over the carpet. A quick look at her leg and the kennel confirmed that she had a lot more bleeding. Great! I called Dr. C (the lady answering the phone knew who I was right away - maybe not a good sign?) and they agreed that I should come in that morning. They had 9 am or 11:30 am. Selfishly, I took 11:30 am so I could make at least part of my Real Moms Bible study. I had to miss it last week for a vet appointment and really need that time in my life right now.

When I picked her up at 11:15, she was still bleeding but not quite as drastically as the morning. True to his word, I was able to park the car in front, with flashers on and he came out into the waiting room to see Sadie. I guess that she has some seromas which are causing the bleeding. He said that the incision needed to be bandaged to give it some compression and that he was concerned. He emphasized that last time we met, he wasn't too concerned, but now he was concerned. There is a big risk of infection, which would mean that the TightRope would have to be removed and that's obviously BAD. He asked to see her tomorrow to change the dressing and warned me to look out for swelling of her lower leg.

After leaving Dr. C's we drove up to my friend Dionne's house for our usual afternoon cropping/playdate. She graciously said I could bring Sadie with me (she has two dogs herself). When we arrived I was mortified to see that the new bandage had fallen down her leg and she was again bleeding all over. I pretty much walked into her house and burst into tears. Dionne, bless her heart, immediately gets out this huge tub of bandages and wraps, and expertly re-wraps Sadie's leg up! She also brought out this huge dog bed for Sadie to lay in next to our scrapping table. I have such awesome friends!

Then - ironically, Dionne had to go to a 3 pm vet appointment for her dogs at - guess where? - Dr. C! I jokingly told her to tell him I said "hi" and that his wrap fell off already. :-) She did actually talk to him about us and he told her "I'm very concerned about that dog." She said, "you're not the only one." He said that he was surprised/offended? that I waited to call him two days since my last visit. I guess he was serious when he said to call him 4x a day and bring Sadie to see him daily... He told Dionne how to wrap the bandage around her waist and then down the leg and gave her a roll of tape to bring back. So we wrapped it a fourth time and it's been staying much better. He said that if the bleeding doesn't stop, she'll have to be hospitalized.


Right now, I'm keeping her laying down as much as possible (as we have been this whole time) and trying to get her to eat and take her pills. She used to eat pills with cheese, no problem, but now she's wised up. She won't eat any cheese at all. The smaller pills I've been able to hide in a marshmallow but those big antibiotics I have to literally force her to swallow by closing her mouth and massaging the throat. Not pretty, but it works.

So, more prayer please! The TightRope seems to be working well, as she's still putting weight on it and walking great, but it's just this darn incision that won't stay closed that's the issue.

I'll update tomorrow. Thanks for your concern and prayers. I am emotionally drained about this.

Surgery Update: Day 7

Today we celebrated Sadie's one week surgery anniversary with not one, but TWO trips to the vet. As I mentioned last Friday, Sadie had lost another staple. I didn't do anything about it because it looked fine. Until Monday morning. I woke up and counted staples (a daily routine now) and noticed that the spot from the missing staple had come open a bit. It was gross and I felt HORRIBLE. The soonest we could come in to see the surgeon was this morning.

I have been feeling a lot of emotion about this. I felt guilty that I didn't take her on Friday and felt scared that the wound wouldn't heal properly and a little bit of questioning as to whether the staples were even done right in the first place. Doug said we should ask for no more staples and instead get some stitches or something else.

At the vet (Dr. V), I asked him if he could do stitches instead of staples, since they just didn't seem to be staying in very well. I showed him several spots where they seemed to be "loose" and expressed my concern. He said that the first dog knee he did was his own dog. He used sutures and had to replace them seven times. Ever since then, he did staples instead. I asked if he could use "liquid bandage" but he didn't think that would work at all. He tried to reassure me that she was doing great and looked fine.

I mentioned that Sadie's been "off" her food for the past 2 days, too. She hasn't had an appetite. He took her temp and found it to be normal. He said to take her off one of her pain meds, as it could cause upset stomach (this is the same med that I just ordered a whole additional week of on Friday, per his direction).

So, she got the spray freezey stuff and about 5 more staples, making a grand total of 17. It was a little tricky, since I had both girls and C was getting queasy with the whole procedure. It wasn't until I had everyone back in the car that I looked at the incision and realized that all the new staples were at the top - not a one in the gaping spot that I had come for in the first place! I didn't know what to do. Go back in? He clearly looked at the incision and must have seen it, but why didn't he staple it back together?

I just got in the car and called Doug. No answer. Now what? I made an executive decision to call our regular vet, Dr. C, and see if they could get me in for a second opinion. They could, at 11:30. Hence the second vet trip in one day! Basically, I just wanted to hear from somebody else that Sadie is OK, that the staples look normal and not to keep questioning and worrying.

The girls and I went home so I could make sack lunches and went for a quick trip to the library before eating lunch on the way to Dr. C's. I got a special treat for them (chocolate milkshake) to share at the vet and hopefully encourage good behavior.

Dr. C said that the staples looked "Frankenstein-ish," but he'd seen worse. :-) He said that the gaping spot had no good tissue to put a staple into, so that's why it wasn't re-stapled. However, he only thought that a small portion (1/2 inch) of the seven inch incision looked as it should after a week of healing. But, he said it would heal, just about a week longer than usual. He encouraged me to keep Sadie on antibiotics until the whole thing was scared over. The biggest risk is infection of the TightRope, which would mean it has to come out. Better to be safe than sorry! He said that if any spot starts to gape out, to bring her in and he would put in some stitches. I guess you have to put the dog out to do that, so it's not a quick thing.

He also said to back Sadie off her pain meds, but not cold turkey. He recommended a "bland diet" (we are, unfortunately, very familiar with this) of cottage cheese, plain yogurt, etc. for her to eat again.

Then, he VERY generously offered to look at Sadie for me at any time. For free. Every day, if I wanted. Just pull up the van, leave the kids inside and he'd come look at Sadie for me. I started to cry when he said this. He didn't charge me for the visit and said to pay for the meds later. He's going to call Dr. V and mention that I'll be having some check ups there instead. It's just SO much closer and easier to get to. I feel reassured and much more at ease. Now we just need to get her appetite back.

Surgery Update: Day 5

Sadie's doing better and better each day. Yesterday afternoon I noticed that she was back down to 12 staples, but didn't tell the vet. To be honest, I don't feel like they are in that securely... Why didn't they just use stitches? But the wound is not seeping or bleeding much anymore and I think there are enough staples still in there to keep it together.

My sister Sharon and bro-in-law Chaz came for a weekend visit. They were a little shocked to see the incision in person - it's pretty gnarly. But Sadie was SO happy to see them, and we've had a great time so far.

She does put more and more weight on it, which is very encouraging. I think she's getting used to the e-collar, but it's very comical to watch her bump into things. She just freezes and waits until you tell her to keep going.