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Originally Posted by pfisteaj  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. |
I would have the plate and pins removed. Buster had the TPLO done three years ago and the plate and pins were removed about seven months later. He has had LP surgery as well as a tibia tuberosity and a bone graft on the same knee. The pins and hardware were all removed a couple of weeks ago. He had gotten an infection and the surgeon felt it was best to remove everything. The surgery is only about a thirty minute procedure and he came home the same day.
He does limp but not nearly as bad as he did with the pins and hardware in his leg. He seems to be doing much better. He went through PT but I don't think that did him much good. It seemed to hurt him more than help him. I don't worry as much about him limping as I do when he can't put weight on the leg or if he "walks different". Walking different is what sent us back to the surgeon to find out that he had an infection and that it would be best to have the hardware/implants removed.