June 24, 2004....Boxer Boy is a 5-month-old pup that is having surgery on his back leg tomorrow morning.  He had a mid-tibia torsion which caused growth plate abnormalities in his back leg.  The tibia grew crooked which caused the growth plate to be abnormal...closed off too soon. His body tried to compensate but just couldn't.

Dr. Jimi Cook says it is fix-able and he will have good function post op.  Dr. Cook is the same surgeon that Kelly Graham (thank you!!) introduced us to when we had Daffy. See Daffy's story here.

Boxer boy taken to MU examined and x-rayed.... He did not appreciate the sedation for the x-rays and yelled at the staff...he was admitted for surgery in spite of the "poor puppy" look he gave Leah and Ann when they said good-bye. He's in good hands.

June 25...Boxer Boy is out of surgery and doing great!  The surgery appears to have been a success and the external screws will be adjusted daily by the veterinary staff for the next three weeks and then rewrapped in a soft cast.  He was also neutered during the procedure.Boxer Boy is in intensive care for observation.  He is on IV pain meds and is recovering fine.  He's a little suspicous of the staff but isn't yelling at anyone anymore.   He's happy to see Chelsea Tripp who is the 4th year vet student who assisted Dr Jimi Cook with some literal "paw"holding during the surgery.

June 26...The IV catheter is pulled and he's doing very well. In the general boarding area now.  He's even weight bearing on his leg already.

June 27...Pin Incisions look good ...no draining.  Boxer Boy bonded with Chelsea with some serious kissing up. She's his primary care provider.  Chelsea is working hard on potty training him. He just wants to play in it. Boys just wanna have fun.  She says he's a happy boy. They've started turning the screws AM and PM a total of 1 mm per day to grow the short end of his tibia. Boxer Boy doesn't show any pain response at this and just lays there. All is going well.
 

June 28...Boxer Boy did well today....1 mm distraction with no problem. Chelsea explained he had a tibia torsion which caused a growth plate abnormality. The middle outside of his tibia was damaged early on in his life which caused the bone to grow crooked to try to compensate. The growth plate was subsequently damaged by the tibia torsion. During surgery a long oblique  incision was made in the mid-tibia and Boxer Boy's foot is in the right position now. The external fixator will help the short end of his tibia grow with the daily distraction.  Boxer Boy may have had a major break through today...he didn't soil his run from noon on. <g>.  Hope he has a good night too.

 July 2...Boxer Boy is doing just wonderfully. The distraction is going great and the cells that are filling in should soon turn to bone. He takes walks with Chelsea and shows off his new "ankle bracelet" with puppy enthusiasm.
 July 9...

Boxer Boy is still doing fabulous! 

July 20...

Boxer Boy has gone to his new group and into his probable forever foster home.  He's finished with the distractions and will wear the external ring for the next several weeks while his leg heals. He will continue with his re-checks in Columbia until he's completely healed.

Everything is going marvelously for Boxer Boy!