Heidi Jane's surgery page

The photo at left shows Dr. Ken Olson taking Heidi into the back area of Willapa Veterinary Hospital. She would hate this picture because the angle makes her look fat...and she's actually quite svelte.

The afternoon update: She went through the surgery just fine. Her meniscus was damaged and completely removed. Dr. Olson peeled one of the ligaments in her knee and attached it to something else so, after it's healed, the knee will work properly. At the time that I called, Dr. Pinkers was giving Heidi Jane her first acupuncture treatment. She'll need these treatments weekly during recovery.

Tuesday's update (2-20-01 Bob's birthday):
I got to bring HJ home this evening. Those pain killers are great...I mean for her, not me. Though it was tempting. The following photos are not for weak-stomached people. Originally, I was going to ask if I could photograph the surgery. After looking at other doggie knee surgeries on the Internet, I decided I probably couldn't handle seeing my own dog being sliced and diced.

So, she has to spend some weeks in her kennel, with only potty breaks to break up the monotony. (We'll see how long that lasts.) Meanwhile, she's on a special diet and has a pile of prescriptions she's gotta take at various times during the day. The good news is, the vet is willing to trade this intense surgery for a family portrait and his son's senior portraits. So, HJ goes back on Monday for her acupuncture treatments, performed by Dr. Diane Pinkers. In two weeks, the stitches will be removed.

This Frankenstein-ish line of stitches curves around and underneath her knee. But she's been through enough, so didn't want to lift her leg just to photograph it.

These are photos I took from the big vet book at Dr. Olson's. All he has is a fax machine copier. He's willing to do a lot of things, but he wasn't willing to tear the pages out to make copies for me. So I took the photos with my digital camera, and they're good enough. The photo on the left shows a damaged meniscus. You've seen one, you've seen them all. The middle photo, I feel, really shows the guts of the procedure. They de-attached part of a ligament and wrapped it around an area where it doesn't normally go, to make the knee work correctly. The photo on the right shows what they had to go through to pull the kneecap aside. They then make a hole in the knee and insert a pair of forceps from behind. These forceps pull the piece of ligament through the knee.

Sunday's update: Our little Heidi Jane woke up ready to party on Friday. She was in a great mood and we let her over-do it on Saturday. She's kinda paying for it today. She's doing very well. Though she dislikes the prescription diet, she'll eat it when she's really hungry. She goes to Raymond for acupuncture treatments tomorrow.

I know, it looks as if Dr. Pinkers is stuffing a turkey, but she's actually inserting acupuncture needles into points along HJ's spine and leg to help channel her chi. It seems to be working. It's a week since her operation and she's using her leg. Not all the time, but she is using it anyway.

Wednesday, February 28: Heidi ran around and barked at the earthquake. I think it helped.
She's been using her leg a lot and it almost looks as if her fur might be growing back already!

I brought reinforcements this time... and her bed. We all have to sit on the cold, hard floor for twenty minutes or so while the needles do their job. Doesn't everyone look happy?

Tuesday, March 6: HJ's in grand spirits today, though she's not using her leg much at all. When she does use it, she limps quite a lot. She did so well during her first two weeks of recovery that I asssumed she'd simply continue that trend throughout the following weeks.

Sunday, March 25: She's been doing very well all week. We now can let her out in the backyard without supervision. In the photo below, HJ is enjoying a sunny evening in the tomato box.