The Surgery Went Well

We got a call from the surgery center, and they said Henrietta's surgery went well! She had some x-rays done after the surgery to check the position of her knee and the metal plate, and they said everything looks good. We'll get a call back later tonight to let us know how she is dealing with waking up from the anesthesia. In the meantime, we've put together a little nest for Henrietta in the corner of our living room. We put Edelweiss' crate right next to it so it would feel a little more like normal, since they have their crates next to each other.

Edelweiss seems to be enjoying the extra attention, but also keeps looking around for her friend. They spend a lot of time playing together in the mornings after breakfast, so having to keep them separated for the next 6 to 8 weeks is going to be sad for everyone.

A "Before" Video

Henrietta is in surgery right now. Fingers crossed, everyone! We'll be spending the day cleaning and sanitizing so that Henrietta will have a sterile place to come home to.

I took this short video the day after Henrietta injured herself to send to Corey so he could see how badly she was moving. I didn't know I would be writing a blog about all of this, but my hope is that in a few months, we'll be able to do a side-by-side comparison and see how well Henrietta heals and how much her mobility is affected.



And here's a fun video from a hot summer a few years ago, because that first video is just so sad!

Henrietta's Heartfelt Helpers

We have had a couple of donations come in overnight for Henrietta's surgery. Corey and I are extremely grateful for your help, and want to express our gratitude. It's not much, but we have put together a little "Donor's Wall" above Henrietta's bed. We hope your kind gestures will shine down on Henrietta, and help her to heal and feel better. And even if you can only give kind thoughts, we would like to thank each and every one of you who are sending love our way. Thank You!

Also, I am making some hats and scarves to sell to help raise funds for Henrietta's medical bills. I will be posting a link to my soon-to-be-open Etsy shop. I know the season is all wrong, but if you are looking for a handmade hat or scarf as a gift or for yourself, please keep us in mind!

In The Hands Of The Surgeon

This morning we got up early, packed a few snacks for the road, and helped Henrietta get into the car. She seemed as eager as always to go for a ride, but we're all still trying to figure out the best way to use a ramp.

Then we headed up to Sugarland for Henrietta's surgery consultation. She was very laid back and relaxed during her examination, and the Vet tech was baby talking at her, which Henrietta loves. Then, after reviewing her x-rays, the main Vet/Surgeon came in to talk to us. She showed us this neat model of the surgery, and explained how her knee is slipping out of place, what they would be doing to fix it, how the reshaped knee would function, and what kind of recovery we could expect.

They are going to have to basically break the top of the leg bone, change the angle of the knee, and pin it back together with a metal bracket. While they have her knee open, they'll remove the rest of the ligament that was ruptured, and reshape the cartilage inside the knee, which will allow the bones to come together at a slightly different angle. This will stabilize the knee and keep the joint from slipping out. The Vet said some dogs even start to put weight on the leg just a couple of weeks later. We are excited about that, because it took Henrietta months to start using her left leg again after she had her LSS surgery, and she still doesn't like to put her full weight on it even 2 years later. We also talked about getting a knee brace made for Henrietta's left knee. Since she is suddenly having to rely on it exclusively, we want to do everything we can to keep it stable, and from deteriorating any further.

And then we talked money. They gave us a low estimate and a high estimate, and told us we would have to pay for the surgery upfront. We were able to apply for a PetCare account, and they gave us $5000.00 credit at 0% APR for 6 months. So we made our surgery payment for $4500.00. They told us that if it ends up costing more that they can add it onto the account, and if it costs less that they can do a refund onto the account for the difference. 

So we scheduled Henrietta's surgery for tomorrow morning. We had to leave her there at the surgery center, but she didn't seem distressed about it. Hopefully she knows that the people there want to help her get better. The Vet told us we would have to leave her overnight on Wednesday too, so that they can monitor her recovery from the surgery. If she does well, we will be able to bring her home on Thursday afternoon, but if she has any complications, they will keep her another day or two. Corey and I gave her a tummy rub and a hug goodbye. Now she's in the hands of the surgeon, but we have confidence that everything will be fine.

At Home, And The First Bill

Henrietta is home and settled.  They gave her a big shot of pain killers at the vet, so she is probably feeling much better. We also got some pain meds for the next week or so.

And here's our first punch in the stomach bill, for $288.80:

Henrietta's Diagnosis

As many of you know, our dog Henrietta suffered a ruptured ligament in her left knee two years ago. She required surgery to stabilize her knee, but she was a healthy 5 year old with lots of energy, and her prognosis was good. We opted to go with the cheapest surgery, an LSS surgery, which we could barely afford at almost $3,000.00. Henrietta was in a lot of pain, and it took her a long time to heal. She slowly had to learn to use her leg again because it didn't work the same way as before. Her muscles had atrophied during the 8 weeks it took for her incision to heal because we had to keep her inactive. Her left leg only started to really build back a lot of muscle this spring, even though we could tell her knee gave her a lot of pain. Recently it began to creak and pop with every step she took.

Over the Easter weekend, two years to the day in fact (which makes me feel sick to say), she suffered the same injury to her right knee. She will need another surgery, but this time she is an arthritic 7 year old. We took her to our vet this morning, where she was sedated for x-rays. He confirmed that she had ruptured the ligaments in her knee.

Our veterinarian told us that we won't be able to do the same kind of surgery again because Henrietta's knees are very worn down from arthritis, and the knee he operated on has worn down much more than he expected, and doesn't look too good after the past 2 years. He says she has a much better chance of preserving her mobility by getting a TPLO surgery. We tried to get her into Texas A&M for surgery, where the procedures can cost half as much, but they were fully booked until the end of April. We have an appointment to meet with a surgeon in Sugarland tomorrow morning, and we will hopefully be getting a low price estimate, but our research is showing the TPLO surgery to cost between $3,000.00 and $5,000.00.

I will be completely honest: I have no idea how we are going to pay for all of this. I have placed a donate button at the top right corner of this blog. If you can spare anything to help us pay for Henrietta's surgery, we would greatly appreciate it! Even a single dollar helps. Your donations are sent through Paypal, and placed right into our savings account.

I will keep this blog up to date so that you will be able to follow Henrietta's progress on her road to recovery.