That kind of day...

It has not been a good day in our household. I woke up at 6:30 to haul Daphne to the vet that did her surgery (about 45 minutes away). See, we were under the impression that the external post on her leg (ew) would be removed and that her leg would be practically healed. This is what the people told us when we adopted Daphne.

So not the case. The vet showed me her x-rays and I was horrified. They look awful. Not only is there still a very clear break - a total snap of her femur - but it is not a straight bone any more meaning that the two ends don't even meet. I couldn't believe it! The vet started talking amputation and kept calling our girl a "he" and I was so upset by the shoddy surgical job that I just had to leave and call The Boy in tears. We made an appointment with our own vet and when I went back in that vet showed me her earlier x-rays from before and after the surgery and they looked great.

Turns out the surgeon did everything right. But the family that had her before us did it all wrong. They didn't keep her "quiet." Instead, they let her go play with the other dog and put her in the yard on a long line. With a broken femur and a post sticking out of her leg in multiple places.

Our vet said the same thing - amputate. She said there just wasn't any healthy bone left to plate and that the arthritus was already setting in. She agreed with the first vet: if Daphne had been kept still after her first surgey, she'd likely be fine now.

So it has been a roller coaster day. Daff is now in the back yard, racked out in the sun cause our vet gave her pain meds and a sedative. The Boy worked for a vet for 7 years and is calling a contact there to have a very well-respected orthopedic surgeon look at her x-rays for one last consult. Either way, our new girl has to have surgery tomorrow and it's either plate and re-pin her leg with 6 months of confinement or amputate.

All afternoon I've been reading about amputation in dogs. They say that a three-legged dog really is just like a four-legged dog. It's just not what I was expecting with my first dog and I'm angry that it has come to this and that it is so unecessary because if she'd been properly cared for we wouldn't be in this situation.

That's all stuff I can't change. This isn't how I planned on spending my days off from work: ferrying a new dog around, riding emotional roller-coasters and researching three-legged dogs. But I think she's worth it.