Winston is so eager to walk, we've been walking more than 5 minutes for each of our walks. He does pretty well during the walk, but still has kind of a "bicycle seat is too short" pedaling motion rather than a normal reach with his leg.
Our physical therapy visit was pretty short today since Winston is too long for the underwater treadmill. We did another laser treatment and she evaluated how he's doing. In another couple of weeks we can start some of the same exercises we did after the tightrope surgery. In the meantime I should walk Winston in clockwise circles since that will force him to use the leg. Also I'm to start an exercise where I lift his left hind leg for a few seconds so that he's standing on the right hind leg. She also recommended that I increase the frequency of the walks rather than the time. I've read this before with other people's experiences. Since I work from home, that's possible for me.
She said that she didn't think there was much swelling or fluid, just a tiny bit at the bottom of the incision. I asked about the "lump" that I'd noticed from time to time on the outside of his knee and she poked and prodded and said that it was hard and she thought it was scar tissue from the way it healed after the infection. Basically she told me to try not to worry too much. I had mentioned that I was worried about another infection. She said that it seemed that Mastiffs or any of the really large dogs seemed to have a harder time with that. She said she'd read about a theory that it was because they were under anesthesia longer.
Since our appointment was so short she asked if we could come back tomorrow for another quick laser treatment. Sure, but Don is busy helping a friend move, so I'm on my own. Can I get him unloaded by myself? If he can walk down the ramp, I can.
After we finished our appointment, I stopped by the front desk and mentioned that Dr. Trousdale wanted one of the surgeons to take a look at Winston while he was there to check on his leg. Dr. Hanzlik was there and she had scrubbed into his surgery so she was familiar with how his leg looked on the inside. She said he had a lot of scar tissue, which was the whole point of the Tightrope, but it's unfortunate that it had broken down in such a way that his knee wasn't supported. She thought the knee looked good and he didn't seem bothered by any manipulation. Hooray!
We used the ramp to unload him from the car and he went down it mostly on 3 legs. That's ok. It doesn't put any unnecessary pressure on the TPLO repair.
Once we got into the house, he seemed very sore and hardly used his leg at all -- just toe touching. Hmmmm. I decided not to walk him again and see if he was better in the morning.
June 19, 2009
June 17, 2009
June 17, 2009, 2.5 weeks post-TPLO
Ever since we came home from the vet on Monday, I've been worrying about the fluid around the incision. Is it getting bigger? I have a hard time telling since I see it every day. They wanted me to call if anything changed. Well, yesterday he was up and restless all day and when he walks around "his room", he's limping pretty good. Is this a change? Is this just because he hurts because we're walking and that's new? I would expect some pain when walking on a newly broken leg.... When we go for a walk, he uses it really well, and he seems less sore while we're out there, and he also isn't as slow on the way back as he was on Monday.
Yesterday afternoon I called AMVS back and asked if they could give me some more specific instructions about what I'm supposed to look for. They clarified that if I should see more of the knee become swollen, or swelling traveling down the leg, or if he starts limping during our walks, or stops putting weight on it while he's in his room. Whew! I'm not seeing any of that yet.
I also asked about stairs. Since we live in a split-level, he's stuck down here in the "lobby" of our house. I don't want him to do anything that he shouldn't do yet, so I figured we might have to wait for awhile, but they said if we're very careful and keep him on a leash we can try the stairs. Take it slow... only try it once one day and see how that goes. If that goes well and doesn't seem to bother him, maybe we can do it again the next day and so on. They just don't want him doing it a lot -- no up and down the stairs several times a day to go potty.
I told them that he seemed to be doing really well with the walks, and they said I could increase either the time or the frequency by little bits as long as it doesn't bother him. Since I've already been through 2 surgeries and an infection, I think I can judge pretty well how he's doing, so I bumped him just past 5 minutes and I might try adding one more walk (5 minute) walk into our day and see how he does with that.
Today he hasn't been restless at all. I kinda think the restlessness yesterday was because of the sudden change to his schedule. He was up and hoping for a walk all day long. Silly boy!
Yesterday afternoon I called AMVS back and asked if they could give me some more specific instructions about what I'm supposed to look for. They clarified that if I should see more of the knee become swollen, or swelling traveling down the leg, or if he starts limping during our walks, or stops putting weight on it while he's in his room. Whew! I'm not seeing any of that yet.
I also asked about stairs. Since we live in a split-level, he's stuck down here in the "lobby" of our house. I don't want him to do anything that he shouldn't do yet, so I figured we might have to wait for awhile, but they said if we're very careful and keep him on a leash we can try the stairs. Take it slow... only try it once one day and see how that goes. If that goes well and doesn't seem to bother him, maybe we can do it again the next day and so on. They just don't want him doing it a lot -- no up and down the stairs several times a day to go potty.
I told them that he seemed to be doing really well with the walks, and they said I could increase either the time or the frequency by little bits as long as it doesn't bother him. Since I've already been through 2 surgeries and an infection, I think I can judge pretty well how he's doing, so I bumped him just past 5 minutes and I might try adding one more walk (5 minute) walk into our day and see how he does with that.
Today he hasn't been restless at all. I kinda think the restlessness yesterday was because of the sudden change to his schedule. He was up and hoping for a walk all day long. Silly boy!
June 15, 2009
June 15, 2009, staples removed & 2 wk evaluation
Winston got his staples out today. Ever since his TPLO surgery, I've been really happy with his progress and pretty excited that everything seemed to be going so well. They burst my bubble :(
Dr. Duerr was in an emergency surgery so Dr. Trousdale did the evaluation and he noticed that there is a little fluid pocket along the line of the incision. He was happy to see that Winston is walking on the leg and actually puts it underneath him when he walks, but the fluid pocket may indicate the presence of an infection. I guess this is pretty likely since we just battled an infection, so he's going to be more prone to another one. It's not really what I wanted to hear or even think about. I've been watching the swelling go steadily down ever since surgery, so I thought it was just a normal part of the healing process. I didn't realize that he shouldn't have any swelling anymore.
He said that a little clear fluid leaked out when he removed the staples. Clear is good, but still....
Dr. Trousdale asked us to put hot compresses on the incision 2-3 times a day for 3-5 days, and to call them if ANYTHING changes at all. I'm guessing that the hot compress will also cause the infection to come more to the surface if there is one? Our last 2 doses of cephelexin are today, so I asked whether we should extend that, and he said no because if there's an infection present, it's resistent to that anyway.
Ugh! I hate this.
After we got home, I soaked a washcloth with hot water from the faucet and put it into a zip lock bag and held it against his leg for about 10 minutes. I'll be doing this about 3 times a day from now until Friday.
We walked again a couple more times and Winston is definitely putting his weight onto his leg and wants to go farther than he's allowed. It's hard to get him to turn around. At the same time, he's a little slow on the way back, so I think we're going far enough for now.
Dr. Duerr was in an emergency surgery so Dr. Trousdale did the evaluation and he noticed that there is a little fluid pocket along the line of the incision. He was happy to see that Winston is walking on the leg and actually puts it underneath him when he walks, but the fluid pocket may indicate the presence of an infection. I guess this is pretty likely since we just battled an infection, so he's going to be more prone to another one. It's not really what I wanted to hear or even think about. I've been watching the swelling go steadily down ever since surgery, so I thought it was just a normal part of the healing process. I didn't realize that he shouldn't have any swelling anymore.
He said that a little clear fluid leaked out when he removed the staples. Clear is good, but still....
Dr. Trousdale asked us to put hot compresses on the incision 2-3 times a day for 3-5 days, and to call them if ANYTHING changes at all. I'm guessing that the hot compress will also cause the infection to come more to the surface if there is one? Our last 2 doses of cephelexin are today, so I asked whether we should extend that, and he said no because if there's an infection present, it's resistent to that anyway.
Ugh! I hate this.
After we got home, I soaked a washcloth with hot water from the faucet and put it into a zip lock bag and held it against his leg for about 10 minutes. I'll be doing this about 3 times a day from now until Friday.
We walked again a couple more times and Winston is definitely putting his weight onto his leg and wants to go farther than he's allowed. It's hard to get him to turn around. At the same time, he's a little slow on the way back, so I think we're going far enough for now.
June 14, 2009
June 14, 2009, our first walk post-TPLO
This evening Winston got to walk off of our property for the very first time since April 17th. All of us were pretty excited. We walked for 2.5 minutes out and it took us just a little bit longer to walk back. He seemed to do ok. His leg moves a little differently than it did before, so I think there's going to be a little bit of a learning curve for him on how to use his leg.
As soon as he got home and had a drink of water, he slept for awhile. Not much stamina yet! After that he seemed pretty sore when he first stood up and walked inside his room, but when I took him out to go potty, it seemed to work itself out after a few steps.
As soon as he got home and had a drink of water, he slept for awhile. Not much stamina yet! After that he seemed pretty sore when he first stood up and walked inside his room, but when I took him out to go potty, it seemed to work itself out after a few steps.
June 13, 2009
June 13, 2009 - 1.75 weeks post-TPLO
Almost all the swelling is gone is gone in Winston's leg, and he's walking on it pretty normally considering he's got so much atrophy in that leg.
We go to AMVS on Monday to get the staples out. He's still got some small scabs, so he's going to be stuck with the donut until the rest of those fall off, but it shouldn't be long. I'm excited to start walking again. Even though we'll only be able to go about 3 houses in either direction, it will be the first time he's left the property on his own four feet since mid April. He is going to be SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!! I can't wait.
Josie is also going to be happy since she misses walking with him.
I'm unsure of when we will be allowed to help him up and down the stairs. With the Tightrope, we were able to start taking him up into the main part of the house at 1 week. I suspect that he might be down in his room for awhile yet. I'm going to guess at least 4 weeks post-surgery, but I won't be surprised to hear that they want to wait until 8 weeks. It seems that each surgeon has a different opinion. We'll ask about that when we go on Monday.
We took down the exercise pen today and put baby gates across the stairs. Now Winston has 2 beds, and a bunch of floorspace to choose from. It's not as good as being able to "live upstairs like normal" but there's enough room for Josie to hang out with him, and there's enough room for me to work down there during the day with the two of them at my feet. Life is good!
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