"Getting rid of everything that doesn’t matter allows you to remember who you are. Simplicity doesn’t change who you are, it brings you back to who you are."

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Four On The Floor

We're closing in on 8 weeks since we've placed Ginny under "house arrest". 


As you may recall, my "sweet Ginny-Girl" appeared to have torn her ACL.  Instead of opting for a $1500 surgery, we instead decided to try "conservative management" or CM.  The theory is to simply allow the knee to heal itself by severely restricting her activities.

A few weeks ago I was talking to the wife of a patient of mine (who happened to be a vet) and I mentioned what we were up to.  She cautioned us (again) that Ginny will likely blow out her other knee but said she's seen some interesting solutions.  From simple ($) to advanced ($$$$) surgical procedures, to CM patients like Ginny.  She told me of a case where the dog was a heavy breed (120 lbs+) and the owner opted for a custom made brace instead of surgery.  She said it worked. It took a long while, but it worked.  With a shrug of her shoulders she said "To each his own."


At 7 weeks of CM, SM and I find that Ginny no longer holds her leg up and (while we can still tell she favors that leg) she is routinely putting all four feet on the ground.  I still think she doesn't flatten her pad all the way down (pressure more on her toes) but this is already such a vast improvement that SM and I are very encouraged.




Now the trick is to start increasing her activities slowly and curtail them if she starts to show regression.  The articles I've read said to allow at LEAST 8 weeks before you start introducing more activity.  Since I can still tell that she favors that leg, I'm going to hold off and wait until September before I start to increase her activities.  She seems to be handling her restrictions well and (since it's so hot) I don't see any reason to push it.


I know once cooler weather hits, she'll want to run and play, so I think September might be a good month to transition her over.

3 comments:

  1. Aww, such a sweet girl. So glad she is on the mend.

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  2. Poor thing. What a cutie. Glad it appears to be working

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  3. Poor Ginny. I hope she feels her old self soon. It's so hard to see them in pain. My Ollie is finally running and playing again and it makes me so happy to see him happy.

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