George had a TPLO (tibial plateau leveling osteotomy) performed on March 16, 2004 to repair a ruptured cranial cruciate ligament in his right hind leg.
Click on the "Info" button to learn more about what's involved with the TPLO.
Background
George has had limping episodes in his right, hind leg for several years. Last August, we began a physical therapy regiment (ultrasound and underwater treadmill therapy) at Animal Fitness Center in Union, Missouri. Although George responded very well to the therapy, strengthening and rebuilding muscle in his right leg, the weakened ligament in his right knee ultimately (and inexplicably) ruptured on February 25, 2004. Since that time, he has been hopping on three legs, unable to bear weight on his injured leg, as we await his surgery date.
Click on the "Info: button below to see George undergoing his underwater treadmill therapy.
Surgery Details
Hospital:University of Missouri Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Columbia, MO
Surgeon: Jimi Cook, DVM, PhD
We are extremely grateful that George's breeder, Carolyn Campbell from Style Kennels, was able to contact the legendary Dr. Cook -- a leader in canine orthopedic research and surgery -- and he has been gracious enough to rearrange his schedule to accomodate George's surgery. Dr. Cook has performed thousands of orthopedic surgeries and is leading a research project on joint disease in which the results are additionally being applied to humans.
Vet Student: Joanne Buckley
George has a student assigned to his case. She will assist in the surgery and will check in on him and provide us with updates. She has already been very helpful as we call her nearly every day with questions and concerns.
Dates: Monday March 15, 2004 Pre-op X-rays and blood work
Tuesday March 16, 2004 TPLO surgery
After clearing it through the hospital, George will be staying with us in our hotel room Monday evening. Since he has never been kenneled, we did not want to subject him to staying in the hospital Monday evening.
Release: George is not expected to be released from the hospital until Friday,
March 19, 2004.
Recuperation: The recuperation period from the TPLO will be long and difficult. It requires ABSOLUTE restriction of activity (read: confinement) for 6-8 weeks, followed by a 9 week rehabilitation regime of limited activity. For any dog such a recuperation period sounds daunting, for a high-energy dog like George it is impossible to fathom.
UPDATES
Preparations
We have prepared the house for George's post-TPLO recuperation period:
*A ramp has been built so we may avoid steps when we lead him out for bathroom breaks.
*We will not be using our second-floor computer room loft during the duration of his recovery, so the PC and computer desk have been moved downstairs into the guest room, where we purchased a new Select Comfort bed (placed directly on the floor) where we can sleep with him during his recovery.
*We've purchased a car ramp, baby gates and a plastic confinement pen as well as carpeted floor-runners and area rugs to cover all of the vinyl flooring throughout the house to prevent slips.
*We've stocked up on treats and bones to help occupy his time during his confinement. *We have researched the TPLO procedure extensively and joined an Internet discussion list to help us become as educated as possible and to help us prepare.
Regardless of all of these preparations, we are anxious and emotional as we prepare to drive to Columbia tomorrow. Conversely, we are also grateful and relieved that the surgery date is nearly here so that we can get George on the road (albeit a long one) to recovery.
Monday, March 15th
We met with George's vet student, Joanna, for nearly an hour this afternoon. We also met with the surgeon, Dr Cook, who helped to somewhat allay our fears with his quiet confidence and our knowlwedge of his exceptional skill and compassion. Joanna took George's vital signs and answered our remaining two pages of questions before taking George for his pre-op X-ray. He went with her, his tail wagging, eager for his next adventure. An hour and a half later he emerged, pulling Joanna behind him, despite being groggy from the anesthetic (George, not Joanna.). Since he was unable to eat before his X-ray, and is not allowed to eat after 8pm, we were hoping he would wake up enough to eat a special pre-surgery dinner. A burger from Burger King did the trick: George devoured two burger patties and numerous special Alpo beef treats along with his normal dry food. He is lying next to me as I type this, unaware (thankfully) of what is in store for him tomorrow. We are to have George at the hospital at 7am although his surgery will not take place until sometime between 11am and 3pm, so we will have a long day of waiting.
Tuesday, March 16th
As we expected, we all had a restless night. George was such a good boy, as usual, but woke up every time the furnace came on (not that he woke us up...we were waking up every hour or so anyway). He would walk around, sniffing the whole hotel room, trying to figure out where he was. He was also intrigued by the fact that we took the mattress off the sofa bed and were sleeping on the floor, in order to be closer to him.
George's vet student, Joanna, was already hard at work when we took George in at 7am. Amazingly, George was excited to be back at the hospital, and pulled us into the waiting room (while hopping on three legs). We gave Joanna Georgie's travel bag, containing all the essentials: his favorite blanket, several toys, and food and treats for his post-surgery meals and snacks. We also gave her a sign to hang on the kennel run that he will be staying in. The sign asks them to take extra special care of him, since he's never been away from us. . We also hung on the sign a special St. Francis of Assissi pet medal that George received from his grandparents. When Joanna saw the medal, she told us that she chose Francis as her confirmation name, since she knew even as an adolescent that she wanted to be a vet. We feel fortunate that she is taking care of George. After an emotional good-bye, we reluctantly handed over George to Joanna and watched them disappear through the hospital doors. True to his exuberant personality, George walked away with his tail wagging and never looked back.
Last updated on: October 21, 2010
George received a positive report from his surgeon, Dr. Jimi Cook (pictured above) at the University of Missouri, at his eight-week post-op check-up. The X-rays showed that his healing was right on track. We are now in Phase Two of the recuperation/rehabilitation. Short walks of slowly increased duration are now allowed as we work towards the end of July, when Georgie will again be allowed to run and jump and play! We thank George's many friends and relatives for their care, concern, and understanding during these past months.
Monday, March 15th
We met with George's vet student, Joanna, for nearly an hour this afternoon. We also met with the surgeon, Dr Cook, who helped to somewhat allay our fears with his quiet confidence and our knowlwedge of his exceptional skill and compassion. Joanna took George's vital signs and answered our remaining two pages of questions before taking George for his pre-op X-ray. He went with her, his tail wagging, eager for his next adventure. An hour and a half later he emerged, pulling Joanna behind him, despite being groggy from the anesthetic (George, not Joanna.). Since he was unable to eat before his X-ray, and is not allowed to eat after 8pm, we were hoping he would wake up enough to eat a special pre-surgery dinner. A burger from Burger King did the trick: George devoured two burger patties and numerous special Alpo beef treats along with his normal dry food. He is lying next to me as I type this, unaware (thankfully) of what is in store for him tomorrow. We are to have George at the hospital at 7am although his surgery will not take place until sometime between 11am and 3pm, so we will have a long day of waiting.
Tuesday, March 16th
As we expected, we all had a restless night. George was such a good boy, as usual, but woke up every time the furnace came on (not that he woke us up...we were waking up every hour or so anyway). He would walk around, sniffing the whole hotel room, trying to figure out where he was. He was also intrigued by the fact that we took the mattress off the sofa bed and were sleeping on the floor, in order to be closer to him.
George's vet student, Joanna, was already hard at work when we took George in at 7am. Amazingly, George was excited to be back at the hospital, and pulled us into the waiting room (while hopping on three legs). We gave Joanna Georgie's travel bag, containing all the essentials: his favorite blanket, several toys, and food and treats for his post-surgery meals and snacks. We also gave her a sign to hang on the kennel run that he will be staying in. The sign asks them to take extra special care of him, since he's never been away from us. . We also hung on the sign a special St. Francis of Assissi pet medal that George received from his grandparents. When Joanna saw the medal, she told us that she chose Francis as her confirmation name, since she knew even as an adolescent that she wanted to be a vet. We feel fortunate that she is taking care of George. After an emotional good-bye, we reluctantly handed over George to Joanna and watched them disappear through the hospital doors. True to his exuberant personality, George walked away with his tail wagging and never looked back.
George came out of surgery at approximately 4:30pm this afternoon. According to Dr. Cook and Joanna the vet student, the TPLO surgery went "great" and George is doing well. He is on a Morphine IV this evening and will be transitioned to another oral pain medication tomorrow, which we will continue to give him for about ten days. We arrived home from Columbia at about 9pm tonight; we called to check on him once on the drive home and he was still asleep. We'll call to check on him again before we go to bed. It's been a long and draining day, so I'll post more information and some photos tomorrow night. Thanks to everyone for you care and concern, we're glad to have today behind us. The house is eerily quiet....it's sure not the same without Georgie here.....
Wednesday, March 17
How did we ever exist B.G. (before Georgie?) We deliberately did not come home from work until 9 p.m. as we knew it would be too hard to walk in the door without George's exuberant welcome. It was almost unbearable today to think about Georgie being there at the hospital several hours away from us. We called Joanna, George's vet student several times today (she has yet to file a restraining order against us). She said George did not seem to be in a lot of discomfort, even though he was off the Morphine and on a lesser pain medication. Even though we were so worried about his first "kennel experience," she said he just appeared to be hanging out and watching all of the activity. She said all the students have fallen in love with Georgie, since he's so cute and such a sweetheart...no big surprise, there.
The only disappointment of the day was the news that George had an "accident" in his kennel area, which seeped into his bandaged incision. They changed his bandage and cleaned him up, but he is now at risk of infection due to the bacteria that came into contact with his incision. Since his leg now contains a metal plate, an infection can have very serious consequences, so they started him on antibiotics as a precaution.
We will be picking George up from the University of Missouri Veterinary Teaching Hospital tomorrow afternoon! We miss him so much and can't wait to see him. We are also quite nervous, however, as we think about transporting him home and getting him settled in and beginning his long recuperation. We want to do everything right and not take any chances.
To help ensure that we make it to the ten-day post-op milestone (when the staples will be removed) with no major incidents, we will be providing him with 24-hour supervision for the first ten days of his recuperation by alternating days-off work. Thankfully, this happened early in the year when we had yet to tap into our vacation days. We are very grateful that our employers have been so understanding by accomodating our vacation-day requests on such short notice.
We are still making final preparations for George's return home, so I will post another update after our beloved Georgie is back where he belongs tomorrow evening.
Click on the button to view photos of Georgie's TPLO adventure:.
Photos
New photos added March 25th!
Thursday March 18th
It was quite fitting that Thursday afternoon was bright and sunny as we made the trek to pick up our beloved Georgie from the hospital. It had been rainy and gloomy on our two previous trips to Columbia with George, which had matched our mood, so the sunshine was very appropriate on the day that our family was to be made whole again.
We were excited and nervous as we entered the hospital and we wondered how George would be when we finally saw him again: Would he seem in pain? Would he be angry with us? Would he seem confused or disoriented?
Before we got to see George, we first met with his vet student, Joanna, to review the detailed post-op instructions. She was very emphatic that we follow the "strict crate rest" restriction for the first eight weeks and that we closely monitor his stapled incision site for signs of infection and that we keep him from licking it. She also reviewed his pain medication and antibiotics with us and told us that we would have to use a towel as a sling whenver we walk him the short distance for bathroom breaks, to help keep his full weight off of his back leg. She then went to bring us George.
It seemed like an eternity before the door opened and George pulled Joanna into the room. We were relieved to see how excited he was to see us...his tail was wagging non-stop and he was snorting and attempting to dance around as Joanna kept his hind legs elevated with the sling. We gave him some treats and hugged him and told him how much we had missed him and how proud we were of him. He was definitely ready to leave and Joanna recounted how he tried to bolt out of his kennel whenever she would take him out for bathroom breaks. As we walked him out of the hospital, I could almost hear him say, "I'm outta here!"
He remained quite excited as we put him in the car, but it wasn't long before he curled up in his favorite comforter that we had brought along for him. He snoozed for most of the 2.5 hour drive home.
When we came into the house, you could almost sense George's relief to be back home again and all seemed right with the world as the unbearable void that had been created by his absence was filled again.
Since George must be strictly confined and musn't jump up, run, play or walk fast we decided to block off a small area next to our bed with baby gates where he could sleep. He immediately attempted to put his paws up on the bed, however, and we knew we couldn't take a chance that he would do that during the night. Plan B was then implemented: we surrounded the mattress on the floor in the guest room with plastic fencing so that he could sleep on the mattress, but could not walk anywhere else in the room. I spent the night with him on the mattress, listening for any sign of his discomfort or for sounds of him licking his incision. Several times, I had to discourage him from licking, but for the most part he slept very well. I didn't care if I slept or not....I was just glad to have him home where he belongs.
Friday March 19th
George and I spent the entire day in the living room in what can best be described as a playpen: a small area with his pillow and a blanket, surrounded by the plastic fencing. I was so nervous that he would try to get out of the area, or start licking his incision, that the only time I stepped out of the area was to use the restroom (and then only when it was an absolute emergency.) Depsite this strict confinement, George did very well, although a few times he did paw at the fencing, curious as to what it was doing in the middle of our living room. I spent much of our time together petting him and telling him how much I had missed him. I could almost sense his relief and relaxation at being home. He would wake up from his numerous naps and stretch and raise his head to make sure I was still sitting right beside him. Each time, I assured him that I was still there and that there was no place else I'd rather be.
Saturday March 20th
George had another good night, snoozing peacefully with me on the mattress in our guest room. He's been a very good boy today, venting his frustration over spending the nice day with us cooped up in his living room playpen only a few times, by pawing at the fencing. Dave and I are taking turns sitting with him in his playpen, using the tag-team approach to eat our meals, use the restroom, etc... Our time with George in the playpen is spent petting him and providing him with time-occupying treats such as stuffed bones and rubber kong toys stuffed with concoctions including dog treats, scrambled eggs, yogurt, oatmeal, etc.. (can you believe we found an entire web-site containing recipes for kong toys?) The beauty of the stuffed kong is the time it takes, and the challenge it creates, for him to actually get the food out of the toy. It's hard to believe that Georgie is already at the 4 day post-TPLO mark! (And only 52 more days left in Phase One of his recuperation period!)
Monday March 22nd
George is still doing well and sleeping through the night (which is amazing since he's sleeping away most of the day as well.) We know that he's getting tired of being so strictly confined, and having to be walked with a sling when we go out for potty breaks, but he is being a real trooper, true to his sweetheart of a personality. Despite his pain medication, we know he is in discomfort, which breaks our heart, but we know that every day is one day closer to being able to run and play pain-free and limp-free!
Tuesday March 23rd
Today is a HUGE milestone....Georgie's TPLO surgery was one week ago today! In some ways, it seems like we've been living this way forever, in other ways, it has gone rather quickly. Regardless, we are glad to have the first week behind us...only seven more weeks of strict confinement to go! We celebrated with carside-to-go from Applebee's (George ate most of Dave's honey-grilled chicken) and a giant, peanut butter-filled bone for Georgie (he did not care to share his bone with Dave.)
Wednesday March 24th
George slept better last night than I did....I think I'm already worried about his staple-removal on Friday. I am kind of getting used to sleeping on the floor, though.
Thursday March 25th
We eagerly, and anxiously await, the removal of George's staples tomorrow....yet another milestone on our long journey to George's complete recovery.
Friday March 26th
I am pleased to report that the removal of George's staples today went very well. He was quite excited to go for his first car ride since we brought him home from the hospital over a week ago. The staple removal went very quickly and George stood perfectly still for Dr. Jesson, distracted by the constant supply of treats that we fed him.
March 31st
As of today, George received his last pain pill and his last dose of antibiotics, so tomorrow, he will be drug-free (and that's no April fool!) He is definitely feeling much better, but is also getting a bit harder to keep calm and still. He is understandably frustrated at being moved from one confined area to the next....from the bedroom to the living room to the kitchen and back again. All things considered, however, he is being a real trooper.
Yesterday, March 30th George was exactly two weeks post-surgery. We celebrated with one of his favorite dinners, a (large) roast beef sandwich from Lion's Choice.
We are settling into our new morning routine....one of us supervises George while the other gets ready for work. In the evening, we bring his pen over to the kitchen table so he can eat with us and then we take turns sitting in his living room pen for the remainder of the evening. Marrow bones from Bauman's Meat Market in St. Louis (thanks, Mary & Carolyn!) have proven to be a great distraction for George. We are also treating him to a steady supply of sterilized bones filled with cheese and peanut butter, dental sticks, and, of course, the ol' reliable: stuffed kongs.
April 17th
George is now four and a half weeks post-surgery and seems to be feeling very well, which is a mixed blessing. We are so grateful that he has not suffered any complications, but, since he is feeling well, he is becoming increasingly frustrated with his forced confinement and severely restricted activity. He now refuses to enter his living room pen (except on weekday mornings when he gets to share Dave's breakfast) so we spend our evenings and weekends following him around the house on a very short leash, reminding him to walk slowly and carefully and then sitting on the floor next to him, wherever he decides to lie down. (Video game chairs borrowed from the Stauder clan have helped make this floor-sitting more bearable!) George also repeatedly leads us to the door leading out to the garage -- or the closet where our jackets hang -- and looks up at us and barks. He can't figure out why we aren't going for walks or car rides anymore. All things considered, however, we are extremely pleased with George's recuperation thus far, which has gone more smoothly than we anticipated. It's amazing how well he (and we) have adapted to our new routine. George's follow-up Xray -- to determine whether or not he has healed sufficiently to slowly introduce exercise into his routine -- is May 12th at 1:30 pm at the University of Missouri. We eagerly await the day when we can return to our old, beloved routine of long walks, playing ball, and car rides. Until then, however, we stay committed to our temporary, recuperation routine and we remain proud of George's cooperation, albeit reluctant and somewhat confused.
