Mally

This has been a rough couple of weeks for us, especially for Mally.  If you follow me on Twitter, you probably have an idea of what's been going on, but if not, let me recap.  A few weeks ago we noticed that Mally was having some issues with her back legs.  She was hopping instead of running, she'd fall if she took the stairs, she wouldn't jump up on the couch or bed and her right leg was shaky and quivering.  So we immediately took her to our vet to see what was wrong. 

We were a little worried that she might have the same tick-borne illness that my dad's dog had, which was causing Lenny some leg pain as well.  However, her temperature was normal and blood work came back clean.  Our vet thought he heard a “popping” in her knee, but it wasn’t hurting her or inflamed at all.  Her hips also seemed fine with a physical examination, but just to be sure, he took X-rays of her pelvis/hips.  And then we saw the problem.  She has hip luxation (hip dislocation) in her right hip (the leg that’s been shaking).  He said that femoral head has been separated from the pelvic acetabulum (or the “ball” is out of the hip socket), which means her hip pops in and out of place without much effort.  When the ball is out of the socket, the bones are rubbing together causing her pain.  The vet thinks this was probably a pre-existing condition that she’s been dealing with for a while.   But more troubling, he said her left hip looked “terrible.”  She’s got chronic arthritis in that hip, which has been trying to “remodel” itself (the joints in that hip are scarred and inflamed).  So, he put her on some anti-inflammatory pain medicine and referred us to an orthopedic surgeon here in town. 

We saw the orthopedic surgeon last week and said she that Mally needs surgery, possibly on both hips, but at least on the right one for now. We’ve tried the bed-rest/pain med/anti-inflammatory meds route, but she’s just not getting any better, so surgery is the next step. She gave us two options: (1) a total hip replacement; or (2) femoral head ostectomy surgery.

Hip Replacement

If we went with the total hip replacement, she would basically get a brand new hip and be as good as new. She’d have full function in the hip and there’s a low complication rate. But, she would need 10 weeks of resting and rehab. She’d need to stay off hardwood floors, away from stairs, away from other dogs, be crated every day when we’re at work, etc. for 10 weeks. Then a 6 months to 1 year later, if she’s still having problems with the other hip, we could do the surgery again on the left side. This surgery would be incredibly expensive. Also, since she’s so small, they don’t believe that the replacement hip parts they have would fit her, so we might have to go somewhere else for the surgery that specializes in smaller animals (Houston, Texas was mentioned).

Femoral Head Ostectomy

The femoral head surgery would require the head of the femur to be removed and the bone smoothed, if necessary, so that no bone to bone contact occurs between the pelvis, which contains the now empty socket and the remaining portion of the femur. The bone is not replaced, instead, the resulting scar tissue from the operation takes the place of the hip joint creating a "false joint" around the bone end. With this surgery, they could do one or both hips at the same time and it’s about half the cost of the hip replacement. After the surgery, Mally would be on 1 week bed-rest, but then she’s encouraged to be as active as possible to assist in the healing. She’d get walks/runs and rehab (with us) everyday. Complications are also low and smaller dogs do much better with this surgery because they’re more active and not as heavy on their hips.  This was the doctor's recommendation.

So, we’ve decided to go with option 2. Mally goes in for Femoral Head Ostectomy surgery tomorrow. She has to spend at least one night in the hospital and can hopefully come home on Friday. We just feel like it’s a better option for her (and us) to keep her active, allow her to play with other dogs and not have to crate her for months.   She seems fine with everything (we've talked about it).  She's a tough cookie.  I, on the other hand, am a nervous freaking wreck.  I just know I'm going to spend all day tomorrow in tears.  Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers over the next few days.  I'd really appreciate it.

 Love,

 A crazy-dog-mama