Lacey and her family came to Edinger Surgical Options in July 2018, when she was about 9 months old. Lacey had jumped out of a truck 3 weeks prior to her appointment, fracturing the growth plate in her distal radius. A fracture such as this can easily be missed, especially if it is not displaced. The damage to her growth plate was enough to cause her right front leg to begin growing crooked, with her toes pointing out to the right. This caused Lacey to either hold up her right front leg, or limp heavily when she walked. Eventually her leg became very crooked.
During their visit, our surgical team and Lacey’s family discussed a range of options for treatment, and they decided to move forward with a corrective osteotomy to try and straighten her right front leg. This is a surgery that involves removing a small segment of the ulna bone and a wedge shape portion of the radius bone to realign the limb. The bone is then stabilized internally with a bone plate and screws. Later in July 2018, Lacey underwent her corrective osteotomy to treat her angular limb deformity. Anesthesia was a breeze for her and after surgery her right front leg was placed in an overnight bandage to support the repair and minimize swelling. Lacey was very energetic the morning after surgery, so her bandage was upgraded with a splint to add extra support to the repair.
For two weeks, Lacey’s family worked diligently to keep her splint clean and dry and to prevent Lacey from chewing on it. At the 2 week mark, her splint was exchanged for a padded bandage to allow her to bear a bit more weight to promote healing of her bones. Because of her family’s continued diligence, Lacey’s bandage again lasted the whole 2 weeks prescribed, and at 4 weeks post-op Lacey was able to be bandage free. At this point Lacey remained restricted to short leash walks, and we added rehabilitation exercises to try to get her wrist to bend and extend more normally. At 6 weeks post-op we took recheck x-rays which showed her radius and ulna to be healed. While her bones were straight, the soft tissues around her wrist had increased laxity from her original injury, so more rehabilitation was prescribed to gently work those tendons and ligaments back into shape. When we saw her at 11 weeks post-op for her final recheck, she showed more improvement and had only a bit of remaining soft tissue laxity which should continue to improve with time.
Every limb deformity is unique and the best way to explore available options is to speak with an orthopedic specialist. Radiographs and CT scans are often used to help evaluate the bones and aid the decision making process. Careful pre-operative planning will maximize the success of surgery by more completely understanding the location and magnitude of the deformity, to plan the location of the cuts in the bone, to make sure that the best implants are utilized and so that recovery phase is tailored for each individual family.
“The last few months have been very long, stressful, and grateful. With Lacey going down and fracturing her growth plate we knew we had to do something about it. Just a pup, at 9 months old, it was hard to take our new family member in to see a specialist for possible surgery. This was not easy for us by any means. Then, we arrived at Edinger Surgical Options for a consultation where we learned of what needed to be done in order for Lacey to be fixed and repaired. X-rays were taken, decisions were made, and surgery was scheduled. Feeling helpless, we both waited to hear back from the doctor to hear how it all went. We just wanted to get our pup home and on the road to recovery. Surgery went well and now the waiting game began for a full recovery. 11 weeks after surgery was our last checkup appointment and it couldn't have gone any better. Lacey was free, recovered, and a normal pup again. Lacey is doing very well as if nothing ever happened. The employees at Edinger Surgical Options were phenomenal with how they treated Lacey. From the consult, to pre-op, to post-op, and checkup appointments, everyone was wonderful to deal with. It was a pleasant yet stressful experience, but in the end it was worth it. Although it wasn't the price tag we had planned on, money was no object when it was decided to have the surgery. We knew we had to make it work and give Lacey the life she deserved. We rescued her from Texas to begin with, and we were not going to let her ride out this injury and not take any action. She has rescued us, just as much as we have rescued her. To all the employees and staff at Edinger Surgical Options we thank you so much and you were great to work with. You all did a phenomenal job and treated Lacey like she was one of your own. You are highly recommended from us and we will continue to spread that word. Thank you.”
- Joe & Katie Esselman
For more information on Corrective Osteotomy’s and how they work, please see the Angular Limb Deformity link on our Orthopedic Disorders page , or feel free to call 608-845-0002 or email us .
