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Zamboni recovers from third surgery on right rear leg

November 17, 2007 - Surgery #3

This surgery was a re-do of a poorly performed TPLO, or tibial plateau leveling osteotomy. It is her third surgery, because the previous vet/surgeon, who was recommended by the breeder from whom I purchased my dog, originally performed a traditional surgery to repair the cruciate rupture. It didn't work. Then his second surgery one year later, the TPLO, which is preferred for large breed dogs, left my dog with a permanent limp and a bowed-out limb. When Zamboni fell down while walking three weeks ago, and then started refusing to go through the dog door, X-rays showed that there was new "radical" curvature of her bones, and the patella had gone off to the side of her leg, and the TPLO surgery had given a "very poor result" according to local orthopedic specialist, Dr. Scott Lozier. Surgery was recommended, and soon. A second-opinion look at the X-rays, by another orthopedic specialist, confirmed it. When contacted, the previous surgeon offered no "mitigating circumstances" for the poor result. Surgery was scheduled for a few days later.

Zamboni had a long, hard surgery to fix all that was wrong. The surgeon kindly kept me apprised before and directly after the surgery. It was complex, and "the kind of surgery I enjoy" and he expects a good result. At one point while on the table she hemorrhaged, losing a lot of blood, and the "popliteal artery" had to be permanently clamped off. Her femur and tibia both had to be broken and re-set to fix the curvature and rotation caused by previous surgery, and the tibial angle re-planed to fix the painful forward motion of her leg (it's not supposed to move front-to-back) and her kneecap relocated from the side of her leg to the traditional place at the front of her knee. The post-op X-rays show two metal splints, in addition to the permanent artery clamp, her kneecap where it's supposed to be, and an improved TPLO angle. It's "not perfect" but it's an improvement over the "mess" she'd had. This surgery is reportedly going to fix her lameness and make her feel much better.

Zamboni's recovering. She's on Codeine in addition to the Metacam she's needed for two years. Also Cephalexin. She's been zombie dog for this first few days--very low energy. She wears a belly sling to help her walk outside to do her business. Her eyes look sad and tired. She hasn't licked much at her staples. Her leg swelling and discoloration has been significant, and has just started to go down. She puts light weight on the leg, which no longer bows out. Even on the codeine she is clearly in a bit of pain. I'm babying her and trying to keep her spirits up. I hope she feels better soon, and I feel hopeful that Dr. Scott Lozier has accomplished the significant improvement we need.

I found this site helpful in my pursuit of more information on TPLO surgeries.