3 weeks DONE!

Alright we have made it 3 weeks!!! Molly is doing well...but she so doesn't realize that she had surgery. The girl wants to just take OFF! Hang in there Molly...we are getting closer to the good ole Frisbee days!!!

Two weeks and 5 days (pictures)

Here are some pictures to update more of our third week post op with Molly .


Molly was all sprawled out in the kennel...she is so done with being in there though.

She would rather be laying around with Chelsea. We keep the leash on Molly as she walks around the house so we can control some of her activity. We are going to be disassembling that crazy doorbell we have...it gets Molly too excited.

I love this picture. Chelsea will grab Molly's leash in her mouth and walk around with her. Thanks Chelsea for helping us keep Molly calm.

'Aww Molly someday you will get back out there'

The back leg close to us in this picture is her operative leg. The fur has grown back...the swelling looks better...she is walking on it without a limp...she looks great....we just have to keep pressing on in keeping her calm!

She does like to lay on the couch with Chelsea. (Hey Dr Tudor and Dr. Gallagher if you are reading this don't worry we are helping her onto the couch and limiting her jumping up and down:)

So almost to week 3. We got a phone call today that we have an appointment set up with Dr Tudor on June 8th for a check up. Then 4 weeks after that we will get follow up xrays.

Again one day at a time....

Two weeks and 3 days post op

Molly continues to improve. Staples came out on Thursday and her incision looks great. There still is some swelling but that continues to improve. We are to see Dr. Tudor at 4 weeks...just waiting for them to call back with an appointment time

We still have Molly on a leash when she is out of her kennel in the house. We let her wander some around the first floor, just have to make sure she doesn't try to go up the stairs. We lift her up onto the couch which is her favorite place to lay down. But we keep the leash in our hand just in case she wants to jump off. Usually Molly and Chelsea like to lay next to each other and chew a bone together.

Outside we continue to use the leash and sling. We help Molly down the 3 steps in front of our house or out back off the deck.

I took Molly with us to Greensboro yesterday for my son's soccer game. At first I thought oh no this is a mistake she wanted to run and chase all the soccer balls she saw. But eventually she settled down and did lay next to me.

Molly continues to put weight on her operative leg. I do notice her favoring it sometimes but not alot. Her ROM is great. When she lays down she likes to kick her legs straight behind her so her extension is good. And I will lay next to her and do the ROM exercises.

I think the challenge is patience. We have to continue to be cautious with her, limit her activity...even though she looks like she is doing so well we have to limit her activity. It's been 2 1/2 weeks of kennel and always having her on a leash all the time...believe me there are times we just want to open the back door and let her out...but we are being patient and doing we we need to do for Molly taking it one day at a time.

Will post some pictures later.

Two weeks post op ...YEAH!

Alright so not a lot of posts this past week but we have made it to two weeks post op!!! Molly did well with her compression dressing last weekend (her pink/red leg). The dressing did slide down but we were able to leave it on until Sunday night. At first because the dressing slid below the seroma it didn't look like it help much. Then the next morning on Monday the swelling was down a lot! The leg looked great.


Our vet called to check on Molly Monday morning and wanted us to come in and have her seen. Dr. Gallagher was pleased with the decrease in swelling in her leg and we were too.


Molly continues to put weight on her leg. We have to make sure when she is out of her kennel that we keep her on a leash. She is an 18 month old dog that wants to just 'take off' sometimes. Her fur has grown back a lot as well.



The challenges have been her taking her medications now. She used to take them no problem coated in peanut butter...now she it spitting the back out after she gets all the peanut butter off. What is up with that:) She has finished the antibiotic and it now on anti inflammatory, pain medication and joint supplement. It was funny this morning she sat there and let me give her the joint supplement, the anti inflammatory but then got scared of the two little white pills (pain med) and turned away from me. Ummm time to get the hot dogs and try that trick.



Oh and Molly knows that we can let her out of her kennel if we sit there with her and hold her leash...so the whining of wanting to get out of the kennel has increased. We just don't trust to let her roam yet...she will try to run up the stairs and jump on the furniture.



We will go to the vet today and Molly will get her staples out. We will get more instructions on exercises for Molly. We have continued her ROM exercises and she is doing great with that.


Here are some week 2 (day 14) pictures:

Post-op Day 8 (one week one day)

Alright so I didn't actually get pictures taken or posted yesterday.

But I do have some today on day 8.

The swelling in Molly's lower leg has gone down alot. But the area right at her knee has a big area of swelling still. We can't tell if it is getting bigger or only looks bigger because the swelling elsewhere is going down and she is losing muscle tone. We called to the vet to schedule her appt next Thursday to have the staples removed and asked about this swollen area (it's like a sac of fluid)....so they said to bring her in for a quick check today at 5pm.

UPDATE:

So we went to the vet and the swelling area on Molly's leg is called a seroma...which is just a pocket of fluid. It's not infected so that is good. Dr. Gallagher called Dr. Tudor and she said to wrap Molly's leg for the weekend. So here is Molly with her pink leg:)

Week one is complete!

Well we made it a week. Last week we dropped Molly off at the vet for her TPLO surgery...and we have made it through the week of having her confined to the kennel to limit her activity.

She seems to be doing well.

Pictures to will be posted later today!

Post-op Day 6

Day 6...Molly is doing well. She continues to get used to the kennel. When we let her out to go outside she is now waiting for us to put on her leash and her sling and she knows to wait for us to lift her hind legs as she goes down the three steps in the front of the house. Immediately when she gets outside she stretches out in the grass and lays down.


The swelling in her legs is decreasing throughout except right over top of her knee. We are noticing her muscles in her hind legs have some atrophy from lack of use....but that will come back I am sure when she is free to walk and run on her own. She does still try to put weight on it...especially because her other leg has a torn cruciate ligament as well and is weak.


We are excited that tomorrow we can check the 1 week block!


Here are some day 6 pictures...

Molly and Chelsea hangin out again!

Post-op Day 5...photos

Here are some post op day 5 photos...Molly snoozing in her kennel with her bone

Below is Kylie and Molly...

Parker and Molly...

And Tyler and Molly

made it through another day...that's one more day closer to frisbee catching and running around the back yard and long evening walks!!!!

Post-op Day 5

Well almost made it one week. Molly is doing well today. Sean said she slept well but woke up at 4am to go outside (umm nice:) I had to work again last night. I came home and did the whole massage, ROM and ice.

It looks like the swelling is going down some. The skin in her left leg is getting more loose. The fluid that was setting in her ankle is not as much as yesterday. Her incision looks great.

I was able to take her outside for a little bit (before I went to sleep)....she does some "exploring" and then lays down again in the grass...which I actually find good for her because she stretches her legs straight out back and that is really extending her knee. She can't lay completely stretched out in her kennel, just not enough room.

Today looks like rain which is going to be interesting getting Molly outside throughout the day...but we will tackle that challenge as it comes.

Will post some pictures later. The kids want some pictures of them with Molly included in this blog....so stay tuned!

Post-op Day 4

So it's Monday. Molly slept pretty well and got up and went outside (of course leash and sling) and was able to go to the bathroom. We are taking her out several times a day but she doesn't go each time. So we were happy that she went this morning. We will just have to figure out her "routine". I mean before the surgery we would just let her out back several times a day and not know what she did.

Anyway I worked night shift and came home and was able to massage her leg and do her ROM exercises and then iced her down before I went to bed.

Sean works from home so he brought his laptpo downstairs to work so Molly could see him. She did whimper some throughout the day really wanting to get out and play. I mean she is only 18 months and must be feeling better and wanting to run. 2-4 weeks is going to be long of kennel only.

Sean was able to take her out several times and all Molly wants to do is lay down in the grass...but we have to really make sure we have a hold of her leash because if she sees something she wants to run over there.

The vet called to check on her.

We noticed that her ankle area has fluid settling into it. But it does not look as swollen.

So here are some pictures of post-op day 4:

This above picture is a little dark but I wanted to get a picture of the fluid in her lower leg.

Post-op Day 3

This is post op day 3. Sean slept down stairs with Molly so she wouldn't whine all night. He was able to take her outside in the morning no problem and then we fed her in her kennel. Then I loved on her in her cage and did some massage and exercises with her then iced her leg down. I am so thankful that Molly is letting me touch her leg and move it without even flinching.

I also took off the temporary bandage to look at her incision. It was not leaking anymore so I left it off. Below is a picture of her leg. She is able to bend it pretty well. It's quite swollen but looks good for the most part.

Here is Sean taking Molly out side. Leash and sling.

Except all Molly likes to do is lay down in the grass.

So we are giving her several times of "outside time". We have to keep our hand on her leash and sling in case she see a bird or something she wants to chase. But for the most part to loves to just lay in the grass. I was able to take Molly out back with Chelsea. Chelsea got excited at first but as soon as Molly layed down in the grass so did Chelsea.

Well we made it through the first weekend. Stay tuned for the first full work week. The good thing is Sean works from home....I work night shift 3 times a week so I sleep during the day. But we should get into a routine with Molly this week.

Discharge (Post-Op Day 2)

At 8am I head to the vet with my son Parker. I needed someone else to go with me so they could sit with Molly while I drove home.

Dr. Gallagher met me there. She went over all the instructions. We would need to start Molly back on her pain medication, anti-inflammatory and joint supplement and add an antibiotic.

She had already taken to bandage off Molly's leg and explained that Molly had staples in her leg that would need to come out in 2 weeks.

We were to massage her leg, do some range of motion (ROM) exercises then ice down her leg twice a day. Molly was going to need to stay quiet and in a kennel or small room where she couldn't jump on any furniture. She could not go outside without a leash on and we should use the sling especially when she has to go down the three steps outside.

Then Dr. Gallagher brought Molly to us. Molly was so excited as were Parker and I. We loaded her in the van when we noticed an area of her incision was leaking some fluid. Dr. Gallagher got us a dressing to temporarily apply so she would not leak all over. We were instructed to massage that area as it looked like a small pocket of fluid has built up but if it had changed to a pus like color to call immediately.

Off we went home. Parker did a good job keeping Molly settled in the back. Her poor leg was so swollen and all shaved of her fur. But she was putting weight on her leg.

She was so happy to be home...and that worried Sean and I about keeping her calm. We sent Chelsea outside as we brought Molly in. We brought her kennel down stairs to the family room and put Molly in it.
We realized we probably should go out and get her the bigger one...so Sean went to Walmart. Here she is in her bigger kennel.


Molly did seem to settle down and liked that she was with us all in the family room. So we were happy that this looked like it would work out.

I did have to redress her leg bandage as it was slipping down and was still oozing some.

We did take her outside after awhile. Leash in one hand and the sling in the other. We let Chelsea out back first and then walked Molly out the front door. And she did well with that.

Later that afternoon I did massage her leg, did some ROM and then iced her down. She likes it when we open the kennel and lay part way in with her. She doesn't try to get out...she just wants us to pet her and love on her:)

So far so good.

Oh let me tell you the final bill $2401. The appt for getting her staples out is included, the 4 week post op visit with Dr Tudor is included..however the 8 week xrays are not included.

Day after surgery...

The next day (Friday) I called the vet around noon to find out how Molly was doing and what time I would need to come and get Molly. I knew my vet wasn't open on Saturday and Dr. Tudor said she would stay until Saturday...so I was just needing to confirm the time of Molly's discharge.

They said Dr Gallagher (my vet) would call me at the end of the day and that Molly was doing great and that she would be picked up on Saturday AM.

Dr Gallagher did call me around 5:30 and said Molly was doing great. She was actually standing up in her kennel a few times and putting weight on her operative leg.

She asked me to meet her at the office at 8:00 am on Saturday morning and she would go over all the discharge instructions.

The day of surgery...

When Molly got up the morning of surgery she went right to her food bowl. I was like sorry sweetie not today.

I had to have Molly at the vets at 7:30am right when they opened so they could shave her leg and have her all ready for when Dr. Tudor arrived.

I signed all the consent and paperwork "aka" financial payment and left Molly with the vet tech.

I was under the impression that I would be picking Molly up the next day in the afternoon. They said they would call me after surgery and let me know what time I should come and pick her up.

About 9:30 am Dr. Tudor's assistant called me to say that in about 30 minutes they would be starting the surgery and to expect a phone call about 2 hours after they started.

Dr. Tudor then called me at 12:30 to say that Molly did very well. That she cleaned out the knee joint and that is was in fact a complete tear of the cruciate ligament. She cut and changed the angle of the tibia...attached the plate and screws...took xrays and everything looked great. Molly handled the anethesia without difficulty and that Molly would be staying until Saturday.

So I was happy that Molly was doing well.

Dr. Tudor said that Molly would be able to bear weight on her leg right away if she wanted too...but absolutely no running or jumping. Must be on a leash at all times when out of her kennel. She had staples in her leg that would come out in 2 weeks and Dr Tudor would see her at 4 weeks and then again at 8 weeks.

The week of surgery...

Molly surgery was scheduled for Thursday May 6th, 2010.

We were instructed to take Molly off the anti inflammatory on Monday before surgery and to not give her pain medication the day of surgery. Plus no food after 8pm the night before surgery. And only a little water the morning of surgery.

Dr Gallagher called just to confirm that we were definitely operating on the left leg...which we were.

Sean and I also were thinking through a plan for the first few weeks post operatively. Our bedroom is upstairs where the dogs sleep...so we would have to make sure Molly stayed on the first floor. They have kennels they stay in when we leave the house....so we would move Molly's kennel downstairs. Plus we looked at the calendar....the kids had sporting events that first weekend..but we would be able to work it all out.

Plus we financially were deciding how to pay for this as well...oh and our son was scheduled to go into braces the same week...ugh...show me the money!

Oh and we ordered a sling from Foster and Smith. It will sling under her belly with handles that we can hold up her back legs when we have to take her outside.

Surgical options and decision time...

Molly is immediately placed on joint supplements, pain medication and anti-inflammatory.

Dr. Gallagher explains the two surgical options:

One is extracapsullar surgery that basically the figure eight support around the outside of her knee. However Molly's breed (bulldog, boxer, pitbull...the muscular athletic types) usually don't do well with this surgery and blow right through it and need another surgery.

Or TPLO: Tibia Plateau Leveling Osteotomy. See link for explanation. This actually restructures the angle of the knee. My vet said that she has seen many many dogs do well with this surgery. She does a lot of rehab and has only seen one dog not do well, however there were preexisting conditions in that dog. She explained that only a board certified surgeon can do this surgery and that they have a surgeon that will come into their office and perform the surgery there.

Of course the TPLO is a more expensive surgery...the first surgery would be about $1800 and the TPLO about $2400. And of course I have to think times two!!!

So I take Molly home and she is on her medication for two weeks...well the joint supplement will be forever but the pain medication and anti-inflammatory was prescribed for two weeks. Molly responds well to the medication. She is not limping and is really wanting to play fetch...but we are limiting her. She is so cute and pitiful when she brings you a ball and so badly wants to play. But we really did try to limit her running...however those few birds that land in the backyard would be chased out by Molly and Chelsea.

There were times that we did let Molly out back and she and Chelsea would start to play and run then Molly would sit down and take a break...but we never saw her limp or "complain of" pain. Her breed also does not show pain so it was hard for us to tell.

So I started doing a lot of research. I look up all I can on the internet. There are many opinions out there..some dogs do well without the surgery and just on joint medications...some dogs as long as their activity is limited do okay...there are also some other surgeries that are new and upcoming to repair the cruciate ligament and/or reshape the knee joint. Some people said their dog did great with the surgery. Just A LOT of information....kinda overwhelming too! Plus I start talking with my friends about it too. Several friends say that the joint supplements were the best thing ever and that their dog was doing great on them. Plus my friend worked at the vet school at NC State and we started asking her a bunch of questions too. I didn't know if the vet school would be an option for Molly to have surgery there....we were looking at the cost comparision as well.

Also there were people that would say "it's a dog I would not spend that much money". Okay let me address that. Before we got the "girls" I may have said the same thing. I mean our former dog Bart never needed surgery of any kind. He could only however eat certain food because of some allergy and we could have done a round of expensive tests to see what he was allergic too...but why spend the money when we knew what he could eat without any problems. Before we had Molly and Chelsea I never would have thought about spending $5000 on a dog (which is what it may be after two surgeries). But now we have these dogs...they are only 18 months old...they have A LOT of life left in them. It is not like this diagnosis is cancer and the surgery is only a pallative thing and she will eventually die from cancer. We are looking to "fix" her and she could live many more years healthy, happy and active! So Sean and I were willing to have it done (yes it is hard to stomach the cost....but we have fallen for these dogs too!)

Now looking at Molly on all 3 medications she looks great! However after the two week course of pain med and anti inflammatory Molly finished her last pill. It was about 3 days later and Molly was limping like we had never seen before. It was so sad to watch. I was ready for her back legs to break the way she was walking. So I knew she needed the surgery. She is only 18 months old and to see her walking like that broke our hearts...she could not go on like that. I quickly called the vet to get her back on her medication and to also buy some time to decide where to have the surgery...the vet school or at our vet.

Once again Molly responded and did not limp much on the pain med and anti-imflammatory. Now I knew that she could not stay on this medication forever...though I wish she could. Again my medical mind did understand the surgery and how it would help Molly.

Okay after weighing the options of vet school or our vet's office we felt more comfortable going to our vet with the surgeon coming in there...our vet would be apart of the immediate post op recovery instead of us going somewhere and bringing Molly and a report to our vet after the surgery. I liked that option. Plus financially there was not much difference...and we would have to get a referral and make an appointment with the vet school...pushing surgery back even further. We had a vacation set for July to the mountains and we were taking the dogs with us...and wanted to get the surgery(well the first knee done) and get Molly recovered so that she could go. So having the surgery at our vets office with Dr Tutor the surgeon was the way we went.

I called and talked with Dr Gallagher and she was please that we were going with the TPLO beause she felt Molly would do great with it. We discussed doing the left knee first...even though she probably hurt the right one first, she seemed to limp more on the left. She called Dr Tudor and a date of May 6th, 2010 was set.

Background of Injury

In August 2009 Molly and Chelsea were running the backyard. They were circling the deck and all of the sudden Molly sat down and would not bare weight on her right leg. She let me touch it but would not put weight on it.

I called the vet and Molly was seen that afternoon. They thought she may have subluxed her patella tendon. Xrays were not taken at that time. Molly was put on anti-inflammatory and some pain medication. If she did not respond they would then recommend xrays.

Well Molly did respond well and in 2 days was not limping at all and was back to running around, so we did not think anything else of it.

Then in March 2010 we all came home and I went to let the "girls" out of their kennels. I noticed that Molly was favoring her left leg. She was not putting any weight on it as she went down the stairs. Again she let me touch it but just really seemed to favor it. Of course it didn't stop her from wanting to play Frisbee.

So off to the vet again. This time they recommended xrays and sedation to check out her ligaments. Dr Gallagher, our vet, explained about torn cruciate ligaments and that during the sedation they will check for the "drawer" sign which is an indication of a partial or completely torn cruciate ligament. It was explained that if the ligament is torn ( and all partials tears will lead to complete) that sometimes it will happen in both legs. As the dog favors one leg and increases the pressure on the other leg it can lead to a cruciate ligament tear in that leg as well. Dr Gallagher also explained briefly the options if it is the cruciate ligament....for the most part surgery. Now I am a nurse and take care of many orthopedic adult patients so I understand medically about this.

I my head I am thinking well Molly should only have one torn ligament if that is what it is because we brought her in immediately when we noticed her limb. And if it in in fact torn then we can get the surgery quick so she doesn't tear the other.

Molly is dropped off at the vet in the morning...and when I go that afternoon to pick her up Dr Gallagher gives me the news that both her hind legs had positive drawer signs. Oh my goodness...both knees. So I think back that she may have torn her first ligament back in August 2009. But Molly never showed us any other signs.

Not only am I concerned about my dog and I want her to be okay and get back to running and jumping and catching a frisbee and she is not even 18 months old yet...and also to be honest the dollar signs are rolling in my head as well.

What to do...

Molly and Cheslea

A brief background about our dogs. My husband Sean and I had a cocker spaniel, Bart, for the first 14 years of our marriage. Due to various health issues we had to put Bart down in 2004 at the age of 16. We decided not to get another dog right away. We have 3 kids and were traveling alot out of town to various sporting events with our kids and it would not be fair to bring a dog into the family at that time.

In 2009 Sean and I really started talking about getting another dog. Sean was working from home now and we had the time to devote to a dog. We found Molly online at Paw Print Animal Rescue in Garner, NC. We took the steps to adopt her. They say she is an English Bulldog/American Stafford mix...though we can maybe see some boxer or pit bull in her. We adopted when she was 4 months old in Feb 2009. She is AWESOME! So lovable, so much fun!

In May 2009 we decided to adopt another dog...we found Chelsea, again at Paw Prints. She is a lab/terrier mix. Turns out her birthday is a week later than Molly...so they are the same age.

After the first weekend of getting used to each other they have had a lot of fun together. We call them the "girls". Chasing each other around the yard...Chelsea is faster but Molly isn't far behind. Molly is a frisbee fanatic. She loves to run and catch the frisbee and bring it back. Really anything you throw she will bring it right back. Chelsea on the other hand will chase after the object and then run with it...we are working on her "retrieving" part...we think she is a broken lab:)

But they are awesome. We love having them. Our kids are so happy that we have dogs again!!!