Broken Legs


 
    Thanksgiving, we visited some family friends in Milpitas, and stayed the weekend.  As we often do, we brought Willow along with us.
 
    Saturday, one of the boys fell backwards off the backyard steps while carrying her, and she got dropped from enough of a height to snap both of her front legs just above the wrists.  The radius and the ulna were broken in both front limbs.
 
    We got her to the nearest vet posthaste, where she was given drugs, examined and xrayed.  It turned out that both the radius and the ulna in both limbs were broken, but they were clean breaks without splintering, and there were no other injuries.  The bones could not be set immediately, but she was splinted to immobilize the breaks, and given a "pain patch" which would release painkilling drugs into her system slowly for several days.  Then we took her home until our regular veterinarian (who is also an osteopathic surgeon, and an all-around great doctor) could set the bones with pins.  Willow is expected to recover fully, eventually, but will have her mobility seriously hampered for several months.
 
    She's a lot more comfortable now, and obviously does not like her new "stilts", but is determined to get around despite them.  We've lavished her with tender loving care, and fed and watered her by hand thusfar, but I'm also making a shoulder-height shelf so that she can feed and water herself.
 
    I've taken some pictures of her, both before and after her surgery.  This page will be updated as her health progresses.
 
    Update 2002-12-14: She's doing much, much better, has started playing with Sam again, and has adopted a bizzare bipedal form of travel.  I have taken a picture of her doing this, and added it to the image gallery linked above.
 
 
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