What a crappy day.
It started with an unfortunate experience for Marshal. We went in for his 2 week follow up radiographs (rads - what you and I know as x-rays). These are the same positions the vet techs asked Marshal to assume two weeks ago, when the doc first saw M's bad leg. Marshal would not allow the handling.
Now, I don't know exactly how this played out, because as per normal veterinary protocol, I wasn't invited to observe how his rads were taken. But after roughly 30 minutes in the back room with the techs, a nice young lady came out to the waiting room and asked me to sign an estimate on the expense of sedating Marshal, doing blood work to make sure he didn't have anything funky going on prior to sedation, the rads (of course), and the additional miscellaneous expenses that go along with your dog spending the day at the vet under care. I said I didn't understand why sedation was necessary, as we'd just performed this same procedure, with BOTH back legs, just two weeks ago. She said they'd try one more time, but if M would not cooperate, sedation would be needed and I could come back late afternoon and meet with doc/pick up Big Boy.
What a choice! Did I really have a choice? Sure--take the estimate and do the rads, or take M home, and just hope he's healing well. I signed the estimate.
At 3:30, I arrived back to view his rads, learn doc's opinion, and take Big Boy home. When doc and I went over the different shots of Marshal's leg, I took some photos.
I'll start with the most graphic. These two rads was taken 4/30/08, two days after Marshal broke his leg.
The copy that came with him from the AHS (Animal Humane Society) says the following:
Dog jumped off porch and was surrendered with a mid shaft femoral fracture on 4/28/08. Rads were taken 4/30. On 5/5/08, the fracture site was evaluated by a veterinary surgeon. At this time, the fracture site had a good callus and orthopedic surgery was not deemed necessary. Dog went into foster and was on cage rest for 2 - 3 weeks. Gradually, he regained the use of his leg and now gets along just fine.
The rest of the copy is about his allergies, vaccinations, and body condition (underweight).
The next set of rads were taken 06/02/08:
The 06/02/08 rad came with the following note:
It was very difficult to get flat views as Biff was very resistence [sic] to handling of the leg. The femur is foreshortened on the rad. If you want better views, send him back w/sedative.
I have quoted this note in one of my prior blogs--please forgive me repeating myself. I did not include the rad showing his femur foreshortened (a head-on view instead of a bird's eye view) as it isn't helpful.
Darnit, Everett, I did not get photos of the 9/12/08 rads that determined his 2 wk crate rest. However, here are the rads that required sedation today:
In the bottom rad, his right femur is on the right. The lines where the bone snapped are faint, but present if you look carefully.
Doc and I talked at length about M's progress. Doc strongly feels that the location of the break, and M's age when it happened, have really worked in his favor. The fractured femur has grown at almost, if not the same, rate as its left counterpart. In the lower rad the right femur appears just a tad shorter, but he felt that M's pelvis was slightly tilted in the shot, causing the right femur to APPEAR shorter. He said M's growth plates look good (what wonderful news to me--his few short weeks rollerblading do not appear to have damaged his growing bones!) and do not appear to have been negatively impacted by the fracture. Doc said the cortex around the fractured femur appears much better than it did on 9/12, which he found very encouraging. Big Boy has gained 2.8 lbs, and now tips the scale at 68.8lbs. Doc said Big Boy still looks good.
Doc left it up to M's rehab to determine M's rest and recovery, as long as the follwing points are included: crate rest can now become house rest, but all outdoor ventures must still be on leash. No playing with Paisle (or Ansel). No running of any kind. No trotting. No stick, and no tug-o-war. I let Doc know Marshal is becoming more and more frustrated with his lack of exercise (therapy days he seems so much happier), so he gave me some sedatives in case M has really restless times ahead. I hate the idea of having to drug him to get him through the day. Doc gave me the kind that will not inhibit any potential growing M may have left to do, but my fears of drugging him were not based on stunting his growth, but rather on keeping him sane. I am probably looking at the drugs the wrong way--it's more important that he suffer through this temporary time now, than deal with a life of lameness or worse, should his leg not have the chance to heal properly.
My bigger concern, however, is why did M react so poorly to having rads taken? Has he matured in such a way in just the last two weeks, that he's decided against being handled by strangers? Or, have our physical therapy sessions been too strenuous on him, causing additional (and hopefully temporary) pain in his hind quarters? Or, was he in pain when the last rads were taken too, but just too shy to protest? It's times like these, where I wish he understood English....
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