Before we get into today, I need to rewind a month. On Thursday, July 7, 2011 Koda and I went for a run around the park and ended up in the dogpark down the street from my house. We came home and he took a nap. When he woke up there it was, a lame leg. I called our vet the next day and got him in. By this time he was walking on it, and I would say he was at 95%, but I didn't want to take any chances. They xrayed Koda's hips and knees and saw inflammation of the left rear leg. My vet did a drawer test, and it came back negative, but he still diagnosed Koda with having cruciate ligament damage. I felt like our world was going to end. I was devastated. We have always been so active that I couldn't bear the thought of us not being able to go about our daily routines. Moreover I couldn't bear the thought that somehow I had broken the dog. That broke my heart, and the guilt and denial built from there.
Here are the xrays taken that day. This is the effected left leg. Can you see that it's cloudy in the front of the knee vs. the right leg?
With the negative drawer test, I was able to spin into complete and utter denial. There was no way that he was hurt. Maybe it was just a strain? I'll keep him on lockdown and use conservative management to heal the ligament. Let me just tell you that there are people who swear that this works, and it may have with their dogs, but I'm completely impatient. After being locked in the house with Koda for three weeks, and feeling completely isolated, Koda woke up one day not limping!!! Yeah right? No, I'm not sure what happened, but he went fully lame once again. That's when I said enough is enough and found a surgeon. It was time. I needed to get Koda better. He's only 27 months old, he doesn't deserve to be locked up. He should be jogging with me in the morning and running around on the hills at night.
That all brings us to today. I have chosen the TPLO surgery, even though it scares the heck out of me, because it is what they call "the gold standard" of cruciate ligament surgeries, but also because it's what my surgeon feels most comfortable with. I am also impatient remember? The traditional surgery could take up to a year to recover from. I can't possibly wait that long. I need my running buddy to be back in ship shape condition.
The surgeon did call me about an hour ago and said that while Koda was fully anaesthetized, they performed the drawer test on him and he has a fully torn cruciate ligament there's no doubt about that. Koda's own muscles and tightness were keeping that knee together. I feel like today is the calm before the storm. This is going to be a long four to six months, an emotional roller coaster. Some days will be good, and some won't, but we're going to get Koda better. He deserves it.
I took a couple of movies last night to show everyone how he's been walking since that last time he went lame 10 days ago. Mind you this is with a full tear! Now that I know that, I think he was doing pretty well. Please excuse the poor quality. I was trying to get him to walk while taping. Oh and he had to pee in the 2nd one. Dogs just don't have manners sometimes. ha ha
Isn't he handsome! I love my little man.
And here's just a fun one. He didn't want to go back inside so he tore up a stick. Poor stick. And that's our not so friendly squirrel who eats all of my herbs and barks at Koda all day. I really don't like that squirrel. It's mean.
Well it's 3 pm now, and in two hours the journey begins. I go pick up Koda. It's going to be a long night!
At some point I'll recode this and take off the template. As a website builder, I'm a bit ashamed of using a template. I'll get that done.
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