Second Surgery Today

I just spoke with the surgeon. Bo has come out of the anesthesia and is stable. The second TPLO went well, faster than the first because there was very little damage to the soft tissue around the stifle joint. This was expected because the time between the injury and surgery was only a week, instead of nearly a month.

They also opened up his left leg, to remove the long pin that runs at an angle through the bone splice (see XRAY). This was recommended as a possibility at the 8-week check-up; the surgeon thought it might be causing some discomfort. However, when we scheduled the second TPLO, the surgeon said we should just do it, since Bo had to be anesthetized anyway. But, when they opened up the leg, they discovered the beginning of a bone infection, and decided to remove ALL of the hardware (the plate and screws, as well as the pin), flush the wound and culture the fluid.

The antibiotics that he'll take to avoid infection of the osteotomy of his right tibia should kill the infection in his left leg, but the culture will ensure that it's not some new virulent strain* that will need more advanced drugs.

*Side rant: over-prescription and ESPECIALLY MISUSE of antibiotics have created some terrifying "super-bugs".
PLEASE: avoid antibiotics when inappropriate and FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS (take them ALL!) whenever they are needed.

Bottom line is that his left leg will be pretty sore too, but the discomfort from the TPLO will be the worst pain. So, lots of pain meds and low expectations for weight bearing in the first two weeks. 2009 ends with one last blast of fun, I am SO ready for 2010!

We should still be able to bring him home tomorrow...