October 13, 2003 / Week 20 post-TPLO, 7 days post plates removal surgery
Nixie has been fine over the weekend. We've been letting her out into the backyard to go potty, without the other two dogs. She is usually good, but then she will trot or run back into the house. When we came home for lunch today, we noticed some new blood drops in her x-pen. I took a look at her incision, and after I cleaned the blood off, I notice that she has pulled one of the sutures tighter, cutting into her skin. It is the middle suture. I'm not sure how she did this, perhaps she jumped up when she heard us come to the door. I have never seen her pick at her sutures, just clean the area by licking. We'll keep an eye on her.
On the good side, we have noticed that she is standing straighter, with even weight on both feet. She is sitting more square, and laying more square. And all this with a four inch incision on the inside of her knee!
Ginger, the neighbor dog Nixie loves to torment.
October 11, 2003
October 14, 2003 / Week 20 post-TPLO, 1 week post plates removal surgery
Nixie is just feeling too well for her own good. Since she had the TPLO plates removed last
week, she has been sitting squarer and laying down straighter than
before or after the TPLO surgery. After the TPLO, she would stick
out her repaired leg while sitting, and would lay with kink to the
left side, I think to accomodate the repaired leg.
Jasmine, the Queen Dog, who walks under both
Levi and Nixie. October 11, 2003
All of this extra movement is putting stress on her sutures. She came home with 4 days of Rimadyl, but was only supposed to be on it for 3 days. On Sunday, the swelling had subsided, the incision was flattening out, and everything looked fine. Yesterday when we came home for lunch, we noticed fresh blood drops in her x-pen. We looked at her incision, and saw that the middle suture was tearing through her skin. We stopped the bleeding, and hoped for the best. Looking back now, I realize that we should have iced it to get the swelling down.
Three hours later I got home from work, and the lower suture looks like it is coming apart, and 2/3 of the incision is spread apart ¾ of an inch. I called the orthovet's office, and they said that they are worried about infection and to have my local vet put a couple of skin staples in. I called my local vet, but they must have neglected to transfer their phones to their answering service, because it just rang and rang and rang. I called our former vets office, but they didn't want to treat her (or even see her for that matter) because they are worried about the orthovet's office not guaranteeing their work, or some such garbage. They suggested an e-collar. I told them that won't help, because she isn't picking at the sutures, they are just stretching when she moves. ARGGGH.
Levi, the Wiggle Dog. You can almost make out the
scar on his shoulder where he pulled his sutures
apart after having a (benign) tumor removed.
October 11, 2003
We finally get a hold of another vet who was willing to take a look at her. He looked at her incision and told us that it was pulling apart because it was inflamed (and I thought that it was inflamed because it was pulling part). He didn't feel comfortable putting skin staples in, because they would just tear through, like the pink sutures. He noted that it didn't look infected, and she wasn't bothered with him poking around the incision--so that's good news. He suggested giving her Rimadyl and icing the knee to see if we could get the swelling down. So, that is what we did. He was even nice enough to not charge us for the emergency call.
I called the orthovet's office this morning to fill them in on what happened last night, and to ask for a prescription of Rimadyl be called into our local vet's office. The incision is less inflamed than yesterday, but the spot that the suture is tearing through is weeping blood and clear fluids.
Sigh. And we thought this was going to be easier than the first surgery. Well it is, because she is moving better, which is why it is worse. Makes sense, right?
She is scheduled to have her sutures removed next Tuesday, and hopefully she will be healed enough to have that done.
October 15, 2003 / Week 20 post-TPLO, 8 days post plates removal surgery
Nixie's incision line isn't any better. We've been good about icing it and giving her the Rimadyl and trying to keep her still, but the incision is still open (about ½ an inch wide and 2 inches long) and oozing, and the middle suture is tearing through her skin. We decide that she needs to be seen, so we drop her off at the local vet's office early this morning so he can look at her. They put her in kennel that is too short for her, but it looks like she has enough room to laydown. It took three of us 5 minutes to convince her to go in the back. She is really starting to hate vet offices.
Poor Nixie, perched on the couch with a
lampshade on her head. October 15, 2003.
We got back from picking up Nixie at the local vet's office at 2 p.m. He put 7 or 8 skin staples in, gave her an e-collar (oh, I can't wait for the bruises she'll give me with that!), and a whole mess of antibiotics (Cephalexin). They told us on discharge that because she is licking the leaking fluids off her knee, that action will agravate the incision line, making it swell, which will make the sutures tear through her skin "like butter". She doesn't have an infection, but they are taking precautions. The staples are supposed to come out in 10 days. The original sutures are supposed to come out next Tuesday (I didn't notice if they were still in there or not--hmmm).
I then called the orthovet's office to let them know what is going on. I actually talked to the orthovet himself, who was concerned about the skin staples tearing (like the emergency vet told us Monday night), and that she might need deep tissue sutures to hold things together. So, we have an appointment there tomorrow morning. I have a feeling that he will remove the staples and suture up the area like he feels it should be done. He suggested taking her off the Rimadyl to see if that slows her down some. I told him that we tried that for three days and it didn't. He was happy that she was feeling very well, and that she is moving better than before (to the detriment of her suture line).
Some good news is that the emergency vets office (Cheyenne Pet Clinic) called today to check on her. She isn't a patient, and they didn't charge us anything for the visit Monday night. I'll definitely recommend them over our past vet, who wouldn't look at her.
October 16, 2003 / Week 20 post-TPLO, 10 days post plates removal surgery
Well, we drove down to Loveland, CO, with a 40 mph cross wind both
ways (gusting 50 mph +). Yes, my arms are tired, and I have to
check for the myriad of tumbleweeds I crushed on the road underneath
the minivan.
The orthovet saw Nixie, noted that she was moving very well (well, isn't that part of her problem?), and stated that he was concerned if a fluid pocket had formed. However, since he didn't see that, and that the staples were holding the incision together (though I think she may have lost a few), that we should just leave things well enough alone. I cancelled the suture removal appointment set for next week, purchased a PowerBall and Colorado Lotto quick pick tickets, and hit the road. Hey! Maybe I'll hit the jackpot and that will pay for all of the vet visits (5) we've been doing these last 9 days!
So, we are back to the "wait and see" mode. She has to have the e- collar on when we can't supervise her (nights and when we are at work). However, she no longer fits into her x-pen with it, so we've got her locked up in the office. I purchased a soft e-collar from the BonaFido Company (http://www.bonafido.com/) There's a picture of one in the Files section of the Orthodogs page. Rubydog looks quite content with the big pillow around her neck. And after Nixie uses it, maybe Jasmine, the Queen Dog, could use it as a bed (it should fit well!). The soft e-collar should arrive Friday the 17th. I'm sure Nixie will be a happier camper, then!
Hopefully, the incision will heal quickly, the Rimadyl and the ice packing will make the swelling go down, and the antibiotics will prevent any infection from setting in.
Standing with the already bent e-collar.
October 15, 2003.
Nixie just HATES going into exam rooms now. Today was no different. She kept backing up, slunk low to the ground, until she ran into the vet tech who was trying to stop her backward progress. She even climbed up into one of the plastic waiting room chairs and was perched there, until we convinced her to come down and go in the room before she injured something else.
Trying to get some rest on the couch. October 15, 2003.