Day 1 Post-Op Right TPLO
Kaz had her 2nd TPLO surgery yesterday. We dropped her off at 7:30am on Friday morning and then picked her up today (Saturday) at 11am. We received multiple updates throughout the day of her surgery - all with good prognosis. Today's post op appointment with Dr. Lozier and his tech all went well. They are very pleased with the surgery and expect a good outcome.
It's just hard now.
We brought her home and basically carried her inside to her bed. It was about 12:30pm by the time we got her home and she had been laying down ever since. We gave her a dose of codeine at 3pm and then at 3:30pm and stepped out of her bed, acting like she wanted to go get water. She had a bit of a tough time getting out of her bed and then gave up and laid down on the floor.
At 6pm we gave her dinner. I was hoping I could convince her to walk over to her dish, but I could really only get her to stand up and take a couple steps. She is putting very little weight on her right leg (the bad one). She did stand and eat almost her whole bowl of food. I brought her water bowl over, but she wouldn't drink from it. When I tried to use the sling and guide her towards the front door to go out side for a potty break, she refused.
It is now almost 8pm and she is laying on the floor, pawing at us to pet her. It's good to see that her personality isn't changed much.
CONCERNS: Since the vet operated on both legs (he removed the old TPLO plates and screws from the left), I am afraid she is in more pain than last time. I also worry that because of this she isn't as prone to stand and drink water or go to the bathroom. The left leg's orthoscopy incision is oozing. She has a bandage over it, but it looks like it's about to bleed through. I also really wish she would get up and go drink some water on her own. Of course, I wish she would also get up and go to the bathroom. The right leg looks okay. I mean, it looks terrible, but there are no signs of anything we should be worried about. It's actually the razor burn that looks the most painful.
OF NOTE: When picking Kaz up today we were most worried about how we were going to get her in and out of the car. The vet tech helped us bring Kaz out of the building and to our car. She then instructed us how to lift her up into the car. We put her bed in the hatch back of my Forester and BJ lifted her up and into it. When we got home, we basically just slid the bed out, with her on it, and carried her to the door of our house. By that time, she realized what was happening and we lowered the bed so she could climb off. She walked inside the house and immediately went to her bed and sat down.
I also forgot some of the basics around the TPLO recovery time. It takes 8 weeks for the bone to heal (I actually forgot that the cut the bone) and then we gradually start introducing walks into her life. By 3.5 months she should be able to walk off leash again.
