Chanel's Surgery D+9, March 23

Chanel ate her normal food on her own for the first time since the surgery!!!!!!!

We were getting REALLY worried...it's been really 10 days because she had to fast for the surgery starting the night before the surgery.  We almost cried seeing her going to the food bowl and digging in!

I took Chanel to Dr. Keats in the morning because of the part of Chanel's suture that appeared open.  I explained how she was trying to gnaw the area in various ways.  Both the doctor and the tech said she was too smart...too smart for her own good, basically.  Anyways, Dr. Keats ordered that she had to wear the hard cone of shame all the time (well, most of the time since she cannot eat with it).

Chanel hates it, of course.

Chanel's Surgery D+8

Thursday March 22 was Chanel's surgery D+8. Chanel has been way too smart for her own good. She has figured out ways to get to her incision area to pick at:

(1) She moves around inside her crate so that the soft e-collar will flip (see the picture below).
(2) She voluntarily goes into the crate...so that she can hide and pick at it all she wants!!
(3) She chews OVER the e-collar...since it's soft, she can actually chew over it and pick at the incision!!

Flipped soft e-collar

80% of her incision was healing beautifully, but the area where the pins were placed must be irritating so she keeps wanting to gnaw it, to the point where it looked almost open!! We tried wrapping the area with gauze and self-adhering wraps at nights, but they seemed to come off easily. We also tried putting on a hard e-collar (aka the cone of shame!!), but Chanel either refused to wear it or struggled fiercely to take it off when we managed to put it on her.

Another problem was that she has not eaten her normal food or drunk plain water at all for the entire week. She would eat some boiled chicken breast meats and Weruva's natural dog food along with chicken broth, but nothing else. Especially the fact that she refused to drink water really concerned us. So I had to talk to Dr. Keats; for her eating/drinking problems and the suture. He prescribed Reglan and Pepcid and I made an appointment to have her suture looked at for Friday.

New problem: administering a liquid medication to Chanel...tablets are a lot easier because we can just stick it in a piece of Greenies Pill Pockets (a wonder product!!) and She loves the taste.  

Chanel's Surgery D+1

Chanel was discharged on Thursday around 12:30PM.

Her entire left leg was shaved and had a little fentanyl patch (25mcg/hr) on the hip.

She will have the patch until Monday morning and then will start on oral tramadol 12.5mg.  We have to remember to fill the prescription before the weekend is over!

We also got a CD of Chanel's radiographs.  Chanel's hip dysplasia on the right side is very obvious on the x-ray.  :(

Before the surgery

After the surgery

Chanel's Surgery D-0

Chanel finally had one of the surgeries done this morning!

I took her out to walk and then dropped her off at VCA Veterinary Referral Associates in Gaithersburg, MD at 8 AM this morning. She knows when she goes to the hospital...she starts shivering sometimes even before we leave home, just like Cookie did! This poor little thing shivers so much that you would think there is an earthquake or something just by looking at her. :(

I received a call from Dr. Keats, Chanel's orthopedic surgeon at VCA/VRA around noon. The surgery was over and went well, and Chanel had just woken up from anesthesia and been transferred to the Critical Care Unit (CCU). The surgery included deepening of the femoral groove (where the kneecap is supposed to sit), transposing the tibial crest, and reconstructing the surrounding soft tissues. She has a narcotic pain patch (fentanyl) on her and is given an anti-inflammatory as well. She's hospitalized overnight and will be discharged tomorrow morning.

But Dr. Keats gave me another bad news. :(((

He discovered that Chanel also has hip dysplasia on both sides! Unlike her patella luxations, her right side is worse than the left. Her femur head (ball) is pretty much out of the socket of the pelvis. Dr. Keats said that he was surprised Chanel did not have any apparent signs and symptoms and that he would not consider getting a surgery (yet another one...!) done unless she becomes symptomatic. Chanel is truly a trooper!

Joanne and I just visited her, now in the ward.  She was very groggy from the fentanyl drip and the patch...

Chanel in the ward

Chanel's Surgery D-1

The picture is from last year.. the day our Chanel got her cast finally off on her left hind leg, on March 9th, 2011.  The leg looked so DEAD we thought she'll never really be able to use it at all, despite what the vet said, that she will recover her leg!  It was hard to believe.. it was so thin, frail, skin was all bumpy and dead, no hair, she couldn't put her leg down..


But voilà! Our Chanel lets nothing down.. she bounced up, aced her physical therapy and as good as new!


Her surgery to repair patella luxation on the very same leg is already just a day away.. in less than 23 hours she can no longer eat, will be dropped off at the hospital and won't be picked up until the day after :(  But this surgery isn't going to be as rough as her fractured leg last year..  and her recovery time will be quicker.


Thank you to all, who's donated and gave support for her so far!!  She will still have another surgery after this one, as she needs to have surgery done for both hind legs for luxated patellas.  This year will not be easy again, but once they're relocated to proper place, she will no longer feel pain/discomfort and enjoy the life she so deserves!

Chanel's Left Leg

Below are the radiographs of Chanel's injured leg from the accident.  9 screws and a metal plate were placed in her tiny little tibia to repair 6 fractures.  The picture on the left is the one taken after her cast was off, which was 8 weeks after her surgery.  The bone edges looked rough and appeared to be missing some chunks!

After 5 weeks of physical therapy, Chanel gained all her muscle mass and range of motion.  The radiograph looked so much better!

Chanel's dislocated patella is worse in her injured leg; probably due to the impact of the accident.  So her injured left hind leg will need to be operated first.

And remember, any contribution for Chanel's surgery through the ChipIn link on the right will be tax-deductible!

 

Our 1st year with Chanel

Our blessed 1st year with Chanel... she deserves the best!

Chanel Needs More Surgeries...

So, Chanel has gone through some rough time from getting hit by a car to practically a three-legged state after her orthopedic surgery until she became fully mobile after a long rehab period.  But now she's facing more surgeries. :( We recently went back to the orthopedic surgeon because Chanel seemed uncomfortable from time to time.  The doctor told us that she has Grade 3 out of 4 patella luxation (a condition where the kneecap is dislocated from its normal location).  Grade 3 means the patella is permanently dislocated but can be reduced manually and requires surgery.  And the sooner Chanel gets it done, the better because the outcomes are better in younger dogs.

The surgery will need to be done one leg at a time, and each surgery will take 14 to 16 weeks to recover.  The cost of both surgeries is estimated to be $5000, which does not include the physical therapy.

Please help us raise $5000 for Chanel's surgeries.  She had almost been killed in a shelter because she had an injury and was given a second chance at life; she deserves the quality of life for years to come.  But her new surgeries do come with financial challenges...

Your generous contribution will be tax-deductible through Lucky Dog Animal Rescue, and you will receive a receipt for the donated amount.

Chanel in summer lion cut

Chanel

Chanel is our adorable Pomeranian adopted through Lucky Dog Animal Rescue (LDAR herein).  She was hit by a car on January 6, 2011 and was on death row with 6 fractures in her tibia in a closed shelter in South Carolina.  With a help from wonderful Pamela Nalley and LDAR, Chanel got the second chance of life; she was transported immediately to DC to be treated and adopted. 

At that time, we were looking into adopting another Pomeranian because Coco seemed lonely and stressed since our other Pom Cookie had passed away in May 2010.  He needed a companion.  We found Chanel on PetFinder.com, who looked like a perfect mixture of our two beloved Pomeranians, Cookie and Coco, and applied to adopt her.  It turned out that Chanel had surgery on that day, which placed a metal plate and 9 screws in her tiny little leg. 

Chanel at the adoption event
before we found her

Coco

We brought Chanel home on January 16.  She fit right into our family...and has been such a trooper and a character! We all love her dearly, and Coco also gets along with her well.  We couldn't be happier...

Chanel's first day in our home.  She settled right away.