Sophie's Recovery!

[danniko]

I have decided that I want to keep a journal of Sophie's recovery from knee surgery. These posts helped me a lot when I was worried about Sophie, so I can only hope that maybe this can help someone in the future.

Sophie had double knee surgery on Monday, September 30th and it was probably one of the longest days of my life. Waiting for the phone call was extremely nerve wracking but my aunt and I went to the States for the morning so I didn't have to sit alone and worry about her.

We got the call around 1:30pm and the news was good and bad. She came through surgery perfectly and was up and trying to stand but when they got into the joint they found there was more of a problem than just the groove, so now she has pins in both legs as well. This makes the recovery a little scary because I am worried the pins might migrate and have to be removed later, but I am trying to stay positive.

She stayed at the vet Monday night and was supposed to stay until she was putting weight on both legs but our vet doesn't have overnight observation, so we said we would prefer to bring her home. We picked her up at 7pm Tuesday night...and I am going to be perfectly honest...all my research didn't prepare me for what I would be dealing with once she was home. I have had moments when I regret getting it done and many tears have been shed at how uncomfortable she looks, I wish I could take her pain away from her, but I know in the long run she will be happier.

We already have had to take her back to the vet because she figured out how to bypass her cone and had been licking the incisions - mainly her left leg. Her legs are bruised really badly so we also wanted to make sure that everything was still going well with her. We were given a bigger cone and changed her pain meds to every 8 hours and we have to ice 5-6 times a day instead of 3-4 times.

She has been eating and drinking pretty well. She prefers wet over dry right now, but that is okay because I like that she is getting extra water content. She has peed 3 times since being home and...she pooped tonight (Wednesday)! It was very exciting, she hobbled over to her pee pad and pooped and then hobbled to a different one and peed. I gave her lots of praises and cuddles...I even rewarded her by taking her cone off and letting her snuggle in a blanket beside me.

Here are some pictures so far. First one is when we brought her home, second is of her really swollen/bruised knee this morning, the third is her knee after icing and a trip to the vet, and the last is the little munchkin being rewarded with no cone and couch cuddles with mommy for going potty! Though, since starting this post she has had her cone put back on and is back in a crate...she decided to try and take advantage of me and was starting to lick and was trying to stand up...wobbly dog on couch is too risky for my liking.

This is going to be a very long few months. Sophie hates the crate with a passion, but she is going to have to get used to it so we can get the best recovery possible.

[intilis]

awww, poor little Sophie! I'm sending prayers for a smooth recovery!

[Marhcarter]

Poor Sophie. I'm glad she is doing as well as she is, though. Good wishes for a continued uneventful recovery!

[kjc]

She looks pretty good to me... hope she's feeling better soon. The diary is a great idea... post lots of pics too! (for comparison)

[danniko]

Okay so it has been awhile since I posted anything, so I am going to do a quick recap of each day!
Photobucket album of her recovery so far:
Knee Surgery Recovery Photos by kochdn | Photobucket

Oct. 3 - swelling still going down, around 11pm she finally used her left leg!

Oct. 4 - walking with both legs, no major changes. Not related to her, but our car was running odd and sure enough the engine light came on when my husband went to go get dinner (perfect timing after surgery and $600 to fix..perfect..)

Oct. 5 - emergency vet. We went out to get groceries and some more wet food for her and left her in her crate with her cone - seemed safe, right? Nope, she ninja'd her way around it and pulled out all the stitches on her left leg and untied one stitch on her right leg. She was only 5 days post-op and she was bleeding so we wanted to be safe rather than sorry - it happened at 6:15pm and of course, our vet closed at 6pm, so off to the emergency vet. The bleeding had stopped and she was already on an anti-biotic so they wrapped her leg up and said to take it off Monday morning.

Oct. 6 - called our regular vet to let them know what happened (yes, they are open on Sundays, thankfully) and they asked us to bring her in so they could examine it and make sure they didn't want to staple the place where it had been bleeding. They cut off the bandage and they were happy with how it looked so they just told us to keep the cone on her and they would check it again when we were back on the Tuesday. We were told to not force range of motion exercises so we weren't risking ripping the scab open. On our way home we bought the princess an x-pen, because she had started showing an interest in going upstairs, so we needed to start keeping her more confined.

Oct. 7 - nothing new

Oct. 8 - post-op recheck and injection (I can't remember what it is called, but it helps rebuild cartilage). Everything looked good, told not to force range of motions as long as she was moving on her own, saw her x-rays because we can feel a pin in her left leg, but the vet said it feels fine still and once her muscles come back it should be fine and that they only take them out if they bother the dog. Found out our vet left for maternity leave...

Oct. 9 - 1am: went pee and when coming back up, yelped and refused to put her right leg (the strongest of the two) back down. She still wasn't using it by 1pm so I called the vet and they asked me to bring her back in. My husband had taken the car to the mechanic to I had my aunt take us in, by the time we got there Sophie was using her leg without a problem - little stinker. Vet said everything felt stable and she likely just went too low when she squatted.

Oct. 10 - tried running and succeeded thus giving her mommy a heart attack because she is not supposed to be running yet.

Oct. 11 - trying to be way too active still. As per take home instructions I took her on a slow, short (literally 3 minutes lol) walk on her leash outside for the first time. She did really well but had to be carried home, she was restless when we were here so I put her on the floor and she lost balance and stopped using the right leg again around 5pm. Took her to our vet at 7pm as she wasn't even willing to touch her toe to the ground, and was shaking a ton. Took another x-ray and said everything looked okay and still in place, but to bring her back if no improvement.

Oct. 12 - vet called and wanted us to bring her back in because he wanted to do another angle since we had told him that she was only putting a little weight on it since the night before. Took her in and she was walking around there a little bit but as soon as she saw the vet she pulled it up again...diva! He did the x-ray and said everything still looks the same as it did when they did the surgery, but he was going to send them to the surgeon just for a second opinion. She was using it with a limp when we came home and at some point ripped the untied stitch out and then stopped using her leg all over again. I had a mental breakdown blaming myself and wishing we had never had the surgery done...it has been a long two weeks.

Oct. 13 - took her out of her crate and kept her leg up for a few mins and then put it down. We went to my in-laws' Thanksgiving dinner today with her and little miss sunshine decided that she could use her leg for her grandma and only put her leg up once, and has been doing fine since. She may have gotten a drop or two more than she needed of Metacam but is doing fine, so I am just watching her tonight and skipping her dose tomorrow. She wouldn't eat her food with the drops in it, so we gave her some turkey with it but forgot to lift the bowl...a few hours later she decided to lick the gravy from the bowl (it was mixed in with a can of wet food), so she may have gotten some from that.

She has kept us busy! But she seems to be doing okay, and she goes in on Tuesday for another check and injection and she gets her two remaining stitches out. She will be so happy to not have to wear a cone anymore, she is brutal...as soon as it is off she goes right for her knees so she only really gets a break when we are right beside her or she is eating!

[kimp5]

Its so hard isn't it? Jess broke her leg and basically had to be confined with ZERO walking for 6 weeks. then 2 with just minimal movement. Poor thing was so bored. I put furniture blankets all over her pen top sides and bottom so nothing hurt her if she raised up. I lowered the roof in her richell pen and she only had room to sleep eat and pee/poop. I felt so bad for her. The dr gave us some mild tranqulizers for when she really was going stir crazy and it helped a lot...
fast forward 8 months later she is totally healed and zipping around like it never happened. This, when her first vet wanted to amputate! So all I can tell you is it is really hard for a while but it passes. When you see your little one running around with no pain it is worth every second you spent. (and there are a lot of them...

[buffy512]

Poor baby, I'm so glad the user above has given such a sweet recovery story. Please do post diary notes if whatever needed. If it helps. . We are here to support.!

God bless you both &you will be in our prayers.!