Day 1 Post-Op - Coming Home

When I came to pick up Koda, the hospital has you do all the paper work and meet with the surgeon before they bring out your pet. They know as soon as you see your pet, you won't hear or remember a thing.

So I charged the remaining balance of the surgery, $1820.00, bringing my grand total to $3785 - OUCH! (Koda's not the only one in pain from this surgery!) Then I met with Dr. Munjar to look at Koda's post-op Xrays. He pointed out the 30 degree slope, now corrected to three degrees, explained about the bones, metal plate and screws (see my other post below for details).

We went over the recovery process, and various medications. Koda would be taking Simplicef, an antibiotic, once a day in the morning. Rimadyl, an anti-inflammatory, twice a day. And Codeine, a pain killer, three times a day. I would also have to put an ice pack on him 4 times a day and massage his leg to distribute the fluid that would start to pool in his ankle. And after the swelling and bruising went away (about 1 week), I would need to do physical therapy with his knee, moving it gently to keep the joint from stiffening up.

Of course, this is just the beginning. The next 8 weeks would be crucial for Koda's full recovery and successful outcome. As he starts to feel better, it will become harder and harder to confine him and keep him quiet and inactive. After about Week 2 post-op, Koda can start to take short 5-minute walks to start strengthening his legs. Then increase the minutes and frequency from there.

Then FINALLY, they brought Koda out! He was hopping along on his three legs, pretty with-it, considering what he'd been through. I thought it was pretty amazing that he was walking at all. But they tell me it's completely normal for them to be walking soon after they come out of anesthesia.

The the night tech left a note saying Koda stayed awake on a bed up by her desk (instead of in a kennel in the back), keeping her company and watching her all night. Charmer. They all commented that he had a lot of personality.

While I was talking to the vet techs, Koda got bored (and tired of standing) so he just plopped down and made himself comfortable on the floor. Look at his little shaved turkey leg. :( He has a little fur sock on, it appears.

Here's what his leg looked like, just 26 hours after surgery. Not too bad. Neat little stitches on the inside of his leg. It wasn't that swollen yet, but Dr. Munjar warned me that the leg would start to bruise, becoming blotchy and red over the next week. He said it would be, "ugly... ugly... ugly... ugly... ugly... until about Sunday, and then *motions with hands* all gone." So I would need to prepare myself for how bad his leg would look before it begins to look better.

Ahhh, the "Cone of Shame" - Koda hates the e-collar. But since we couldn't take the chance of him licking or chewing his stitches while we slept, he had to wear the collar overnight. As you can see, he makes no effort to conceal his utter disappointment about this.

The hardest thing to take was his soft groaning this first night. We just sat there and pet him while he rested, moaning. So sad.

Koda is able to drink water with the cone on -
thanks to a long doggie tongue.

Camp Koda - this is where Koda will be spending his days and where we'll all be sleeping at night, for the next couple of weeks. We need to restrict Koda's activity to only going out to relieve himself and encourage him to rest as much as possible. Nighty-night, Koda!