Surgery Day - So Far So Good

For those of you who have never met him, Riggins is one of a kind. He is truly a human who so happens to be trapped in a four-legged body which is covered in blond hair. He just "gets" things and responds to everything you do and say.

So...As I went to bed last night and carried with me a heavy heart, I told Riggins to lay down on his doggie bed which is at the foot of our bed. Riggins just stood there and looked at me. When I said, "What do you want?" He wiggled from shoulders to bottom and gave a fake little stutter step as if he was going to jump on the bed.

I naturally did want any good pet mom would do. I told my husband to pick up the 95 pound beast and put him in the bed! (I wasn't throwing my back out...Oh, honey!....)

Note...This also meant that almost 3 year old lab was booted to his crate. I swear this was Riggins' version of a "last hoorah" and getting one over on his younger brother!

Riggins settled in and snuggled with me all night. In fact, at one point, he woke me up by smacking with his front paw and then wagged his tail and gave his front right leg to me for a quick massage. He then laid back down, took in a deep breath, and sighed himself back to sleep.

This morning Riggins was less than happy with the lack of food, but he managed to find a hidden piece of kibble and was delighted to crunch down on it. He also got a bit of peanut butter for his painkiller and off we went.

I really liked the two surgeons who met with us. They were thorough, answered my questions, and treated Riggins like the four-legged human that he is.

They advised me that the tibia plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO) surgery would take place around 11:30 AM and last for 60 to 90 minutes. They also went over an explanation of TPLO which mirrored the research I had done via the internet.

If you're not familiar, TPLO is a surgery required to repair the lack of stability in the stifle joint which occurs following the rupture of the cranial cruciate ligament (CCL). During surgery, the tibia is cut and rotated to form a plateau where it meets the stifle joint. A plate and pins are then inserted into the bones to provide for stability as well as function of the stifle joint.

While it sounds pretty horrendous, the success rate is higher than the old method of using suture material which was similar to fishing wire to stabilize the joint.

At 12:10 PM, the surgeon called and said that they were finishing up. Riggins came through like the Hall of Fame pro that he is and was fortunate in that there were no tears to the cartilage around the knee joint.

Today I will be preparing the house for his coming home tomorrow. It's a snowy day here in north Texas, so it's a good time to do a big of cleaning, prepare his "quiet areas", and perhaps take a nap!