I know you have your hands full with Athena,  along with everything  else in your day to day life.  Whenever  you have a second  to read this, I'd appreciate  any suggestions.

To just catch you up Pam, Frankie almost certainly  has meniscus issue in same leg as cruciate surgery....and it most likely...almost certainly, started a vit ago and has worsened  speetty speetty drastically as of this morning.  

You can tap the link above to catch up, but basically fluid tap was done.  xray was done, surgery  site holding well and their was no infection from fluid.  This was a couple of months ago.  

Proceeded with Rimadyl, a wing and a prayer, knowing  it was most likely  meniscus, but hoping for a tweak.   He did "okay", but not fully restored like a "tweak" would be.

This morning he  comes in after potty holding that leg up and walking on two again.  Gave him a Gaba and rushed him to Vet.

Xray and manual check showed cruciate  surgery  still holding.  They don't  do cat scans or mri, not that I could afford it anyway.  Pretty sure now it's  meniscus and not a tweak.

So right now I have a two legged dog (whose remaining  two legs are not as strong as they were before all this cruciate crap started).

Not that it matters, but in reading  stuff after first surgery   it says that some Vets remove some, or part of meniscus when doing cruciate repair  surgery.   Obviously  this was  not the case with Frankie.   I do recall the Vet saying after surgery  that "the good news is is meniscus  looks good."  Again, doesn't  matter now. but would like your input on that if you don't  mind.

Is a stabilizing  brace an option?  Are there ANY options for a three legged dog as far as meniscus  injury  on the same darn leg as cruciate  surgery and with arthritis and hip dysplasia?  Obviously  "conservative  management" didn work.  Quite Frankly,  there is nothing  conservative  about anything  Frankie does and I will always feel guilty  that I couldn't  restrict/restrain him properly  on my own.  

This is breaking  my heart.

Gratefully, 

Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!

Thank you everybody!!! Trust me, I feel your love and your support...and that translates to good pawsitive  healing  energy for COOL DAWG SUPER HERO FRANKIE...and it makes me feel more empowered  too!

Okay, the "original " Vet who did the surgery  said:

......The xray would not show if the cruciate  failed.  The other Vet dis the "drawer test" and didn't  feel any slippage, just lots of scar tissue.  Scar tissue is good because  it holds the bones in  place.  So could not that out as possibility...but doubtful.

......She coild go in and open to knee back up for definate disgnosis and if meniscus  could do the surgery st that point.   Easy surgery but not necessarily  easy  recovery.   Just in general and sort of an off the cuff comment,  she did say that  when doing a second surgery  on the same leg it didn't  always go well.  And that was referencing  four leggers I'm  sure.

.......Said  maybe I could go,to Ortho Specialist  and maybe they could  go in orthroscopic...whatever the word is....and check him lut that way???

......Said for comfort I could  do a steroid injection  in knee...but would be for comfort only. It promotes arthritis  and interferes  with inflammation  needed for "healing" if healing  is a possibility. 

.......Said I could continue with Rimadyl at highest dose and pain pills and rest and see if there is any improvement  in the next week.  (Confused.....Rimadyl ...will interfere  with "healing" too because  it takes down inflammation???)

.......I did reference  her back to the meniscus  looking good at original  surgery.  Her comment...again off the cuff....sometimes she wished it didn't  look good because  then she could do surgery  on it at that ttime too.   How I wished......

.....Asked about a stabilizing  brace...said she didn't  know, maybe a possibility.