| 8/16/01 |
| Magnum is using his leg again today! Yeah!! It seems that he just gets sore after overdoing the exercise. Sunday and Monday were a lot for him, apparantly, and he was sore afterward. I called his surgeon and he seems to think he is having these spells because of his arthritis. He wants to see Magnum again on Tuesday afternoon. I think he wants to do another x-ray to see if the arthritis is any worse and just to make sure there is nothing else going on with the leg that we are overlooking because of the recent TPLO. I think *I* will feel better if he has another look at him too. This is the second time during our rehab that he has gone completely off his leg for a while. We are doing everything we can for him when he has these spells. Rest, buffered aspirin and cold packs if there is apparant swelling (which we are not seeing) or warm, moist towels for the arthritis. We've been doing the warm towels as he tolerates. Yesterday afternoon he started toe touching again and then gingerly walking but still hopping off and on. Today he is walking consistently but still not weight bearing when standing still. The surgeon thinks the reason he doesn't put weight on the leg while standing is the arthritis. So, when people on the orthodogs list come in and say their dog has a torn cruciate and they are contemplating surgery, my answer is always, if there is any way you can do it now, do it!! Arthritis *is* debilitating and it sets in quickly! Especially if you are contemplating having TPLO surgery done, do it ASAP. TPLO is *supposed* to stop the progression of the arthritis. I guess we'll see on Tuesday. It is looking more and more like we will just have to learn to live with his bad days and try to keep his activity limited to what he can tolerate. We *do* seem to be able to build up his tolerance but we need to go slowly with him. |