Creole’s second recheck went well today. The Dr. said the bone is already re-forming in the gap that was left, which is great news. Use wise, he’s about to where he was before the surgery. He holds it up when walking quickly, but will use it almost completely when he walks at a slow pace.
We’re basically out of the woods for a surgery failure, which would consist of the bones not holding together. Doc gave the ok to start more intensive therapy, including repeated sit commands (25 per session) and short, slow walks to work the leg. The muscles are greatly atrophied, so we need to both rebuild those and increase the joint mobility. He said we may eventually need to lengthen the tibia with another surgery, but I don’t know that we’ll ever get to that point.
To quote the doctor, we still have a long road ahead but he’s very encouraged by his progress so far. The two major hurdles are nearly over, those being incision healing and bone integrity. The third hurdle is rehab. I see a lot of time spent in the ocean this spring and summer ...
The first film you’ll see below has the three pins put in when he was about 10 weeks old. Those shifted as he grew and the bone healed, so they had to be removed. The film with the huge amount of metal was taken just after surgery on November 15th. Does your leg hurt yet? Looking at it sure makes mine hurt.
Wish us luck.
Edit: Here is the original x-ray taken when he was first injured.
