Well. The vet got her to pee and poo as soon as we got there. They’re going to keep her overnight. Despite the metacam, tamadol, gabapenten & amantadine, she is still in a lot of pain. They’re probably going to give her some pain injections. Her foot & ankle is definitely more swollen and I don’t know why since she hasn’t used it at all. The vet is suspecting some sort of major joint instability with the way it is presenting. They’re in the same facility as the orthopedic surgeons who will be in tomorrow morning. So she’s going to stay overnight & be evaluated by ortho in the morning. She said something about sedating her for extension & flexion X-rays to see how stable the joint is, but she will wait for ortho to make that determination. 

In the meantime, running a CBC to rule out any infection. I feel kind of hopeless. Mostly because she is just not herself the last 2 days. 

Anyways, thanks for listening. 

Melinda

Thanks so much to everyone for your words of encouragement. It means so much more than you know. I’m trying to stay busy so I don’t think about her not being home. I called to check on her a while ago & they said she is resting comfortably. She had her pain meds & ate dinner & drank. She’s a love bug so I think she has all the techs in love with her. I’ll be anxiously awaiting her ortho doc’s call in the morning. 

Thanks again

Just got off the phone with Sierra’s ortho. He thinks there is some instability in that joint. He put a compression bandage on it to get the swelling down so it doesn’t hurt so badly. And he has her drunk on morphine. He said he is going to wean her off the morphine this afternoon & about 4 see how she feels. If she is feeling better & is walking on the leg with the compression bandage, he will send her home. If she is still painful, he will give her more morphine & keep her one more night. He is ordering a custom measured splint for her leg to help stabilize it long term and we will probably do PT with her to help strengthen that leg. I feel so much better now that he has her. The emergency vets are great, but having a specialist looking at her makes me feel so much better. I can breathe again. 

Planning on either going to either pick her up or visit her tonight. I’m gonna kiss all over her sweet face & tell her how you all have helped keep me calm (well relatively). 

Melinda

Visited my baby girl. The ortho wants to keep her another night. She’s still super painful. He’s a bit stumped as to why she is so swollen and painful. She’s  got the compression bandage on now. He says if she isn’t significantly better in the morning, he is going to sedate her & see if he can get any fluid out of the swollen area and have it analyzed. And potentially give her a steroid injection. He said while the joint has some instability, it’s not really that bad. And while the X-rays show arthritis it’s really not that bad. And neither should cause this much pain & swelling. 

Once we are past this hurdle & her stitches are out, he definitely wants her to do therapy. 

She's not any better this morning. With her leg in a splint, she will only do a couple steps & then she's done. Still very painful. They're going to sedate her & try to get a fluid sample out of the swollen area & see what that looks like. If there is no infection, will probably do a steroid shot. Poor baby girl. They said based on how the procedure goes & how she does, will determine this evening if she can come home or if she should stay another night.

Melinda