| 4/12/01 |
| Well, surgery may be put off again. The clinic called and said that the saw that they use to do the TPLO is not working right now. Apparantly the wind is getting in a vent or something and the machine will not start. It needs to be sterilized and the process takes 12 hours. So, unless they can get it started by midnight tonight, we will have to wait until Monday. We have had wind advisories out since yesterday. When I went to my weather page, the hour by hour forecast has the wind dying down around 8 or 9 tonight. So this really will be a wait and see on the edge of your seat kind of thing until the morning. I'll have to take up the water bowl and not feed him in the morning until I know for sure what is going on. On the plus side, the girl I talked to said they have been doing a lot of this procedure lately which is good. That means the surgeon has had more "practice" before he gets to Magnum. The more he does the better I feel. He is pretty new and hasn't done a lot of them and most people would tell me to find someone more experienced. However, he has been kind enough to dontate his fee to help Magnum and is the only surgeon around who does the procedure. Everyone wants an experienced surgeon but no one wants their dog to be the one to give them experience. :-) I understand that feeling. Our surgeon did say that of the ones he has done only one has had a problem with a screw backing out and that was because the owner didn't restrict the dogs activity at all. So, I feel pretty good about him. I never have been very good at waiting. I guess the Lord isn't finished with me yet. This seems to be an area that requires constant work in my life. I sometimes wonder if I'll ever learn. Well, we'll just act like tomorrow is the day until I hear otherwise. It could still work out and if not, that's o.k. too. This is a busy weekend with Good Friday, Easter and Monica's birthday. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if we had to wait until Monday. That would also give his muzzle stitches the 2 full weeks before they come out. I'm learning that God's timing is always best and I don't always *have* to understand his reasons. :-) Well, it looks like we're back on for tomorrow. They got the machine going so everything *should* be o.k. They did, however, say I should call in the morning to make sure everything is still o.k. At Magnum's last visit to the vet the other day to have blood drawn for heartworm testing, he weighed in at 91 lbs. He has lost 12 lbs. so far in spite of his eating half a bag of bird food and stealing 2 pies off my counter top. Yes, he ate both pies. The slope of his tibia is 23 degrees. I'm not sure what the number is for predicting cruciate problems but I think it is right around the 23. |