May 30, 2003/Surgery Day:
We got up early and drove to Loveland in all of that lovely early morning rush hour traffic. The orthovet's office was crazy-busy, with about 6 or more people dropping off their dogs for surgery. They must have everyone come in at 8:30 a.m. so they can kennel the dogs before the surgery. It took three of us to get most of Nixie on the scale--101 pounds. They took her into the back, and we were left there feeling sad and anxious. They told us that she was scheduled second, after a shoulder surgery. Nixie didn't seem to quite know what was going on, but she did balk a
bit when the vet tech took her back to her kennel. We dropped off a dog bed, her monkey toy, and the t-shirt I had been wearing the day before.
Nixie, practicing being mopey in her new x-pen.
The night before the surgery. May 29, 2003
We filled out the paperwork for the loan, waited until the bulk of the amount was approved ($2000 of the $2601.20 it ended up costing), and then we left. On the way home, we stopped by a 7-Eleven to pick up Colorado Lottery & Powerball tickets--we need luck and money now! I went to work, but Scott was feeling so poorly, from stress, I suspect, that he stayed home.
I called at 1 p.m. to check on her status. They told me that she hadn't gone in for surgery, and that she was sleeping.
I called the orthovet's office at 4 p.m., and she is in surgery now (yeah!?). They said that she was the last one of the day. How did she go from second to last? Oh well. We dropped her off at 8:30 this morning. Hopefully we will be able to pick her up tomorrow, and hopefully early enough that we can miss the big thunderboomer that they are forecasting again for tomorrow.
I called again at 5:30 p.m., before we left to go run our usual weekend errands. We knew those weren't going to happen after we picked her up on Saturday. She was still in surgery, but that she should be out in an hour, or so. Everything was going well. We forwarded the home phone to our cell phone while we were out.
The orthovet called us at 7 p.m. Friday night while we were at the mall. The surgery went longer than he anticipated--he forgot what a large knee she has. The CCL was completely torn, but the meniscus was intact--yeah! He said that her angle was 22-27 degrees--he had to measure a range, because she is so large. He corrected it to 2-7 degrees. He also cleaned up the joint a bit. He did give her two plates to stabilize the joint. He was very happy about how the cut went, so that makes us happy, too. We forgot to ask about her patella.
Nixie, with the bright green bandage
on
her leg from the IV, in the "dog limo"
ready for the hour drive home from the
orthovet's office. May 31, 2003
May 31, 2003/Day 1 Post-TPLO:
We went and got Nixie from the orthovet at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday. She is toe-
touching now, which is a "Yeah!" but also means that she thinks she
can do more than she actually can. We got her into the "dog limo"
without incident--our Pontiac Transport van with one of the middle
bucket seats removed so we can put her dog bed down. She got in
fine, and then proceded to climb up on the bench seat in the back--
she's never done that before. She then plopped her butt on it and
sat with all four feet on the floor--like she does at home on the
sofa. We finally got her coaxed onto her dog bed, and to lay down--I
wasn't about to drive with her standing up. My husband had to sit in
the other bucket seat to keep her down. She seemed dopey, but agile.
The orthovet said that she had a 22 to 27 degree angle in that knee. He also mentioned that the patella, which sits off to the right a bit, is not actually luxating, but that the groove in the femur is angled out a bit. He brought in another surgeon, who said that he had never seen anything like it. They decided to leave it alone, since the patella wasn't actually dislocating. He is curious if the left is like that or not, but the only way we'd find out if she had knee surgery on the left knee.
He used two plates, and 11 screws total, the biggest at 40 mm. He sent her home with Rimadyl, morphine pills for nights, and ACE for the days if she needs it. I was tempted to give an ACE to Levi the wiggle-dog, who would not leave Nixie alone in her x-pen. He finally settled down. Her incision is huge, as you can imagine, and he said that he stichted up as many layers as he could, because she is so large. Also, Danes, like Greyhounds, tend to have tight skin, and she may pop a suture while sitting. One thing, though, it seems to be a bit more puffy than this morning, but it isn't red or hot to the touch. She's been leaving the incision alone, so no e-collar for her.
She seemed more lucid that evening, but very tired. She also ate and urinated that first day. She didn't drink or deficate to later that night.
