Maggie Mae's 2nd TPLO

Maggie had to have her left leg operated on January 22nd. She had really hurt this leg again on Christmas. This was the first leg she had injured but when she tore her right legs cruciate we decided to have the right leg operated on because the left wasn't as painful...at the time. Well the surgery went well and she is laying right here next to me.

The doc said when he did the surgery that her meniscus (the disk between the knee bones) was shredded. It took some time for him to pick out all the pieces. He also said he tried to straighten her leg some (it is very bowed). Her leg was at 30 degrees and he managed to get it to 5 degrees which he said is perfect. Her right leg was 33 degrees.. so she just never formed those legs right.

Tomorrow.. Monday 2/2 she is supposed to have her stitches removed. However, I've noticed some redness that is lingering and a possible infection at the top of her incision. I hadn't really noticed it until Friday night. It looks better then Friday but I'm concerned none the less.

The good news is she thinks she can run and play so she isn't in alot of pain.. or is it that she is so used to pain that it doesn't phase her anymore. In any event.. she is in great spirits and that is what matters.

Will post again after the doctor appointment tomorrow and see what they say about the leg.

Update On Maggie

It has been a long time since I've done any posting on this blog.. for one... I forgot my account sign in. I swear I'm in the throws of dementia! For two.. I've been busy with my mom who broke her hip in August and I haven't had a chance to really sit down and post anything. I'll post a blog on Mom after this post because this is about Maggie!

I'm happy to say that Maggie has passed 16 weeks (4 months) and is doing GREAT! No limping, no soreness and can run and play again. Her other leg stops her from being able to jump and be strong like she used to be. I really want to fix that other leg, but the $3,500 is too much for us right now. She doesn't seem to be in any pain tho from that leg so that is good.

The one thing Lewis and I keep noticing is how twisted her right leg looks now after the surgery. The doctor said it is from being bowlegged, but it sure looks funny. He must be right but we don't like the way it looks nonetheless.

I have let her off the leash now so she can run a bit. I have to let the other three dogs out of the porch gate first.. because they run hard to the back fence. After they stop.. I let Maggie out and she runs to them.. but not at a competitive top speed. Her leg is still healing. But in January we will let her run full out and see how she does.

I must say that taking her to the office and everywhere we go has really spoiled her. She is very attached to us (and us her) and is never more then two feet from us. Even tho we knew she would be our special needs puppy.. we love her to death!

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....

Fun at the Fair

The past weekend was our annual Nevada County Fair and Lewis and I love to take all the grandkids. We enjoyed it all.. the junk food, the animals (some cute new piglets) and lots of rides. We saw a juggler who even juggled fire sticks.. and was quite a hit with the kids. Andrew, Remington and Wyatt loved riding all the rides, but we forced them to endure a trip to see all the farm critters.. you could tell they missed their parents who arrived later in the evening. Aiden, Ashley, Ethan and Ava enjoyed the rides and being such a beautiful child.. people would walk up to Ava and give her things.. a ball, a fuzzy rose and even a couple ride coupons. We walked till our legs ached and had to hose off our feet when we got home from all the dirt. I think the part Papa and I love the most is seeing the smiles and laughter in our grandkids.. and watching our kids enjoy a fun day with their little ones. The only disappointment was that there was no petting zoo, baby pig races or exotic critters like they've had in the past. I hope next year will bring those events back. AND... in last night's paper... sadly someone stole three of the black and white piglets and some baby bunnies. According to the paper they are all too young to survive without their moms. It always amazes me at how horrible some people can be.

Miss Maggie Mae's TPLO ordeal

Our lil Maggie Mae was born on January 27, 2006. She was the last born (runt) to a litter of eight. Maggie is a Golden Retriever registered with AKC along with her parents (Max & Molly) and brother (Cooper). Maggie has always been a special needs "child". She wasn't breathing when she was born and then developed a UTI at 8 weeks. One of the reasons we kept her. We just had a feeling she was going to need more then the other pups. When she was taken to be spayed the vet noticed that she had a bald spot forming and said she had decodex mange. What?? She also has big ole floppy ears, a cow lick on her muzzle and is bowlegged. Even tho she doesn't appear to be a quality Golden, she is quite the complex charactor... gentle and fiesty, sweet and naughty, loyal and stubborn, smart and dumb like a blonde. We absolutely adore her.

About 4 months ago Maggie took a fall on our property and was limping badly. She was holding her left leg up and was barely allowing her toe to touch the ground. I assumed (wrongly) that she would heal from the injury and that would be that. She seemed to get better after being kept quiet (as best as we could) but she re-injured herself again from either jumping or running with her family. We knew we had to take her to the vet.

The vet told us the bad news.. that she believed she had torn her cruciate ligament in her left leg and most likely would need a surgery known as TPLO (tibial plateau leveling osteotomy )- TPLO involves making a curved cut in the top of the tibia bone (osteotomy) to include the tibial plateau. The tibial plateau is then rotated along the curved osteotomy in order to level the slope. A plate and screws are used to hold the tibial plateau in place so that the bone can heal in its new position. It is so scary to see it in xrays and the models the surgeon presented. Other options are just not acceptable nor would they restore her ability to run, jump and play. If you are interested in the knowing more just Google TPLO.

The vet also told us that often once a dog tears the cruciate in one leg the other will also become injured. The vet then prescibed an anti-inflamitory and suggested that we think on it and if we want to pursue the surgical option she would put us in touch with a surgeon. The vet told us that the next step would be to have x-rays done to see the extent of the injury. We took our lil Maggie and our heavy hearts home.

While at home, I decided that she needed to have all her shots up to date if we are seriously considering any type of surgery. So the next day I took her to the local low cost shot clinic. By the time I got her back to the office she had vomited and was breaking out in hives and was having difficulty breathing. I turned around and ran her back to the clinic. An hour later, and three shots of Benedryl, she was deemed out of the woods and could go home. I did say she is a special needs child right?

A couple days later, my husband and I noticed that she was exhibiting signs of extreme pain.. she wasn't eating and was panting and drooling. She then began vomiting. I called the vet and was told to stop the anti-inflamitory drugs. We also noticed that she was now favoring her right leg. We then became confused and couldn't remember which leg she had originally hurt. I was sure it was the left, but now we were worried that she had torn the ligament in her right leg. I asked to have x-rays done at this point because I felt we couldn't allow Maggie to suffer any longer. Two days later I brought her in for the x-rays. She was there the entire day and when the doctor called and confirmed that she was sure Maggie had torn the ligament in both knees. Our worst fear. She mentioned that she had at some point injured her hip too. That injury didn't seem to present a problem and had healed.

We asked for a referral to a surgeon. One week later we took our girl to the surgeon. I was still skeptical and feared the surgery as tho she was one of my own children. I needed convincing that this radical and invasive surgery is truly the only option she has. The surgeon reviewed the x-rays and then went to alot of effort to explain the entire procedure and why / how it works. The surgeon said that he is surprised to see this in a dog so young. It isn't that it never happens, but it isn't that common.. did I say she is a special needs child?? He said that there is no plausible explanation for this happening except as he said.. maybe runt syndrome. She is terribly bowlegged... and always has been so that might have been what lead up to this. He said the surgery will not correct the bow legs. The good news in all of this? Maggie shows no signs of hip displesia.... She is developing some arthritis tho, but we should be able to help her with that after the surgeries utilizing acupuncture. She is otherwise healthy and because she is so young and not overweight her recovery should be successful.

Her Right leg will be done August 14th and then 7 weeks later she will have her Left leg done. She won't be able to run and play with her family until January at the earliest. I am worried.. of course.. and scared for her.. but she is young and will be pampered and loved. I can't wait till she can run and play again.. with no pain.

I'll keep everyone posted on the status...stay tuned.