It has now been 8 weeks since Otis' knee/tendon replacement surgery. He is walking around regularly these days, and his fur has almost returned. But we were still seeing him hold up his leg to go up and down stairs, and he wasn't comfortable running. He didn't whine like he was in pain, however he was showing some serious lameness in the leg. At 8 weeks post-op, he should have been back to 100%.
He went in for a checkup, where they did x-rays of the knee. To the orthopedic surgeon's surprise, one of the screws that she used to attach a metal plate to Otis' bone went through the first bone and into the second bone of his lower leg. It was only supposed to go through the first bone. And because these two bones typically operate independently of each other, them being held together by a screw was probably pretty painful for Otis. Ouch, poor guy.
So Otis is going back to the vet tomorrow morning, and will be placed under general anesthesia so that the surgeon can remove the screw. Because Otis' bones are completely healed from surgery now, the screw isn't really required to stay in his leg.
They tell us that he'll be under anesthesia for less than an hour, and will be home tomorrow night. We shouldn't have the tough time with recovery like we had back in January! He should actually feel immediate relief where they remove the screw from his leg.
We just hope this time they don't go overboard with shaving his fur this time! He's finally willing to show himself in public again! Wish us luck tomorrow - we just want our pup to feel better and for this ordeal to be over.
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