June 4, 2009, 3 days post-TPLO

I almost feel guilty that I took 2 days off work, because taking care of Winston seems SO easy this time. I guess when you compare it to what we went through with the infection, it's pretty anti-climactic, but that's also a GOOD thing :)

The saran wrap stuff is peeling down at the top, but it's still sealed at the bottom, so it forms a perfect funnel along his incision. If he should happen to splash or otherwise "pee wrong", it looks like the urine would would just go straight down the funnel and pool at the bottom of the incision. While we were out on a potty break, I worked at peeling it the rest of the way off. He was ok with the peeling action on the front side of his leg, but VERY unhappy about any kind of skin tugging on the back half of his leg. He tried to grab my hand in his mouth to stop me. I kept peeling from the back going towards the incision, but no matter what I tried, he was unhappy. I finally took the "bite the bullet and just rip it off" approach. He didn't like it, but it was quick and then we were done.

I'm pleasantly surprised at how small the incision is. Somewhere I'd read about someone who's dog had a really huge incision, and I somehow expected that. I should have known better. This incision is no bigger than the main one on the outside of his leg from the Tightrope, and there is only one incision. Of course, most of what's going on with a TPLO is on the inside. Don kept telling me that Winston would be in more pain from this surgery because one of his friends who had TPLO on their dog said it cried nonstop for weeks. He kept telling me that Winston would be the same way. I'm happy to say that I haven't noticed any difference so far between this recovery and either of his Tightrope recoveries.

When I tried to ice his knee today, he kept trying to block me from getting near it with his head. He was also giving me the, "What the heck are you trying to do to me today anyway?" look. I figured it had been long enough.

We took him for his first phsyical therapy visit today. They did a laser treatment that is supposed to promote cellular level healing. It sounded like something a day spa would say. I was skeptical, but I didn't think it could hurt, so we went ahead and did it. She also showed us the proper way (and improper way) to do the passive exercises with his leg, so now I have a new torture for him. She said that his range of motion was nearly 100% but that he wouldnt' quite let her straighten his leg all the way. Then she said that it might be due to the 14 degree angle for the repair. I have no idea, but I could see how straight she was able to get his leg, and it's much straighter than you would think from her comments. It looks pretty straight to me.