Update on the Nikki front.....a little late but here at least

Nikki has been limping the good part of 2012. She must have hurt herself the middle of January and has been off and on using her left rear leg. Matt and I have been discussing going to a specialist for a few weeks and have decided to taker her in last week Monday. After sedation, x-rays, and manipulation Dr Breshears of Parker Animal Emergency and Specialty Center diagnosed her as having a tear of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL tear).

We discussed TPLO surgery with Dr Breshears and decided that was the best path for us, and we decided earlier would be better so that we could stave off a possible injury to her other ACL. With me having sinus surgery a couple of weeks ago, we decided an extra hand would help out a lot and we called to ask Dad if he would be able to come out for the beginning of Nikki's recovery, and he agreed that would be a good idea.

Surgery went as scheduled on Thursday April 19th and we received notification that she did great. They keep TPLO patients overnight for observation as well as epidural pain medication. That was a difficult night for Enid as we could tell that she missed Nikki but was also enjoying having all of the attention.

We received a call pretty early on the next morning letting us know that Nikki was ready to be picked up.....as soon as we could get there as she was not calming down at all. We went and collected a very excited dog and took her home to her crate. Although she was not very excited about being in her crate she did calm down pretty quick and took a long nap.

Grandpa came out to help with her recovery. We are really blessed that he was able to stay for 6 weeks! I don't know how Matt and I could have done it without him. Her recovery went fairly smooth, but we did need to keep her sedated for about 2 weeks so that she wouldn't run and jump.

We will be calling this week to schedule the follow-up appointment to get radiographs to see how everything has healed.