Willow and I just want to thank everyone who sent us their well wishes, loves, and hugs as we have had to endure the ordeal of her getting dropped by the little boy who came to visit at Christmas and now her surgery at the University of Minnesota.
Willow had her plate and pins put in this morning at 9:00 a.m. and they called us at 1:00 p.m. and said that she was in recovery, waking up, a little groggy, and the surgical nurse had snuggled with her and she was receptive. Her vitals were good and they were very optimistic. The surgeon would be calling later to let us know about the procedure he performed.
We got his call later today and he said everything was perfect. Her tibia and fibula were both snapped in two just like the x-rays showed and he did a 4 inch incision and a plate and pins on the larger bone to fuse it together. She will be in the hospital until Saturday afternoon. She will be coming home with no cast, no bandages, just stitches and a cone so she can't lick . . . lovely! She will have her sutures removed in 10-14 days, but will have to remain in a cat carrier for four weeks. She can only have room to stand up turn around and lay back down. She can come out and go into a larger carrier to eat, and potty and then right back into the small carrier. After four weeks she can go into the medium size carrier for two weeks, and then after that she can go into the larger carrier for another two weeks. After eight weeks she can walk around from room to room with absolutely no running or jumping . . . just walking. I think he said at 10-12 weeks we will be back to normal.
The doctor said that if I follow these rules there should be no reason Willow won't see a 100% recovery. She will probably have to endure another surgery to have her plate removed in 3-6 months because the little dogs don't tolerate plates and pins as well as the big dogs because there is not enough skin to go around it. The second surgery is not as evasive though.
Thank you again for all your support and maybe you can give us some pointers as to how we are going to make the next 10-12 weeks tolerable for both Willow and her momma.
