When I met with the surgeon for the 8-week follow-up and X-ray, he said that her bone was completely healed and that everything in her leg was very stable. He did not believe it to be a failed surgery. He noticed some fluid around her knee that caused him some concern for possible infection. He had thought that the plate was possibly infected, or just simply irritating her muscle. He had suggested that the next step would be to take the plate and pins out. I didn't want to jump into anything right away, so he gave me a prescription for antibiotics for 2 weeks to see if her lameness would improve, but I haven't seen much improvement.
The physical therapy wasn't started until she was 4 weeks post-op under the discretion of the surgeon and a physical therapist. They had her do hydrotherapy (underwater treadmill) twice a week, starting at 3 minutes and slowly increasing by 1-2minutes each session.
She is not consistently lame on her leg. There will be times where she walks like nothing is wrong, and then times where she will hop on 3 legs. I'm not sure if the pin and plate are just irritating her? I am just so frustrated because I want to see her get better. |