Following is Tank's TPLO picture story

This is the picture story of the his first ACL repair using the TPLO method of repair. The other leg was done a year later almost to the date. The second one was alot easier as he knew what was going on and we also had the experience of going through this once already and knew alot more about what to expect and had our home much more prepared for his rehabilitation.
One of the things that may have helped cause Tank's ACL to start tearing - plus being 25 pounds overweight.
And boy - was he overweight!
These are pictures from the first few days of recovery after surgery on the first leg

Day 2 - March 15th 2003

TPLO surgery was done yesterday and it looks like he has a five o'clock shadow on his leg. Miss Chia stays with him all the time. She knows that he is hurting.

The incision the first day. It actually looks pretty good but I think that it just has not had enough time to start hemmoraging yet.

Tank's Ortho Vet, Stuart Johnson, did a marvelous job on his incision!

Day #2 - Tank is already laying on the surgery leg.

Mom caught him playing with his duck. His duck came to surgery with him so he is pretty special. He also came to surgery #2.

He hated ice on his leg. Why? It would help with the swelling and hemmoraging. He does not THINK SO! He hated it. Bill had to tackle him and get him down and sit on him. Then I slapped the pack on. I guess after it got a little numb it was ok.



OH MY GOD - Someone Let Dad Babysit And He Fell Asleep (He is Fired)- He Is So Contented Right Now But I Went Ballistic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




Here is his incision on Day #3. You can see I figured right it did start to hemmorage. It does not feel bad just looks bad. Starting to get a puffy ankle which we later found out is very typical with this type of surgery and will dissapate in a week or so. Hot packs can be applied and gentle massage in an upward motion will help dissapate this back into the tissues.


Such exciting company for mom these days. All he does is sleep and go out to potty. He has got a lot of healing to do.

The Entourage

Always making sure Tank is ok. See mom & dad's bed to the right. We have been sleeping on a blow up mattress every night so he does not have to stay alone in the breakfast area at night. He really did appreciate this.

End of Week 1
Tank has given mom & dad some scares and worries. His ankle filled with fluid, he ran after sister Chia and now has a swollen knee.
I hope we won't need to make a trip to Doc Johnson
He won't be happy!
I took him to Dr. Drow our regular vet and he checked to make sure that the hardware (plates & screws) was holding together ok. He felt everything was fine and drained some fluid off the knee and said to use some warm packs and see how it goes.
Hair is starting to grow back on his leg.
Still doing alot of sleeping - hey MOM - quit pointing that camera thingy at me.
He sure wishes he could go out there and supervise Dad - he needs it........
Look at this - nurse Miss Chia has taken charge of his bed......

Misery sure does love company!

But they sure do take care of him.
Two Weeks Post - Op

Tank's incision

is looking great
You can tell which leg is the TPLO leg but you can also tell just "who" knows where the pizza is!
Posing for mom
Bill went to Arizona and brought back some lemons from his sisters tree. The recovery room patient and nurses were bored so we took these picutures

End of Week #3 - April 5th

Tank had to go the the regular vet because he had a third instance of fluid on the knee. I think he hurt it by getting up too fast. The vet took some fluid out of the knee and examined it and gave it a clean bill of health as far as infection. He said the plate and screws felt solid and in place. I let him sit by the pool today. He wants to swim so badly.
Tank was inside and Doofy is outside. He is not liking this at all. He is scraping on the door every 30 seconds knowing he is going to aggravate me enough to give in.
So I cave of course
All that fresh air made him sleepy
Miss Chia...always under my computer desk while I am working on Tank's website or talking online to my Orthodog friends keeping in touch with how all the dogs are recovering from their recent surgeries.
Sir Doofy always taking care of Tank. Cleaning his face for him.
This face will usually get him anything he wants.
Tank did too much today and is holding up the surgery leg. Time for ice again held in place by his stuffed animals.
The ice was not too bad after I gave him a rawhide to chew on.

End of Weeks #5 & #6

Things are getting a little quieter around the house. Tank has not given us any scares lately. I think he is finally feeling more himself and we are seeing an end in sight on this long journey. Tank is getting to go a little further into the house than before. He is wishing for the tile floor back and lazy days on the sofa.......soon, very soon.
Venturing out of the recovery room. He was not happy I remembered to put the bar stool on the sofa while I was hanging some pictures on the wall.
Enjoying a rawhide in the kitchen. I don't think he could believe that I actually carpeted the kitchen too.
Nurse Chia is also happy to be out of lock up.
His first drink and dangle of the paws in "his" swimming pool. A very happy boy indeed.

End Of Weeks #7 Through #14

These weeks were fairly uneventful except for fishing line coming out of his leg which Doc Johnson said was ok - we just cut it off and it stayed inside. Tank's 8 week x-rays showed hardly any bone healing but Doc Johson again said this was ok. We had x-rays done again at 14 weeks post op and this time the fracture site was totally healed.
Tank and I at our little lake down the street. He finally got to get out of the backyard at 8 weeks post op.
Doing lots of swimming now. I bought him some battery operated fish that swim in the pool and he is ga ga over them.
Relaxing on the step in the pool after catching lots of fish!

Cruising across the pool

after more fish!

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