cycas Posted November 5, 2009 Report Share Posted November 5, 2009 Moll's leg, which had a tendon injury requiring surgery, until today had been doing quite well. She had developed an ulcer on her hock, next to all the screws and squicky bits but I am assured that's fairly normal and that it was all coming back together again. This morning though, I was just taking them out for their morning walk (we restarted very very short onlead walks recently) and when I lifted her out of the car, I noticed that the hock joint, which had been completely solid, was now flexing, very very slightly. Aaaaarrgh. That whole joint was pinned together, but of course greyhounds have stupidly thin bones so any pin that goes through them can't be that chunky and is at risk of snapping. So, the worry is that she's gone and snapped the pin. It was OK first thing this morning, so I can only assume she's done it having a crafty play with Az before breakfast. Anyway, I called her surgeon, and arranged for him to see her first thing tomorrow for X-rays to see if she has actually damaged it up again or not (unfortunately he's at one of their other surgeries today) and we went home. On the way, to add insult to injury, I got a sodding asthma attack. I don't get asthma much normally, and usually there are pretty clear things that set me off - so of course I wasn't carrying my inhaler. Then while I was parked by the road trying to remember how to breathe, I got hiccups! I invite you to imagine me trying to carry 27 kilos of greyhound up the 6 steps into my house and through onto her beanbag, without breathing, and hiccupping all the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeadyP Posted November 5, 2009 Report Share Posted November 5, 2009 Oh Victoria. Oh Mollydog Neither of you leave the house today. I hope both of you are feeling better soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReikiAnge Posted November 5, 2009 Report Share Posted November 5, 2009 Oh no! So sorry to hear the pin in her leg might have snapped. Really hope things go well tomorrow and this doesn't set her recovery back too much Hope you have recovered from the asthma and hiccuping too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mop Posted November 5, 2009 Report Share Posted November 5, 2009 Poor Mollydog, I hope it goes well tomorrow and the pin is fine. Asthma attacks are horrible, of course it is normal to forget your inhaler when you need it most, well it is for me. What I do when that happens is to put my hands in front of my mouth and nose and breath in and out into my hands. In fact there are times when I find with works better than my inhalers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celeste Posted November 5, 2009 Report Share Posted November 5, 2009 Aw bugger sod's law strikes again, hopefully it will be good news though and the leg won't need re-pinning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yantan Posted November 5, 2009 Report Share Posted November 5, 2009 Poor Mollydog, Sending lots of positive thoughts for her I have several inhalers dotted all over the place but can I ever find one when I really need one? NO! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumpole Posted November 5, 2009 Report Share Posted November 5, 2009 lots of positive tis not snapped thoughts for molly dog and a for you (i rarely have asthma attacks too and also dont carry my inhaler ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snow Posted November 5, 2009 Report Share Posted November 5, 2009 Ohhhh how I empathise!!!! The ulcers are common over the screws with greyhounds due to their thin skin - Nog's got that too at the moment and our vets don't seem too concerned although it's set us back a bit with the healing. Keeping boingy greyhounds quiet is a sodding nightmare once they are pain free and the leg gives them a bit of support in their one track brains they are well again so it's back to normal the heart stopping panics we've had are pretty much a daily occurrence they just don't realise how fecking fragile the screws are or how long the bones take to heal up. You just wanna sit there head in hands and cry whenever they do something stupid Hopefully the slight flex is nothing more than swelling going down over the break giving the hock a bit of movement - Molls doesn't have a plate so it's possible the joint might still have some flexibility naturally; Nog's got a titanium plate as well as 9 screws and the tendons & cartilage have been stripped out so the whole hock is fixed permanently but Moll's might be a bit more "natural"? Did the surgen say she'd be mechanically lame once shes recovered - Nog will be but I would hope that Moll's might have more use of her hock as she hasn't had to have the fixation done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cycas Posted November 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2009 (edited) I think it all depends how the healing goes: he says it's a race between the skin falling to bits, the pin breaking 'bound to happen eventually' and the bones fusing to hold it all together. The swelling has gone down, so I hope you are right! She already has one knackered front leg, so the prognosis always makes me think of plumbers : head wag, oooooh, it's gonna cost you, who's the cowboy that did this then.... There's going to be some lameness, but I'm not sure if the whole joint is supposed to be permanently fixed or not. Most of it is, I think. I described it over the phone and he thinks it's possible that the pin has snapped, but can't be sure without a really good look. It is only moving a couple of millimeters, but it wasn't moving at all yesterday. It would help if she and Az weren't so utterly besotted: he desperately wants to play with her, she wants to play with him... I allow the neck twining and nibbling because they both get so miserable if I stop them, but I try to stop it before we get to the boinging stage. The tiny walks we are doing at the mo are ridiculous: I have to keep her on no more than about a foot of lead or Az tries to get her running, the little grey wally. Luckily she's a bit more sensible about things. Edited November 5, 2009 by cycas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurel n Hardy Posted November 5, 2009 Report Share Posted November 5, 2009 all round Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranirottie Posted November 5, 2009 Report Share Posted November 5, 2009 for you and Mollydog.x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houndzrus Posted November 5, 2009 Report Share Posted November 5, 2009 Oh no Lots of good thoughts for you all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz Posted November 5, 2009 Report Share Posted November 5, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fee Posted November 5, 2009 Report Share Posted November 5, 2009 It must be a nightmare trying to keep her quiet now she's reached this stage, I really sympathise. I hope the pin turns out not to be broken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greytgirl Posted November 5, 2009 Report Share Posted November 5, 2009 for you both x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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