So, we are no further ahead with BHRR’s Apollo and getting him to use that leg.  😥   We have done harnesses, weights, acupuncture, massage, T-Touch in addition to so many other things some of what is listed in his one other blog and we still cannot get him to shift his weight to use that leg. If we cannot get this resolved in Apollo’s head that he can use that leg; at some point there will be no possibility of saving it and we will have to amputate it. It has become habitual for him. At this time, I contacted Canine Water Wellness in the east end of Ottawa and discussed the use of their underwater treadmill etc. and I have an appointment set up on Thursday August 5th to bring BHRR’s Apollo in to see them. I am hoping that with the addition of Canine Water Wellness to my team, we shall get this sorted out for Apollo. Even after almost 25 years, I still see some new things and Apollo has become a big puzzle to all of us at BHRR and his current team of Specialists plus Vets that I have onboard trying to get him to use that leg. Even in my attempts to do hydrotherapy in our pool as we do as part of our regular rehab programs for animals in the summertime, Apollo refuses to use that leg. I am a bit worried about his leg at this time. It shall be one month on August 2nd since his surgery and as I told the Vets within a few days after his surgery; I saw the ‘pattern’ that he was not going to use that leg and that has become more truth than ever right now. His bills are going to be very costly coming up as from my discussions, sometimes it can take at least 7 sessions before seeing even a small improvement and should there be any extra funds left over from what we are hoping to raise with BHRR’s Ava Marie’s ONLINE Auction; we are hoping that the public might be in support of utilizing those funds towards BHRR’s Apollo and his future impending Bills. Please think of Apollo for I do not wish to have to amputate that leg. 😥 He also shall not be placed up for adoption until such time as we have Apollo where we feel comfortable that he is ready.

I brought BHRR’s Apollo to see Dr. Liston tonight for a recheck. When I arrived, I meant to get a new weight on Apollo yet it did not happen. When BHRR’s Apollo did see Dr. Liston who came out to the reception area to greet us, Apollo was laying down and upon seeing Dr. Liston, he pivoted his body such that his back was turned to Dr. Liston and also turned his head away! IF that was not a snub!!!! OH MY! 😛 Dr. Liston ruled out all medical reasons why Apollo is not weight bearing on that leg of his. I had to continue Apollo on antibiotics for a longer period than originally planned as one spot on his leg became a bit inflammed and Dr. Liston feels that his leg has healed just wonderfully and in fact, one of the best that has done so in all the dogs that he has operated on for BHRR and us. The knee is solid and smooth and the ROM is wonderful and there is no physical reason why Apollo is not wanting to use his leg. I had called Dr. Liston earlier this week to discuss this for we have had many a past experience that due to sutures or staples the dog will not weight bear until they have been removed. Dr. Liston has also seen this often in the past yet usually with smaller dogs in his vast experience. To date, I have tried socks, hydrotherapy, tape on the good toes to see if I could get him to shift and also in trying to move his weight from one to the other with no success. Dr. Liston had no other suggestions that what we had discussed and tried and felt that I should continue him on the Deramaxx to see if maybe there still might be an uncomfortableness in him not wanting to use that leg.  I did have Apollo on the Deramaxx for last Saturday/Sunday he was running a bit of a fever as he was battling that bit of infection on a small area around some of his staples. When Apollo runs he can put BHRR’s Potter to shame as a tripod he is so good at just tucking up that one leg of his to either his belly or stretched out back YET he will not use it. From the moment I got him home after surgery, he would only place his tiptoes down and most often, he will not even do that. So, the challenge is on to find that ‘incentive’ trick to get him to begin to use the leg. I told Dr. Liston I was so sad to see how much muscle wasting that leg and hip has done since he had surgery and the more he does not use it, my concern is that the harder it is going to be when he begin to use it and what is this doing to his other knee. Yet, no cart before the horse and one day at a time! I was so pleased to hear how well Dr. Liston has said he had healed and how the incision looked! Anyone who has any resourceful ideas for Apollo, feel free to send them my way! I am soooo sorry Dr. Liston that BHRR’s Apollo does not wuvs you but I know he is so grateful for your assistance in giving him a better future and he shall be bringing in lemon merangue pies shortly.  😀 AND we cannot place BHRR’s Apollo up for adoption until such time as we have him not only using that leg yet packs on the lost muscle and regains some of the weight he has lost since surgery and had to be confined and on forced rest.

A picture of BHRR’s Apollo’s surgical site on July 7th, 2010 – 5 days post-op is posted below. He is still only putting very light weight on his tips toes on that one foot. He is eating and drinking well yet you can see that he has dropped weight and muscle. If the weather holds out as hot as it has been, BHRR’s Apollo shall not be coming to our 3rd Annual Microchip/Nail Trim/BBQ Fundraiser on July 18th, 2010 to hang out for the whole day as the Fundraiser is 8 AM – 5 PM.

BHRR’s Apollo – July 7th, 2010 – 5 days post-op

UPDATE:  ‘ASKING FOR APOLLO‘ – Required surgery due to a meniscal tear/affected cruciate – Updated Total: $1,161 Raised To Date
*ONLY $225 more needed to pay off Apollo’s Bills – Due to some extra Hospital shifts, this bill is all PAID off! THANK you so much to everyone that has sent support his way! As of today, he is sporting a very non fashionable e-collar as he has wanted to go for his incision area. I took new pictures today of his surgery site and will upload as I can for I had to rush off to Liston Animal Hospital with BHRR’s Hamilton The Newf for a nasty laceration he received by getting caught on something while swimming. I am currently now working a shift at KAH and will update all blogs as I can. Donations for BHRR’s Hamilton can be made:

**Cash, Checks/MOs or Bank Drafts, Email Transfers to gwen@birchhaven.org or PayPal
**OR you can call Liston Animal Hospital at (613) 591-0966 to pay on his Bill directly by Visa or MC – account name of ‘Hamilton Boers’

BHRR’s Apollo had another nice long pee and finally pooped around 12:45 AM! YAY! He is now drinking some more water before I settle him down for the rest of the night.

BHRR’s Apollo had a good night. Just a couple of restless times and around 6:00 – 6:30 AM; we had him up and out yet he could not yet figure out how to pee on that leg. Offered him a very small bit of food to get down his meds and he ate it with gusto. I gave him his 2nd injection of hydromorphone and he is resting comfortably again with some nice snoring! His incision site is looking awesome and we have counted 27 staples.

Updated: July 3rd – 7:30 PM: YAY! BHRR’s Apollo finally figured it out and had one of the biggest pees I have seen in awhile. I always wish I could ‘do’ it for them yet they all have to figure it out and they always do and I bet he feels sooooooooo much better now. We just kept presenting opportunities for him to pee and he put it all together! He has not yet pooped but I will be taking him out again in a couple of hours. He ate a nice afternoon small meal and the bruising is beginning to set in. He is doing so well and gosh, what a great temperament this boy has! He was not so fond of me cleaning that one ear of his last night though! 😛 I have to still do the other one and all in good time. He had a nice long drink of water and is now back in the triage area resting. I had him in his crate for a bit this afternoon for some ‘quiet’ Apollo time as in the triage area BHRR’s Ava Marie does not want to leave his side! She is such an awesome nursemaid yet we did not wish to see her accidentally step on Apollo; so while neither Sean nor myself could be in the triage area with the tending to of other BHRR house chores; Apollo happily layed in his crate for a snooze. Picture below of them both and BHRR’s Ava Marie also likes to keep re-arranging the blankets around the monkey! I meant to also post that Apollo’s weight was around 150 pounds at the time of his surgery and he still has another 10 pounds or so that I would like to see on him at this time.

BHRR’s Ava Marie & BHRR’s Apollo – July 3rd, 2010 – 18 hours post-op

I dropped BHRR’s Apollo off for just after 9 AM today and in Dr. Liston examining him, it was agreed that when Apollo is under, he will take a look at both the meniscus and the ligaments and if he feels that at this time, only the meniscus needs to be removed that is what shall be done. He does hear a faint clicking upon flexion of the knee. If Dr. Liston feels that the anterior cruciate ligament needs to also be removed and replaced by the nylon; then that is what he will do. Yet if he feels that the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is not affected enough to require repair or if it is not affected at all; then he shall not perform a procedure on the ACL. The reality is that yes, it might well need to be repaired possibly in the future yet the putting the ‘cart before the horse’ thought process is not one that he nor I feel is necessarily in the best interest of BHRR’s Apollo. The bottom line is if the anterior cruciate is affected in that it should be repaired, then absolutely it shall be done. Even the one other Vet plus Dr. Philibert stated that until Apollo is under, it is not going to be a ‘for sure’ in knowing just what is going on in that knee of his. So, Dr. Liston is going to look at the whole knee. I leave all in his very expert and capable hands.  While Apollo is under, I asked to have the goober boy’s nails also trimmed up.

Update: July 2nd – 1:34 PM: BHRR’s Apollo is out of surgery and Dr. Liston said that his ACL was strong and large and looked great without any abnormality or injuries discovered. However; it was Apollo’s PCL(posterior cruciate ligament – back) that had a partial tear along with a small tear in the meniscus. Both tear/damaged areas have been ‘trimmed’ off and repaired along with nylon placed such that it runs across the knee per standard procedure. Dr. Liston indicated that usually this type of injury in his experience has been related to severe trauma such as being in something like a car accident whereby the knee can take a terrible pounding. Then one can often also find injuries to the Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) yet the rest of Apollo’s knee looked very sound. There is no longer any ‘clicking’ sounds after Dr. Liston was done with surgery. Dr. Liston was a bit surprised by this PCL tear findings when he opened up Apollo’s knee yet things went wonderfully and all has been repaired and I shall be bringing him home later today.

Please consider supporting BHRR’s Apollo during his time of need.

Our ASKING FOR APOLLO goal – To raise $300 more for Apollo’s Vet Bills
**Cash, Checks/MOs or Bank Drafts, Email Transfers to gwen@birchhaven.org or PayPal (account name gwen@birchhaven.org)
**OR you can call Liston Animal Hospital at (613) 591-0966 to pay on his Bill directly by Visa or MC – account name of ‘Apollo Boers’

Update: July 2nd – 8:36 PM: BHRR’s Apollo is now home! His incision area is much smaller than BHRR’s Ava Marie’s due to how much arthritis/swelling she had so Dr. Liston had to make a much larger incision with her. He is wearing his pain patch and that should ‘kick’ in within the next 24 hours. He has come home with Novo-Clav 375 mg(2 Tabs BID). Thanks Dr. Liston and Dave for assisting myself in getting him into the car. Dr. Liston managed to get him to lay down, surgical site up so that his back was to the back of my carseat, so no risk of him ‘rolling’ in the wheel well. Unfortunately, the poor soul could not make it all the way home and peed all over the backseat on the two blankets I had there. NO worries Apollo! He felt so bad. With some encouragement, Sean helped me get him into the house(I had his hind end slung) and after settling him into the triage area; I gave him his first of 2 hydromorphone injections. Thank you as well to Dr. Liston and Staff for allowing me to carry a small balance as I did not have enough funds myself today to pay for more than the $2,417 I did on his upcoming bills; so that nothing else would be owing on his Vet bill at LAH. We NOW only owe $300 more and we woud be so humbly indebted for any additional monies to help us to finish paying off his bill at LAH.

**Cash, Checks/MOs or Bank Drafts, Email Transfers to gwen@birchhaven.org or PayPal (account name gwen@birchhaven.org)
**OR you can call Liston Animal Hospital at (613) 591-0966 to pay on his Bill directly by Visa or MC – account name of ‘Apollo Boers’ I am adding two pictures from his post-op at BHRR below.

BHRR’s Apollo – July 2nd, 2010 – Post-Op at BHRR – Left knee meniscus & PCL(Posterior Cruciate Ligament) repair