I know it’s been a while since I updated. We picked Kodiak up from the hospital two weeks ago. Doctors orders were for 6-8 weeks of TOTAL crate rest with ONLY time out for potty breaks. Yikes! And there was more, the second surgery had stretched a nerve so he had a “foot drop” which Dr. Prostredny assured us would resolve itself within a couple of weeks. This condition caused his foot to bend backwards causing him to walk on top of his foot. Understandably he was leery of putting any weight on his right leg as it would sometimes “give out” on him. We brought him home, put him in his crate and sat and looked at him like he was a china doll-afraid to touch him for fear he would break. To curb his “dancing” routine, we were given permission to give him sedation. The first few days were no problem with that, he really didn’t seem to want to dance. As life became more routine again and as the stretch nerve, indeed, began to resolve itself, Kodiak began again to “dance” for his dinner. We stepped everything up a notch–sedation in the morning, e-collar (on vibrate ONLY!!) as a gentle reminder to not dance, non-slip rugs put down across the tile to the outside door but we still used the sling–just in case–, no “reading the paper” when going out to take care of business, well ok, he was allowed a sniff or two but then it was “get down to business and get it done!!” Still little things caught us off guard. Medically, we were told, he did not need the sling when out in the grass. Little did we know his “gimpy” foot would cross over his left, stable foot and cause him to trip (and me a slight panic attack!)–we started using the sling ALL THE TIME. Neither did we expect his right leg to give out on him while he did his business–the one time that it’s just not practical to use the sling! As these things happened, I dreaded each day that came closer to his two week x-ray appointment. He began to use his right leg more but not equal weight as before. I just could not shake the fact that nothing felt right about the whole thing. With the addition of the stretched nerve problem, it was harder to tease out–is he in pain or just not trusting his leg for support?
Day 61 in captivity
Then the day finally came which was today; the day of his two week check-up. We loaded Kodiak up in the car. He insisted on standing up, I encouraged him to lie down; when he finally laid down, he let out a yelp. The trip to the doctor’s office/hospital was stressful. Kodiak was extremely restless and seemed to mind every turn in the road. It was more difficult to keep him in a down position and I practically had him in a hug the whole 2 hour trip there. By the time we arrived at Chesapeake Vet, Kodiak was not bearing any weight on his right side. Eva, another volunteer who has accompanied me to practically every visit, and I decide we don’t want him to come down the ramp and Eva goes inside to ask for help. Outside I fight to keep Kodiak in the car, he refuses to sit or lie down. I fight back the tears as I try again and again to help him lie down. Once a vet tech and Eva come back out, we realize Kodiak is pooping in the car. Poor soul, he needed to go poop and was upset because he knew he shouldn’t do it in the car. The vet tech and I lift Kodiak out of the car and quickly get him to a grassy area. Kodiak and I sit outside and wait; he’s generally less stressed outside then inside the vet office and the doctor is running late so we sit and wait for what seems an eternity and once again I fight the tears. Eva waits inside doing what she does best: not letting the office staff forget we’re here!! Finally the vet tech comes for Kodiak and after getting an update on him, walks him down the hallway to the doctor. Kodiak looks over his shoulder with those pleading brown eyes and I have to turn my back.
In no time at all, the vet tech returns with Kodiak and ushers Eva and I into an exam room. Dr. Prostredny walks in the room and immediately Eva and I know the prognosis–Kodiak’s ball has once again luxated out of the socket. Dr. P explains that Kodiak’s implanted socket/cup was not in the most ideal position because of the lack of pelvic bone due to the dysplasia. With the use of Kodiak’s x-ray he shows us that the cup is ever so slightly tilted which makes it so hard to keep the ball in place. We discuss Kodiak’s options: a Femoral Head Osteotomy (FHO) which would require removing the implant (ball) in Kodiak’s leg or a Triple Pelvic Osteotomy (TPO), a procedure that’s mostly done on puppies under a year but also applies here since arthritis is not involved. The TPO essentially salvages the implants and therefore the total hip replacement because cuts are made in the pelvic bone and then the bone is re-positioned so that the cup and ball fit more securely than before. Bottom line, another surgery-the third-for Kodiak. Dr. P. fits Kodiak into the surgery schedule for tomorrow so Kodiak will stay. We pet Kodiak and say our good-byes. Paul and I meet with Bill, MAGSR board member, and we all agree that while recovery time from the FHO is less, removing an implant that was suppose to be permanant seems more severe than the pelvic bone cuts and recovery time of 6-8 weeks crate time with the TPO. I called Dr. P. and tell him of our decision and he assures me that barring any emergencies over the night, Kodiak will be the first surgery tomorrow. And so we wait….oh PLEASE let the third time be a charm!!!
We finally translated Chloe’s diary from dog-ese. Please enjoy this entry from her first week in foster care!
So here I am, bouncing around again. I didn’t like the kennel, but at least it was starting to feel like home. This grumpy old dog - Maverick - came to see me and have his chauffeur take me home. Isn’t that kinda creepy? Anyway, I get there, and it just freaked me out. There are noises and smells I can’t see. The humans are constantly talking, dropping things, and generally finding the most opportune times to startle me! I couldn’t even stand to eat or drink more than a sip for the first two days.
Things finally started to settle for me. The humans - Ron & Amy - they stayed around all day for me, poking at the the weird boxes on the desk. I think they called it work. Maverick and I started to groove better - we even played tag (though I’m always ‘it’)! He’s getting creaky though. After the first ten or so laps around the coffee table, Mav just stands in place and bats at me when I run by.
Then today happened. It was /horrible/. And the worst part is, I think it was my fault. We were getting ready for our walk, and I was just so happy. I didn’t mean it! I mean, the commands for ’sit’ and ’super crotch rocket punch’ just sound so similar! I did seven circles around Ron to apologize. We went on our walk, and he pretended things were fine. But when we got back, he snuck out the door and left for the whole day! Amy had to go looking for him at 3, and didn’t bring him back home till 7!
I thought I was in big trouble when they got back. I hid behind Amy’s legs, and did circles around the house to keep away from Ron. I mean, what if he came back just to send me away? And after he said sweet things but then ran away? I couldn’t trust anything he said.
It all turned out OK, though. When he sat down on the floor and started throwing me treats, I figured he couldn’t be too mad. I came over and sat in his lap to apologize. I hope tomorrow turns out better than this!
As a postscript, Ron only took off for work (unbruised, no less), and the next day was much more pleasant!
Kodiak is out of surgery. He went in around 9:30am Tuesday and Dr. P. called me about 10:45am. Dr. P. didn’t have to replace any implants and the reason Kodiak is pre-disposed to the ball popping out is because there was so little bone left to position the socket the way Dr. P. would’ve liked the first time he did the surgery. Luckily it was as simple as popping it back in and Dr. P. has put in bone sutures again to hold the leg bone as close to the hip and stablize it. The sutures will only hold but for so long but hopefully it will get him through the first couple of weeks.
Kodiak comes home tomorrow. I feel almost as nervous as I did the first time! His crate is back in the “Man Cave” downstairs so as to give him as much isolation as possible to keep him calm. Rubber backed rugs are in place so he won’t slip and training measures have been taken to stifle any “dancing”! By gum, we’re not lettin’ that ball pop out again–I hope! We felt we were very careful before which makes me that much more nervous now, this setback really blindsided us!
Hopefully Kodiak will soon be out and playing with his stuffed puppy again!
Where do I begin? Life was starting to get back to “normal”. Kodiak was progressing along really well and we came to the six week follow up visit. Kodiak had his followup x-rays and to the amazement of EVERYONE especially Dr. Prostredny, Kodiak had “luxuriated” (sp???) his ball out of the socket–ie, popped the ball out of the socket. What is so amazing (and frustrating) is that Kodiak is so stoic, that we had no indication that he was in any pain whatsoever! Even Dr. P!! Dr. P. had examined him before the x-rays, saw that Kodiak had good range of motion, bearing equal weight on both hips, walking well, etc. and he fully expected the x-rays to support that. He was dumbfounded when he looked at the x-rays to see that the ball was outside of the socket. Even more amazing (but wait, there’s more!!) is that this had to have happened in the first 4 weeks! Kodiak has had us ALL fooled all along! Most dogs go “lame” when this happens or are in obvious pain. So, what does this all mean? It means he’s back in the OR Tuesday morning to, hopefully, just pop it back in and surgically support it in some way. Dr. P. won’t know for sure until he opens Kodiak up again. The manipulation of his hips for the x-rays left him very sore and back on pain medicine until his surgery. He was so sore, he didn’t want to put ANY weight on his right side (surgery side) at all and was hobbling. This from the dog that I had to STOP from going into a play bow the morning before we left to go down for the x-rays. Slowly, from last Wednesday until today, Kodiak began to put weight back on the leg, but not much and some times the hip would give out on him. We went back to the using the sling all the time in the house and the only time he came out of the crate was to go to the bathroom.
The guilt is unbelievable. What happened? Was it something we missed? And now MAGSR is footing another surgery! The only consolation we have is that Kodiak fooled the good doc too. It killed me to drop him off at the vet hospial today. When the vet techs came out to get him, he tried to duck under my legs where I was sitting–all 85 pounds of him! He then gave me that pitiful brown eyed look as they led him away. Everyone send out positive vibes to Kodiak tomorrow that THIS surgery “sticks”!
I know it’s been a while since I last wrote. Just wasn’t much to report. Just me sittin’, day in; day out, in my crate. Occasional outing to the orthopedic bed beside Mom, who’s sitting on the couch, while she and Dad watch t.v.–IF I behave and lie down. Sometimes it was just too exciting to be next to Mom so a guy’s just gotta dance!! But if ya dance, Mom dances ya right back into the crate!! Mom had to work a lot so I was lonely downstairs. Sabre would occasionally come down and sit by my crate with me but I think it was only because he wanted my kong!! He always complains I yap too much which is why he didn’t stay downstairs more than he did, despite his beloved crate being down there.
Then last weekend there was finally some excitement! Mom and Dad came downstairs and moved Sabre’s crate out the door. Sabre gave me that little smirk of his as if to say, “FINALLY, Mom and Dad listened to me and are getting me away from YOU!” I was sad, I liked knowing Sabre’s crate was downstairs with me. Then Mom came and got me and took me upstairs!! We had to go outside first then in through the garage because I still can’t do more than one or two steps. I was all excited, it’s been a LONG time since I was upstairs in the family room! Mom led me over to SABRE’S CRATE and told me to go in. “Uh, uh, no way!” I told her. I wasn’t getting the old man upset with ME!! She insisted and since I know she’ll protect me from Sabre, I went in–but I wasn’t going to be relaxed about it. The next thing I knew, Dad was bringing pieces of MY crate upstairs and started putting it together. I couldn’t believe my eyes–I was moving upstairs too!! YAY!! Now I can see the backyard and the front yard and people coming and going. Wow! I must be getting better! Mom also said that since I was getting better, my training was going to start again. She said I was getting too full of myself, whatever THAT means. Now I have to sit and wait for my food, sit and wait before coming out of the crate and she’s using my training collar on me again. She said she felt sorry for me too long. What’s up with that? I tried my “pitiful eyes” look on her and she told me, “Nope, bud, not working any more!”
I also get to walk for short distances now. Mom and I went for our first walk outside of the yard yesterday. I wasn’t too sure about leaving the safety of our yard but Mom encouraged me and told me it would be ok. Well, it was until we got halfway down the road and a mean looking black lab came running out of the his yard. I was worried but Mom stepped in front of me and yelled “NO!” at the dog and he stopped and stood there ’til his owner came out and got him. Mom said something to the owner about making sure his dog stayed in his yard. Gotta love Mom, she tells it like it is!!
I’m sure glad I’m getting better but I still have a ways to go. I understand another MAGSR dog, Cheyenne, just got her OTHER hip done. I haven’t met her but have seen her picture–she’s cute!! Anyway, I heard Mom and Dad talk about how much these surgeries cost MAGSR and how deserving we dogs are that need the surgeries but MAGSR needs more money so more of us can be helped. Won’t you consider donating to the MAGSR Medical Fund? Please? For Cheyenne and me and all the other dogs? Thanks! I knew you would!!
So far, there isn’t much to report in the world of Cheyenne…thank goodness. I have been checking in with CVRC every morning to get updates and so far she is recovering, slowly but surely. It seems she has calmed down a little bit since the end of last week and is using her right leg some. Her right leg is currently being held together with internal screws and plates, with a cemented implant vs. the cementless implant that she originally had. Chey will continue to stay at the hospital for the next one to two weeks to help get her through this critical period. Dr. P reiterated this morning that this is the last chance for her right leg, and that any further accidents would most likely not be able to be repaired. Once she does return home, she will require another 8-12 weeks of strict crate rest. Since we are unable to visit her, I do not have much more to report. However, Kodiak is due for his 6 week x-rays for his hip replacement on Wednesday, so I am hoping his foster mom can go back and visit with Chey for a little while and let us all know how she is doing!
I apologize that I am a little amiss in updating her blog, but the last few days have been a roller coaster ride. We returned Cheyenne to CVRC on Wednesday morning for further x-rays to find out why she still was not using her right leg. The news was very unfortunate in that we discovered her leg is indeed broken, however the extent of the damage was hard to determine from x-rays alone. Yesterday morning Cheyenne underwent surgery again and the findings were less than encouraging. Chey’s right leg is fractured in 5 places. The reason for this is that during the commotion of her discharge on Sunday morning, she put more pressure on her right leg than it was prepared to withstand having the new implant in place. This pressure forced the implant to split her leg. Unfortunately, this fracture was not picked up on Sunday morning’s xrays and most likely continued to worsen while she was at home. At either rate, her leg has been repaired in a last ditch effort to save it, with plates and screws in addition to having her right hip implant cemented. She is no where near out of the woods yet and we can only hope that this solution holds. This is all that I know at this time, I will be communicating with the hospital on a daily basis to monitor her progress and will have many more questions to ask. For now, we are planning that she will be there for the next couple weeks without visitation from Vince nor I, as her excitement to see us is detrimental to her recovery.
Vince and I arrived in Annapolis early yesterday morning, thinking we were prepared to pick up our girl. The crates were both set up at the house with beds and clean blankets.
Do you really have to take my picture right now?
The car was loaded with the ramp that we would use to load and unload her, and we had her sling and leash too. Back at the house, a fellow volunteer had dropped off special “no-bite” collars to keep Cheyenne from her stitches, and the medicine cabinet was stocked with Benadryl to help keep her calm during her recovery. We were ready to bring Chey home. Most importantly, I had called the doctor’s office earlier and requested that they sedate her before we arrived. Having the benefit of living with Cheyenne for the
Close up of the incision
last year and half and already going through one hip replacement surgery with her, I knew that she would be overly anxious and excited when she saw us. However, the sedative that she was given was not strong enough. Upon seeing us she was bucking, jumping, flailing, and screaming like a wild banshee. With a waiting room full of mortified pet owners, Dr. Prostredny picked up her hind end and I picked up her front end, and with an entourage of vet techs and another veterinarian who came to assist in our chaotic moment, we exited the hospital and loaded her into the back of my SUV. Still she was acting very obnoxious once inside the car, literally like a “bucking bronco” as Dr. P described her and immediately we noticed that she was no longer using her right leg, rather she was limping. Dr. P became concerned and ordered that she go back inside to have her new hip x-rayed as she had been using it up until the incident just minutes earlier. The vet tech ran back into the building and came out with an injectable tranquilizer that rendered her unconscious nearly immediately. Out came the gurney and
Not feeling so well :-(
back into the hospital Chey went, this time with much less commotion. After the x-rays were taken, Dr. P felt that there was nothing indicative on them that anything was structurally wrong with Cheyenne or her new hip. He gave her some extra tranquilizer, loaded her in the car off of the gurney and sent us on our way, hoping we would get home before she woke up. Luckily the hour ride home was uneventful as she slept most of the way, but even given her state, she still tried to get up and move around. I held her as Vince drove and once we got home, we again carried her inside with much less commotion this time. She spent most of the day sleeping and trying to adjust herself to get comfortable, crying quite often. Surprisingly, she slept through the night and didn’t wake until 4am for a potty break.
However, as of this evening
It hurts sooo bad...
Cheyenne is still not putting any weight on her new hip. After speaking to Dr. Prostredny tonight, if she continues to not bear weight on her new hip tomorrow, he wants to see her for x-rays on Wednesday morning. The concern is that in all of the chaos during her discharge, she may have jammed the prosthetic implant into her bone, possibly splitting the bone. We are hoping that is not the situation, but will
Poor baby!
know more within the next day or two. Please keep Cheyenne in your thoughts during this difficult time. She is a pretty miserable little girl right now and although we are trying to cater to her every need and spend as much time with her in her crate as we can, she still has a destitute look on her face that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. She’s not her normal, happy go lucky self right now, which is to be expected, however her lack of use of her new hip is most alarming. We will post again on Wednesday after her check up.
I just spoke to Dr. Prostredny and Cheyenne is out of surgery and now waking up. He said that everything went very well and that there were no surprises. As long as things continue this way, I will be able to pick her up on Sunday morning. What a relief…this surgery really had me on pins and needles this time…Cheyenne is a rock, its too bad her foster mom is such a softie!
Cheyenne spent this past Sunday afternoon chasing one of her many favorite squeaky balls into a piece of the Potomac secluded by woods. As much as she refused swimming of any kind in the cement pond (also known as a therapy pool for dogs) she really enjoyed paddling fiercely after her ball as the current carried it downstream.
Swimming
At the time, it didn’t seem we could throw the ball into the water enough times to keep her content. She had a blast splashing in the water with her foster brother and competing for who could get the ball first…of course, she must always be the winner and he has learned to accept that. This day trip was meant to be a “last day of fun” for Cheyenne before her three long months of recovery for her second hip replacement. The tradition began with her first hip replacement and a trip to Quiet Waters a few days before I dropped her off for surgery, where I learned how much Cheyenne really does enjoy swimming…as long as the pond doesn’t have a cement bottom, of course!
Throw the ball already!!
For those of you who haven’t been following Cheyenne’s story, in October 2007 she had her left hip replaced with a prosthetic hip as a result of hip dysplaysia. At the time, we knew there was a 1 in 4 chance she would need to have the other hip replaced as well. Of course we were hoping Cheyenne would fall in favor of the statistics, after all, this girl has been through enough already. Unfortunately, Cheyenne is that 1 in 4 dog, and while she has been doing better since her first surgery, she is still in enough pain to warrant a second surgery. When she woke from a nap on the sofa after her day at the park, she cried out in pain as she struggled to get down and limp across the floor; only reaffirming the need for this surgery. Luckily for Cheyenne, MAGSR came for her when she ran out of time in a Maryland kill shelter where her owner dropped her off because “she didn’t have enough time for her”.
Thank you!
And even luckier for Cheyenne, MAGSR has some of the most wonderful supporters and donors that make expensive medical procedures like hers, a reality. Cheyenne sends lots of kisses and tail wags to you for making this possible for her to be pain free. Please continue to keep her in your thoughts as she undergoes, yet a second hip replacement on Friday morning. I will post as soon as I have some good news to pass on to everyone!
