Bernard has leg surgery (again)

The first thing we did last week upon arrival in Adelaide was take Bernard to the Adelaide Pet Hospital to see the vet so that we could start the process of getting his sore knee fixed.  The surgeon gave him a quick examination and diagnosed a torn meniscus (cartilage) in his left hind leg.  Bernard was booked into surgery on their next theater day one week later.

 

Bernard checking into the Adelaide Pet Hospital

We delivered him to the Pet Hospital at 7:30am on Thursday, where he had arthroscopic surgery to trim the damaged disc of cartilage in his knee.  The surgeon stated that walking for Bernard with the torn meniscus as it was would have been very uncomfortable when the partially detached flap of cartilage folded under itself - similar to having a sharp stone in your shoe.  During the times that the the loose 'flap' of cartilage had popped back into its normal position his knee area would have been merely 'inflamed and sore'.

The surgery went well but he had to stay in the hospital for the night for monitoring as he required intravenous pain medication until a slow release pain medication patch they had stuck to the top of his foot started to kick-in about 12 hours after his operation.

After work on Friday we collected our boy and brought him home.  They had shaved his entire left hind leg to have clear access to his knee.  They had also shaved him on each of his forelegs so that the various IV needles that he required could be taped on - he looks quite a sight and that bad haircut is going to take more than 2 weeks to 'grow-out' (more like 6 months)!

The medication in the patch administers 'Fentanyl', which is apparently a pretty strong opiate.  To stop the dog removing the patch himself then licking it and potentially overdosing they have it thoroughly and tightly covered up with a bright pink sock that he can't take off.  The patch will continually release the pain medication for 72 hours so on Sunday we will return to the hospital to have it removed.

Shaved Leg and Bare-assed wearing a Pink Sock - Nice look!

He looks somewhat naked and ridiculous and is a little out of it at the moment but only one day after surgery he can already hop about unassisted to eat and do his business.  Despite the funny appearance he is now on the mend and in about a week or so he will no longer be in any discomfort which is the outcome we have been looking for.

I will provide an update on Bernard's recovery progress in the next post.

With that taken care of we now have to get into the real estate section of the newspaper and find ourselves a place to live...