Teddy Update

Thank you to everyone who was thinking of  my girl!  Rather than respond to the comments, I'm just putting up this post instead because the whole thing was a no-go!

We got her to the vet on time, starving her in the morning as instructed.  TBG went into work late so they could go for a nice walk.  He got her to office and met with our regular vet who assured us we are doing the best thing.  To Linda, yes, we are doing a TPLO.  For those who don't know what that is, it is a Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy.  She tore her ACL (in dogs that call it the CCL -- Canine Cruciate Ligament).  The result is that one of her leg bones (the tibia) is not being held in the right position and her femur hits it at the wrong angle.  A TPLO is a fix where they saw off the top of the tibia and then bolt it back on with plates and screws so that it is at the appropriate angle.  It sounds barbaric but the beauty of it is that rather than repairing tissue/ligament which would grow back with scar tissue and be prone to tearing again, the fix puts bone to bone -- which heals by creating more bone.

Tommy said his hands were shaking as he signed the consent form because it mentions life saving measures if there is a complication.  But both he and Teddy got through that and he went back to work.  They called him an hour and half later saying the surgeon never showed up.  So even if she was to make it in after that, the OR was booked and they also wouldn't have time for other stuff they needed to do.  So, she was back home by 10:30 with two bandages on her forearm where they started the IV.  There was a message for us later in the day that we are on for next week on Wednesday at the same time.

To say that we are bummed is an under statement.  We wanted to be one week in to recovery by the time she's going back.  Plus, the pre-surgical jitters were enough once.  On top of that, I'm going to have to rearrange my day off again.  I don't have a schedule that is easy to shuffle around once meetings are set.  I coordinate a lot of stuff between 12 accounts and when I get people lined up for meetings, it's hard to move things around when there is a sudden conflict.

The emotional impact on Teddy is marginal.  I guess it gave her another opportunity to go to the vet without the world ending.  She wasn't happy going back for her pre-op bloodwork but this time she trotted into the office just fine.  We are leaving the big mattress out for her so she will be used to that by next week.

I just wish we could have had it go according to schedule. It would nice for this to all be over with.  Thanks to all who thought of us!