Tightrope repair failure?

I've been off line for awhile because we went on vacation and some home improvements have been taking my off-work time.

For our vacation, we decided to take a camper trip to Texas. It wasn't quite what our Hawaii cruise would have been, but it was warm and not that far away, and best of all we could take the dogs. For the most part it was relaxing and what we could afford.

Winston seemed to be recovering from his 3-legged incident and was able to walk and stopped limping. The first stop on our vacation was an overnight stop at Torrie Lake State Park in New Mexico. This was Josie's first camping trip, so we didn't want to drive too far each day until we were sure that she was ok with all the driving. Once we got settled, both dogs were eager to get walking out to the lake. It's pretty dried up, but the setting was much nicer than stopping at a KOA. The Sandhill cranes were migrating, so we got to hear them flying nearby as the sun set and then again the next morning.

We drove to Bottomless Lakes State Park in New Mexico the next day and got to spend a good part of the day there. The lake right at the campground has very clear water and the visitors center was closed, so both dogs were able to walk up to their bellies in the water and try to catch the little fish that came too close. It was nice to relax and just take them for walks every few hours.

The next day we drove on to one of our favorite parks in Texas: Davis Mountains State Park. We didn't plan ahead and get tickets to the star party at McDonald Observatory, but our Texas state park pass doesn't expire until next summer, so maybe we'll go back in the spring and do that. There are javalina and deer there, which makes things a little interestng with the dogs. Our dogs sure wanted to "get those critters" but were willing to behave. We walked them on a few of the trails, and they were both happy. By this time camping seemed like something Josie has done all her life, and Winston has done it all of his life, so he was happy to get back to "normal". We stayed for a few days at the park and while we were there, we heard that the Mexican government was opening the flood gates to Lake Amistad (our next destination) because of the hurricane so all the campers who had been near there had moved farther away. We decided to change our plans and start heading more north.

We drove to Abilene State Park next which I'd never been to. It's beautiful. It's also very close to Abilene and an Air Force base, so you have to be prepared for jets flying low overhead. We didn't mind -- I got some nice pictures of an F18 coming in for a landing. We decided to stay for a couple more days. Since it was off season we pretty much had the place to ourselves and it was nice to go hiking with the dogs on the trails there. Near the pool there is an area that is nearly fenced in, it just has a single opening instead of a gate, so we decided to let the dogs off the leash and I'd guard the opening so they couldn't get out. They both ran, and suddenly Winston's left leg (the tightrope side) collapsed and bent in such a way that it interferred with his TPLO leg which caused him to fall. He got back up and then lay down again. After resting a few minutes he got back up and when he walked he definitely had a limp, but was putting weight on the left leg so we got him back to the camper and gave him some Trammadol. By nightfall he wasn't putting any weight on it.

I hoped that it would be like the last time and after a few days he'd be back to normal. Josie and I walked for the rest of the trip, but Winston was restricted to very short potty strolls only. On our way home, we stayed at Copper Breaks State Park, Caprock Canyons State Park and finally Palo Duro Canyon State Park. Winston's right leg (TPLO) seems fine and he's actually learning to depend on it more which up to this point he hadn't since it has been his problem leg. When I compare the size of each back leg, his left leg is now more atrophied than the right leg, so the TPLO repair seems like it's been more successful than the Tightrope.

When we got home, I was a little concerned about our stairs, but Winston managed them just fine. He was slow going up but went down them on 3 legs at first. Now he is starting to put a bit of weight on the left hind leg, and he's walking on it again but has a significant limp. He also seems to be ok without any pain medication, but that could change as time goes by if the knee is unstable. He is bending it normally and we don't see any of the "sitting with the leg straight out" behavior like we did before either of his surgeries. Before we got home, we decided the best course of action was to start the recovery process over. He's got no off-leash privileges and he was restricted to potty walks for 2 weeks and then we'll increase the walking time by 5 minutes every 2 weeks if it seems possible (so far so good with that).

We need to take him back to AMVS and find out what's happened to the tightrope repair. We've been going through a lot of "what if" scenarios. We don't know what we'll do. I think that's why I haven't already taken him in. I'm also going through some of those "I wish" scenarios. I wish I'd just done the TPLO repairs in the first place. I am also feeling guilty for making a bad decision that Winston has to suffer from. Sigh...