Well they say it’s easier the 2nd go around and so far that’s true, though I’ve only had her home for 2 hours. Her spirits are generally good, all things considered. I got her home and she walked straight into her pen and pretty much settled down right away. The set up is better this time, no extra blankets for her to catch her bandaged leg in, it’s basically just a covered foam mattress and her pillow on the ground with a bowl of water and a couple of toys nearby. Of course for now she has no interest in the toys, but so far so good. I lay down with her for a little bit but she doesn’t seem to be as needy (yet) as she was last time.
The doc gave a couple of extra meds this go around. In addition to the pain pills, the anti-inflammatories, the antibiotics and sedatives she was also given an antacid too. I guess they had problems with a few dogs and decided to add that to the routine. I’m all for it if it makes things easier on us, though I don’t recall her having trouble last time. Better safe than sorry though.
She was the darling of the vet’s office, they told me she was very good, didn’t cry at all, and after her surgery just hung out watching all the comings and goings in the recovery area. They even made a special nameplate for her crate:
Tomorrow Freia (finally) goes in for TPLO #2 – on her left leg this time. I’ve been voraciously reading my blog to recall how it all went the first time. It’s bringing back good reassuring memories and some not so good ones..
She blew out the other knee completely about 3 weeks ago. We were at the dog park and a couple of dominant Collies were harassing her – not really doing anything or even touching her, just behaving in a very dominant manner. She got intimidated and crept away, tail tucked. I found her at the top of a slope about 4 minutes later and she was fully 3 legging it. I knew what this meant. Her knee was well and truly gone. Such a bummer. And poor girl was so scared. I reassured her that it was all OK. The other dogs had moved on. I made a sling for her out of her leash, mainly just to help support her back end and we gingerly hobbled out of the park. What would normally be a 10 minute saunter probably took about half an hour. What also really sucked was that she hadn’t even had a chance to romp around the park when this all happened, we’d not even been there 10 minutes. PLUS on the way over there I had a bad, bad feeling. I don’t know why I don’t listen when I get those.
That first night she was in a fair amount of pain, but has steadily improved and was in fact pain free from about the 3rd day. She is still hopping on 3 legs though, especially if I let her pick up speed (apparently with the ACL it’s not a pain problem that makes them hop, they are just unstable, so hopping is a safer way for them to get about). Here’s a video of what she looked like a couple of days after the “incident”.
Now though it’s about 3 weeks since she tore it and our walks have become shorter and shorter – at her request – I let her lead the way and she pretty much just walks me around our building. This is really no different from the first 2 weeks post-op so this view is going to get pretty old, but her comfort is the most important thing.
If there is a silver lining, her knee has been troublesome for two years now, so it’s a relief to have it finally go so that we can all move on and hopefully by autumn I can take her to some really lovely off leash local quasi-wilderness areas that I’ve not been able to take her to for over a year.
So, my nerves are shot but it’s a go. She was originally scheduled for last monday, but had some really nasty tummy bug which was being overly persistent. I felt dreadful calling Dr. Sams late on the Sunday before the surgery to see what he thought and possibly reschedule. Without any hesitation he made it clear that her health was the most important thing and that the surgery would be best postponed till she was better. This is why I like Dr. Sams so very much. He really cares about the dogs, their health and wellbeing and the success of his work. I really can’t recommend him enough. If you are in the Northern California area, he is the surgeon to see.
Wish us luck – tomorrow is going to be pretty darn awful. Maybe I should start on the sedatives now…
Freia and the Knitwhit 