Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Sadie's knee surgery: Two weeks later
April 21st 2010
Sadie's staples were removed two days ago. I was worried because she still was not putting alot of weight down on her leg, however, she is using her leg so much better today. I am hoping that she gets better with every day. Sadie likes to sit outside (now that we have had some nice days). She will not stay out by herself. I chain her leash to a tree but she wants me outside with her. It is difficult because now I have to sit outside with her. She is happy just to lay on the grass and chew on one of her rawhides. It is so difficult to get her to go inside. I have to offer her a piece of cheese in order to get her to move! I understand how she is feeling. She has been cooped up for over 5 months (in a 5 by 7 area). She wants to be outside and she wants to spend time with her people. She loves people, dogs-everybody. During the winter, I would spend time in her little area. I would roll a ball to her, massage her, kiss her, and play with her. Unfortunately, I cannot spend every moment with her and she gets upset. She will bark at me if I am in the kitchen and especially if I am on the phone. She wants to be free. We have 4 more weeks of captivity to go-I hope this is it! My dog needs her freedom. This situation is making all of us crazy. Hopefully I will be able to post the latest flip video of Sadie and my daughter Sydnie. It was taken after she got her staples out and her Cone removed from her head.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Sadie: Knee surgery day 5 update
April 12th 2010
Sadie is putting a little more weight down on her leg. She still does not really use her left leg all that much. She had some fluid/swelling in her knee and ankle, however, the swelling seems to have gone down some. She started barking again (she hates being trapped in her 5 by 7 area). This would indicate to me that she is starting to feel better. She still does sleep alot and she looks real sad with her plastic E collar on. She has trouble chewing her bones and is crashing into everything. I might take off the collar soon. It appears that she can reach her staples-even with the collar on-I guess I will see as the week goes on. Overall she is making slow progress and seems in no hurry to use her left leg.
Sadie is putting a little more weight down on her leg. She still does not really use her left leg all that much. She had some fluid/swelling in her knee and ankle, however, the swelling seems to have gone down some. She started barking again (she hates being trapped in her 5 by 7 area). This would indicate to me that she is starting to feel better. She still does sleep alot and she looks real sad with her plastic E collar on. She has trouble chewing her bones and is crashing into everything. I might take off the collar soon. It appears that she can reach her staples-even with the collar on-I guess I will see as the week goes on. Overall she is making slow progress and seems in no hurry to use her left leg.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Sadie's Knee surgery
April 8th 2010
We brought Sadie home from the hospital today. She cried the entire way home. As it turned out, she had to pee like crazy. Who knows when they took her out last!! I brought her inside and she ate and drank. She is hardly putting any weight down on her left knee. She slept alot and for the past couple of days (today is Saturday, April 10th ) she has been very quite. She has pooped and is eating and drinking normally. The Cone on her head is horrible. I asked for one of those blue bibs that she had the last time-but they were all out of them. She crashed into everything with the cone and can't chew on her rawhides. Hopefully I will keep anyone who is reading this blog updated so that you can check on Sadie's recovery process. We need your prayers that nothing else will go wrong with her. We want a normal dog!!! Below you will see the flip video of when we brought her home.
We brought Sadie home from the hospital today. She cried the entire way home. As it turned out, she had to pee like crazy. Who knows when they took her out last!! I brought her inside and she ate and drank. She is hardly putting any weight down on her left knee. She slept alot and for the past couple of days (today is Saturday, April 10th ) she has been very quite. She has pooped and is eating and drinking normally. The Cone on her head is horrible. I asked for one of those blue bibs that she had the last time-but they were all out of them. She crashed into everything with the cone and can't chew on her rawhides. Hopefully I will keep anyone who is reading this blog updated so that you can check on Sadie's recovery process. We need your prayers that nothing else will go wrong with her. We want a normal dog!!! Below you will see the flip video of when we brought her home.
Live or Let Die
April 7th 2010
So what is the value of a life? Can Sadie ever live a normal life? Is she so orthapedically challenged that everything will break down? We have gone this far-how much farther? We fixed an elbow and two hips-now she needs her knee cap tightened? Will she be in pain? How can she handle this? It is a six week recovery for the knee surgery. We officially had 4 more weeks left on her hip so this puts us out for two extra weeks-until May 19th before we can walk her. Needless to say-it was a tough day. Lots of decisions to make. The doctor said her right knee is a grade one out of four. Her left knee was a grade two. Grade two means that it will pop out. Grade one just means it is slightly loose and should not pop out-but who knows. Also who knows if she will have ACL tears in the future? If Sadie were a child-of course you would do the surgery-but she is a dog. On the other hand. She is a living creature and has every right to be alive. After she is fixed-she should lead a normal life. I will be nervous to let her run in a dog park. I think we will just go on walks in the forest preserve instead. It was a tough decision. Yes, Sadie will be uncomfortable-especially the first week after surgery. She is strong in so many ways. Her organs are good. She has no allergies and she is beautiful. So what if we have a bionic dog. Yes-we did the surgery. I could not put her down. We need to hope and pray that this is it-no more surgeries! She is only 14 months old. By the time this is hopefully over-Sadie would have had 4 surgeries and would have been under house arrest for 6 months! With me taking care of her the entire time. It is a good thing that I run my cupcake business (sweet home cupcakes) from my house.
So what is the value of a life? Can Sadie ever live a normal life? Is she so orthapedically challenged that everything will break down? We have gone this far-how much farther? We fixed an elbow and two hips-now she needs her knee cap tightened? Will she be in pain? How can she handle this? It is a six week recovery for the knee surgery. We officially had 4 more weeks left on her hip so this puts us out for two extra weeks-until May 19th before we can walk her. Needless to say-it was a tough day. Lots of decisions to make. The doctor said her right knee is a grade one out of four. Her left knee was a grade two. Grade two means that it will pop out. Grade one just means it is slightly loose and should not pop out-but who knows. Also who knows if she will have ACL tears in the future? If Sadie were a child-of course you would do the surgery-but she is a dog. On the other hand. She is a living creature and has every right to be alive. After she is fixed-she should lead a normal life. I will be nervous to let her run in a dog park. I think we will just go on walks in the forest preserve instead. It was a tough decision. Yes, Sadie will be uncomfortable-especially the first week after surgery. She is strong in so many ways. Her organs are good. She has no allergies and she is beautiful. So what if we have a bionic dog. Yes-we did the surgery. I could not put her down. We need to hope and pray that this is it-no more surgeries! She is only 14 months old. By the time this is hopefully over-Sadie would have had 4 surgeries and would have been under house arrest for 6 months! With me taking care of her the entire time. It is a good thing that I run my cupcake business (sweet home cupcakes) from my house.
All is not well
March 27th 2010
My Jubilation lasted for 24 hours. I managed to walk Sadie twice. She even saw Codie on one of her walks. At 12:00 pm, Sadie decided to jump up at a magnet on the refrigerator. I heard her cry out and she landed with a limp. It was a Saturday and Dr. Averill was not in. I rushed her to the emergency room and they took X-rays. Hips were fine. I thought she had torn an ACL. She was hopping on 3 legs. She would walk on her left leg everyonce in awhile but mostly she would just lift it up and walk by hoping on the other legs. The emergency room Doctor said that she might have a minor tear in the acl and that we should rest her (back to 5 by 7 area) and call the Doctor on Monday. I was sick to my stomach. On Monday March 29th, I called Dr. Averill. I could not speak to him-only his assistant, Shannon. She told me that from the x-rays it did not look as if she tore anything and that maybe she just sprained something. She said to put her on anti-inflammatories for a week and we will see how she is doing. I had another question and I still could not talk to the Doctor. I told the lady answering the phone that for ten thousand dollars I should be able to speak to Dr. Averill. I never did. Throughout the week-Sadie seemed a little better. She would put down her left leg and walk on it and limp on it. It never really improved. I waited a week and then I called Dr. Averill. My appointment was for Wednesday April 7th. He took one look at her knee and said that her knee cap had popped out. It is called a Patellar Luxation. It is usually found in only small dogs. He said that we would need to to surgery to tighten the knee cap and he would try and do it that day. I asked him how much it would cost. He told me it was $2700 and that he would only charge me two thousand! That would put our total costs up to $12,000 for Sadie. (not covered by the VPI insurance-never get that dog insurance) Oh-I do not know if I mentioned earlier that the breeder, Karen Thomas gave me the $1,200 dollars back that I paid for Sadie. I left Sadie at the hospital. She would not have surgery until later that afternoon and I needed to talk to my husband, Larry and my Vet friend Susan Wilner and Dr. Clark. I just did not know what to do. I left crying and in shock.
My Jubilation lasted for 24 hours. I managed to walk Sadie twice. She even saw Codie on one of her walks. At 12:00 pm, Sadie decided to jump up at a magnet on the refrigerator. I heard her cry out and she landed with a limp. It was a Saturday and Dr. Averill was not in. I rushed her to the emergency room and they took X-rays. Hips were fine. I thought she had torn an ACL. She was hopping on 3 legs. She would walk on her left leg everyonce in awhile but mostly she would just lift it up and walk by hoping on the other legs. The emergency room Doctor said that she might have a minor tear in the acl and that we should rest her (back to 5 by 7 area) and call the Doctor on Monday. I was sick to my stomach. On Monday March 29th, I called Dr. Averill. I could not speak to him-only his assistant, Shannon. She told me that from the x-rays it did not look as if she tore anything and that maybe she just sprained something. She said to put her on anti-inflammatories for a week and we will see how she is doing. I had another question and I still could not talk to the Doctor. I told the lady answering the phone that for ten thousand dollars I should be able to speak to Dr. Averill. I never did. Throughout the week-Sadie seemed a little better. She would put down her left leg and walk on it and limp on it. It never really improved. I waited a week and then I called Dr. Averill. My appointment was for Wednesday April 7th. He took one look at her knee and said that her knee cap had popped out. It is called a Patellar Luxation. It is usually found in only small dogs. He said that we would need to to surgery to tighten the knee cap and he would try and do it that day. I asked him how much it would cost. He told me it was $2700 and that he would only charge me two thousand! That would put our total costs up to $12,000 for Sadie. (not covered by the VPI insurance-never get that dog insurance) Oh-I do not know if I mentioned earlier that the breeder, Karen Thomas gave me the $1,200 dollars back that I paid for Sadie. I left Sadie at the hospital. She would not have surgery until later that afternoon and I needed to talk to my husband, Larry and my Vet friend Susan Wilner and Dr. Clark. I just did not know what to do. I left crying and in shock.
Sadie's Hip replacement surgery
Feb 12th 2010
So here we are again-another surgery. Sadie is almost one year old and this will be her 3rd surgery (The elbow and Rt. hip were done at the same time). Her surgery was on a Friday-I was so nervous about this huge surgery. The doctor called me in the early afternoon to tell me that all had gone well-however, he noticed that her knees seemed a bit loose-especially her left knee. He said not to worry because her knees were probably a bit loose because she had not been exercising since Nov. I was still worried. As you will see later-I had every right to be! I brought her home on the following Monday. The technicion gave me instructions for her aftercare. Unfortunately she was not totally clear on her antiobiotics. There were two bottles-one 500 mg of cephalaxin and one 250 mg. Never was it listed that I would have to give her both pills every 8 hours-I just thought the other bottle was more pills that did not fit into the first jar. For the next 3 weeks I gave her only 250 mg of the antibiotic. It was not until I accidently opened the other jar that I saw that the pills were bigger-called the vet and figured out the mistake. I was fortunate that nothing happened since she did not have the proper amount of medicine. I had to give her the full 750 mg. for the next 3 weeks. Now back to bringing her home. The doctor said that I need to treat her like glass-yeah-that is easy for a one year old lab!! We kept her in a 5 by 7 area. This made her crazy by the end of the 6 weeks! At two weeks post up she came in for staple removal. She was actually doing quite well-putting weight down on the leg etc. They decided to take x-rays since she seemed so active. I was totally nervous. When the assistant told me that all was well-I did not believe her. Four more weeks to go before I could walk her for 3 short walks. I could not wait (and neither could Sadie). She started jumping up more in her little area and barking like crazy-driving us nuts. She was feeling good!! On March 26th, I finally got to take her for the x-ray . I was completely nervous and praying for a good outcome-expecially since the tpo did not work out as expected. I just wanted a normal dog and could not wait to have one. The doctor came out and gave me the good news. Her hip was great and her knees looked good. I could walk her and give her more space in my house. I was overjoyed!!!!
So here we are again-another surgery. Sadie is almost one year old and this will be her 3rd surgery (The elbow and Rt. hip were done at the same time). Her surgery was on a Friday-I was so nervous about this huge surgery. The doctor called me in the early afternoon to tell me that all had gone well-however, he noticed that her knees seemed a bit loose-especially her left knee. He said not to worry because her knees were probably a bit loose because she had not been exercising since Nov. I was still worried. As you will see later-I had every right to be! I brought her home on the following Monday. The technicion gave me instructions for her aftercare. Unfortunately she was not totally clear on her antiobiotics. There were two bottles-one 500 mg of cephalaxin and one 250 mg. Never was it listed that I would have to give her both pills every 8 hours-I just thought the other bottle was more pills that did not fit into the first jar. For the next 3 weeks I gave her only 250 mg of the antibiotic. It was not until I accidently opened the other jar that I saw that the pills were bigger-called the vet and figured out the mistake. I was fortunate that nothing happened since she did not have the proper amount of medicine. I had to give her the full 750 mg. for the next 3 weeks. Now back to bringing her home. The doctor said that I need to treat her like glass-yeah-that is easy for a one year old lab!! We kept her in a 5 by 7 area. This made her crazy by the end of the 6 weeks! At two weeks post up she came in for staple removal. She was actually doing quite well-putting weight down on the leg etc. They decided to take x-rays since she seemed so active. I was totally nervous. When the assistant told me that all was well-I did not believe her. Four more weeks to go before I could walk her for 3 short walks. I could not wait (and neither could Sadie). She started jumping up more in her little area and barking like crazy-driving us nuts. She was feeling good!! On March 26th, I finally got to take her for the x-ray . I was completely nervous and praying for a good outcome-expecially since the tpo did not work out as expected. I just wanted a normal dog and could not wait to have one. The doctor came out and gave me the good news. Her hip was great and her knees looked good. I could walk her and give her more space in my house. I was overjoyed!!!!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
November 30th 2009
Sadie has her surgery today. My breeder had mentioned that sometimes a dog with hip problems might also have elbow issues-such as elbow dyplasia. At my request, I asked Dr. Averill if he would x-ray her elbows before the surgery. Guess what he found? Elbow dysplasia in her left elbow. Remember I said that I had noticed her limp on her front left leg months earlier? Apparently she had fractured her coronoid process and she had two bone chips in her elbow. The Dr. said it was very painful and said it was like a person walking with a stone in her shoe. Needless to say I was so upset. Luckily her right elbow was fine. The Doctor said that it was a simple surgery and that he would do it at the time of her hip surgery. I need to back up a bit. When Dr. Averill looked at the xrays, he told me that Sadie just barely qualified for the TPO type of surgery on her right hip-that there was a 50% chance that the surgery would work. Her Socket joint (acetabulum) was very worn down which made it more difficult for the ball to fit in the socket. A tpo surgery is when they make 3 incisions and rotate the ball of the femur to fit into the socket of the hip joint. It can only be done on puppies less than 10 months old. At the same time I met a women with a 10 month old golden retriever who was 8 weeks out from having her TPO surgery on both hips. Averill also gave this woman's dog a 50 percent chance of it working and it did work. Averill also said that Sadie would need a hip replacement in her left hip because that hip was much worse and that we would have to wait until Sadie was 11 months old for the hip replacement on her left side. I got a second opinion from another orthopedic surgeon and I also talked with my vet and a friend who is a vet. I heard many stories on how dogs live normal lives of running and playing after hip replacements and TPO surgeries. Basically we decided to do the TPO with Averill. He even said that sometimes when you fix one hip you may never have to do the other one. We were very hopeful that that would be the case. She stayed in the hospital for two nights and we brought her home. You can see the flip video below: I am not sure I will be able to posts the videos-there are some problems and it is not working at the moment but I will try again.
The Surgery costs a total of $3900 and it was not covered by my VPI pet insurance. By the way-do not use VPI. They do not cover genetic issues-I know-you never think it would happen to you-especially if you use a reputable breeder! I recommend looking into Petplan or Purinacare insurance. Both of those plans cover genetic issues. The tpo surgery requires a 10 week recovery period-the first six weeks you need to keep them on a leash and in a 5 by 7 carpeted area so that they do not slip. After 6 weeks you are allowed to give them more space and walk them for 3 10 minute walks a day. Sadie got her stiches out after 10 days and basically at the 6 week mark we got her x-rayed and guess what! The TPO did NOT work. Ok-it worked somewhat. Apparantly the hip functionally works when she walks but it does not stay in-it never "caught" Meaning the ball never attached itself to the acetabulum. The Doctor said to come back in 4 more weeks and we will x-ray. At 10 weeks we x-rayed her right hip and it still had not worked. However he said she was not in pain and she was definitely walking on the hip. He claimed she was 50 percent better than before the surgery and that he would not recommend doing anymore surgery on the right hip-it was good enough. Now for more bad news. Her left hip was so out of wack that we needed to do the hip replacement right away! Another surgery! Oh-her elbow worked out just fine. He said both her elbows were pristine. Please note that the pictures below was after her left hip replacement surgery. Keep this in mind for later. I am going to try again to upload the TPO/elbow surgery. The very bottom video (the one where she is wearing the cone is the first tpo/elbow surgery). The other videos are from her hip replacement 10 weeks later. Sorry for the confusion.
The Surgery costs a total of $3900 and it was not covered by my VPI pet insurance. By the way-do not use VPI. They do not cover genetic issues-I know-you never think it would happen to you-especially if you use a reputable breeder! I recommend looking into Petplan or Purinacare insurance. Both of those plans cover genetic issues. The tpo surgery requires a 10 week recovery period-the first six weeks you need to keep them on a leash and in a 5 by 7 carpeted area so that they do not slip. After 6 weeks you are allowed to give them more space and walk them for 3 10 minute walks a day. Sadie got her stiches out after 10 days and basically at the 6 week mark we got her x-rayed and guess what! The TPO did NOT work. Ok-it worked somewhat. Apparantly the hip functionally works when she walks but it does not stay in-it never "caught" Meaning the ball never attached itself to the acetabulum. The Doctor said to come back in 4 more weeks and we will x-ray. At 10 weeks we x-rayed her right hip and it still had not worked. However he said she was not in pain and she was definitely walking on the hip. He claimed she was 50 percent better than before the surgery and that he would not recommend doing anymore surgery on the right hip-it was good enough. Now for more bad news. Her left hip was so out of wack that we needed to do the hip replacement right away! Another surgery! Oh-her elbow worked out just fine. He said both her elbows were pristine. Please note that the pictures below was after her left hip replacement surgery. Keep this in mind for later. I am going to try again to upload the TPO/elbow surgery. The very bottom video (the one where she is wearing the cone is the first tpo/elbow surgery). The other videos are from her hip replacement 10 weeks later. Sorry for the confusion.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
April 7th 2010
Hi,
I really do not know where to start. My Chocolate lab, Sadie, was born on Feb. 19th 2009. My family got her from a reputable breeder. Her name is Karen Thomas and her kennel is called Riverroad Labradors in Libertyville IL. Her parent's names are Dauber and Joy. The picture at the left is of my husband Larry, my daughter Carlie and Sadie. It was taken in November of 2009, just a few weeks prior to her hip dysplasia diagnoses. I am writing this blog to help others who are contemplating go through hip surgery. I only wish I started this in November when it all started-well....better late then never! So I am going to begin at the beginning........
April 11th 2009
We were so happy to bring our 7 1/2 week old puppy home. You see back in February of 2009, we lost our beautiful 10 year old lab, Maddie, to a sudden bacterial infection. It was not diaganosed correctly and she died within three days of discovering her illness. It costs us over $5,000 dollars to try and save her life. We were devasted and wanted desperately to get another dog. We called Karen Thomas, we had gotten Maddie from her and Maddie was a terrific dog, and she told us that Chocolate Lab puppies had just been born. There were only two females in the litter and she would decide which one we would get-the one with the white spot on her chest or the one without. We took home the one with the white spot and named her Sadie. Almost immediately people would comment on how she seemed to walk funny. We were not sure if it was just a puppy thing-and sometimes she walked normal-who knows.
Summer 2009
Sadie had a good summer. She swam in my sister's pool, she played tether ball, she went on four walks a day, she also chewed almost anything -our blinds, walls, wooden tables-you name it. She also met a new friend named Codie. He is a Golden retriever and they had so much fun running around together.
Below is a picture of Codie and Sadie. Toward the end of the summer, Sadie would just lay down on the grass and refuse to move. I thought she was just being stubburn. I also noticed that at some point in the summer, Sadie started limping on her left front leg. After around 2 or 3 days it seemed to have gone away so we did not take her to the Vet. We got Sadie spayed in the middle of the Summer. Our breeder thought we should wait until she had her first cycle before spaying. She said that dogs can get urinary tract infections and might grow too fast and are prone to having ACL tears if you spay them at 6 months. Our Vet. Dr. Clark from Lincolnshire Animal hospital disagreed and gave me information about the benifits of spaying at 6 months. Maddie was spayed at 6 months and she never had a urinary tract infection. She had two ACL tears at 7 and 10 years old-but I think that was more because she was overweight (96 pounds). My goal was to keep Sadie thin-so we would not have that problem. We spayed her at 6 months. In retrospect-maybe we should of waited. She had a urinary tract infection 6 weeks after the spaying and she grew extremely fast between 6 and 9 months. X-rays were done of her hips at the time of her spaying and Dr. Clark told me that her hips were good-but not excellent. He noted that the left hip did not look as tight as the right. It turned out that she grew so fast that after 6 months her hips completely fell out of the socket. By 7 months Sadie was reluctant to climb stairs and was stopping and laying down more often during walks.
We took SAdie to the Vet and 7 1/2 months to have them look at her legs-she still walked funny. We saw one of the woman doctors in the practice and she noted that possibly SAdie had growing pains and prescribed anti-inflammatory pills. She looked at her x-rays from 6 months of age and thought her hips looked OK. She noted that her knee caps seemed a little loose-but no big deal. She said to come back in a week if things were not better.
Below is a picture of Codie and Sadie. Toward the end of the summer, Sadie would just lay down on the grass and refuse to move. I thought she was just being stubburn. I also noticed that at some point in the summer, Sadie started limping on her left front leg. After around 2 or 3 days it seemed to have gone away so we did not take her to the Vet. We got Sadie spayed in the middle of the Summer. Our breeder thought we should wait until she had her first cycle before spaying. She said that dogs can get urinary tract infections and might grow too fast and are prone to having ACL tears if you spay them at 6 months. Our Vet. Dr. Clark from Lincolnshire Animal hospital disagreed and gave me information about the benifits of spaying at 6 months. Maddie was spayed at 6 months and she never had a urinary tract infection. She had two ACL tears at 7 and 10 years old-but I think that was more because she was overweight (96 pounds). My goal was to keep Sadie thin-so we would not have that problem. We spayed her at 6 months. In retrospect-maybe we should of waited. She had a urinary tract infection 6 weeks after the spaying and she grew extremely fast between 6 and 9 months. X-rays were done of her hips at the time of her spaying and Dr. Clark told me that her hips were good-but not excellent. He noted that the left hip did not look as tight as the right. It turned out that she grew so fast that after 6 months her hips completely fell out of the socket. By 7 months Sadie was reluctant to climb stairs and was stopping and laying down more often during walks.We took SAdie to the Vet and 7 1/2 months to have them look at her legs-she still walked funny. We saw one of the woman doctors in the practice and she noted that possibly SAdie had growing pains and prescribed anti-inflammatory pills. She looked at her x-rays from 6 months of age and thought her hips looked OK. She noted that her knee caps seemed a little loose-but no big deal. She said to come back in a week if things were not better.
November 19th 2009
Sadie goes back to the Vet. Dr. Clark takes x-rays and tells me the bad news-Sadie has hip dysplasia! He referred me to Dr. Averill at Animal Emergency and Referral Center in Northbrook, IL.
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