Hi Ollie's #1 supporters!

Our surgeon called tonight, and he wanted to keep Oliver over night, because he was "too drunk." He reported that Oliver got up and sat TWICE. He has not laid down or sat on his own since his amputation! Our surgeon said it could be because of the lidocaine that they infused into the nerve before surgery, so we are still holding our breath. Dr. G. said that it was difficult to discern the issue when he went inside, since his last surgery was only 2 weeks ago, and the scar tissue looked like normal tissue. He pulled the sciatic nerve toward him, and when he cut one end, Oliver's heart rate went up to 160 and then dropped down to 40 after it was cut. He believes that this was the issue. He also removed some tissue and muscle near that area. He is sending this to be biopsied, since he isn't sure why this problem occurred to begin with. He told us it was definitely anomaly.

We will know more tomorrow as to whether this surgery did the trick. We are crossing our fingers very tightly.

Hi everyone!

So Oliver is back and looks exactly like his old self! He gave us lots of kisses when we picked him up (he hasn't been doing that since before the amputation). The surgeon is still cautiously optimistic, but it looks like we may have solved his problem! He has a vertical incision above his amputation, and stitiches instead of staples this time.

The comments on his write up state:

"It is unclear as to the origin of this neuropathic pain, however given the response to resection of the nerve in surgery [sidenote: as I said in a previous post, his heart rate went from 60 to 160 back down to 40 during/post resection], I am hopeful that his will resolve Oliver's issues. This is an extremely uncommon (never before seen by Dr. Glassman or Dr. von Pfeil) complication of this surgery. Neuroma formation or inflammation of the nerve root secondary to surgery is something that is possible after surgery, but is extremely uncommon in the companion animal (relative to humans and horses). His nerve remnants will be submitted for biopsy to help determine the origin of this problem and whether this is something that can be expected from him in the future."

I hope Oliver's really rare case will help broaden everyone's knowledge of complications post-surgery in the event that another doggie goes through something like this! I will continue to update you all as the weekend progresses. Hopefully all happy updates from here on out.

Seriously! So happy! He is still circling and not laying down by himself, but hasn't cried once. He cried every single time he woke up before, so I think he may just be nervous about laying down on his own because it was so painful before.