Magger-Moo's TPLO Continued Saga

After a very restless night and severe anxiety, we awoke to take Miss Magger-Moo to face her day of surgery. With a heavy heart and many tears we drove the long drive to South Sacramento to the the vet's office. The hardest thing for me and Lewis to do was to leave our lil girl at the vet early in the morning on Thursday, August 14th. She was in great spirits with no idea of what was going to happen. We kissed her, loved her up and fawned over her till they took her away... I cried.. They told us they would call around 1 p.m. and give us the results. I waited till 1:30 p.m. and called them. My stomach was in knots and I was overly anxious.. Finally the surgeon, Dr. Griffin called around 1:40 p.m. and said there had been some complications only because of the extreme slope of Maggie's leg. Her leg was at 33 degrees and dogs typically should be around 5 degrees. He said he managed to get it to 7 degrees and was really happy with that. He said that Maggie's bowlegs were in her femur.. above the knee and not below as it looks when she is walking. Dr. Griffin said that she was breathing on her own and doing good... she was waking up and would be able to come home with us Friday afternoon. I cried again... with relief this time and feeling simply awful about what she has to go through. What an emotional roller-coaster..

Friday morning at 10 a.m. I called the vet and they said to come by noon and pick her up. Lewis and I were crazy frantic trying to get things done at the office so we could pick take our girl home.

I think at this point Lewis was more emotional then me.. I knew she was going to be ok.. and felt relieved, but he felt great empathy for what she had just gone through and was pretty shook.

When she came into the exam room she was so excited.. I've never heard her so verbal ...whimpering and excited. She looked amazing .. not groggy at all like we expected. The doctor showed us her x-rays and we were surprised at how much he had to do to put the leg in the correct position. We got our instructions and took our girl home. Lewis carried her to the car and we gently placed her in the back on a soft new bed.

When we got home we had to let her family (Max, Molly & Cooper) see her briefly and we whisked her off to the main floor bedroom that we kicked Danny out of temporarily.. he is now in the guest bedroom till she can manage stairs again.

We knew she was tired and wouldn't rest till one of us stayed with her.. Lewis laid down in the x-pen with her and they both took a much needed nap. It was sweet to see and the relief we both felt at having her home with us was tremendous.

It is Sunday now and after foolishly taking her cone off her head.. (we couldn't stand seeing her with it on) and trying to keep her from licking her incision.. we finally had to put it back on. The licking and the bitter spray that we used on the incision (with permission from Dr. Griffin) caused a spot on her incision to weep. Cone stays on now.. that is it and that is all. She is handling it much better as my daughter Jennifer told me she would.. and we aren't being crazy anymore about it. It simply has to be.

We keep her in the x-pen in the middle of the living room with all of us around her... she lays and rests all day as she should. Her family knows something is wrong with her and have been very gentle. When we take her to piddle.. we now have to use the leash as she is feeling better and wanting to romp with her family. Amazing how quick she has recovered. We have to remind ourselves she is still has the fetenal patch on for pain. We KNOW she really has a lot more healing to do.. so we are being VERY careful.

Our lil Magger-Moo is very precious indeed... and is still our "special-needs" pup.

Pictures and more to follow....