jglonek Posted February 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2014 Hey everyone, I just wanted to provide an update. Raina had her surgery this morning on her left leg, the surgeon gave us a call around lunch time to let us know everything went well and he was very happy with the results. She has metal plates in her left leg now and will have a splint on for a few weeks. He said in 3-4 months it will be the stronger leg.She is staying at the vet until Friday and then we will bring her home. She needs to go back weekly for consults and bandage changes. We are going to try to keep her immobilized here, but if we run into trouble she can stay at the vet during the week. I'd rather not do that for two months, but we will see how things go this weekend.The vet did say that the right leg is looking worse than the last time he saw it and it may need to be worked on in the future. His main concern is that the left leg heal properly and not get messed up again due to the right leg being not so hot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShoresDog Posted February 24, 2014 Report Share Posted February 24, 2014 Best wishes for a speedy recovery. It's awfully hard for her to stay still, I'm sure. Fascinating new toys and bones, do your magic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted February 24, 2014 Report Share Posted February 24, 2014 Thanks for the update. I was just thinking of you and wondering how things were going. Best wishes for a quick and successful recovery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvw Posted February 24, 2014 Report Share Posted February 24, 2014 So glad surgery went well. Best wishes to all of you! I am sorry to hear about her other paw/leg. Bless you for taking such good care of her! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted February 24, 2014 Report Share Posted February 24, 2014 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jglonek Posted February 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 We stopped in this afternoon to visit Raina, and she is doing really well! (Of course she's also on painkillers right now). She was alert, active, wanted love and wanted to be on her foot much more than she should be. Good signs so far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvw Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 Good news! I'll keep sending good mojo for a quick and uneventful recovery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jglonek Posted March 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 Hi everyone, sorry for replying to an old topic but I figured it would be easier to give an update on this post than start a new one.So it's been an interesting year. Raina recovered well from surgery on her left leg.Unfortunately, in the fall she began to limp again. We took her back to the surgeon who took more X-Rays. He said that she had soft tissue damage in both of her legs due to her posture. Basically, her right leg was also turned outward, and she wasn't standing properly on her left leg. If you look at the picture below, you can see that she's standing on her left leg flat basically to her wrist. She should be up on her toes. So the surgeon recommended that we have pancarpal arthrodesis performed on her right leg. Basically the fusing of her wrist joint so she can no longer bend it. He said he was not happy with the results of the left leg, and if he knew how it would turn out he would have wanted to perform the same thing to her left leg instead of the original surgery (and it's still an option to do in the future, if we want). And he offered a large discount on the cost.My wife and I definitely had to talk this one out. Did we really want to fuse her wrist together so she could never move it again? In the end we decided we couldn't have our two year old dog walk around like she was a senior with arthritis. We had the surgery performed in December, and Raina handled it well. This is from when she got the splint off for good last month:She is doing well. It's going to be a little longer recovery than the left leg was (at least another 3-4 months before it will be at full strength). You wouldn't know it watching her though, she is ready to get back to normal activities and has a lot of pent up energy! The fused wrist does not appear to be affecting her movement in any way either. I'd say the surgery was a success. Now whether we undo the left leg surgery to do this to that leg as well, I'm undecided. I really would prefer not to. She is two and has spent 6 months of the last year in a pen. We want her to be a dog and enjoy herself - as long as it's not hurting her to do so. Our hope is as the right leg strengthens she starts to stand better on her left and then surgery won't be needed. Here's hoping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcv-border Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 Thanks for the update. Kudos to you for taking such great care of Raina. I am glad that the last surgery produced good results. Best of Luck to Raina going forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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