Well, I just spoke with Dr. Ross. Otis is out of surgery and awake. He's on an IV with fentanyl (a narcotic painkiller) and will be until the morning. The surgery took about 2 hours, which was less than expected, but it went well. Also contrary to expectations, the surgeon ended up rotating the hip socket 35 degrees rather than 25 degrees, which means (a) the hip joint is tighter and (b) there is a greater risk (from what I've read) of complications later on (e.g., degenerative joint disease, limited movement, etc.). But those risks are still really low, regardless. The steel plate was installed with all eight possible screws implanted, which the doctor seemed pleased about. Apparently, the soft bones of young dogs do better with more screws, which also lines up with the research I've read. About 25% of TPO cases have screw loosening--often in young dogs or due to improper post-op care--but the more screws you have, the less chance that this loosening will impact the recovery process.
Anyhow, the doctor says that things look "good" (his words), and that's what I'm hanging onto now. I'm to stay away from the hospital so as to not over-excite the little man, but I'll be calling every morning. The goal is to get him off of narcotics and onto oral pain medication, and when the morning comes, they'll start taking him out to go to the restroom and get moving; we'll get detailed instructions when they send him home. He'll be in my thoughts all night, I'm sure.
But for now, I'll just prepare the house for his arrival and watch the new Michael Jackson documentary. At least I'll have some good tunes to serenade my cleaning...
(btw, my last post was actually me [momma], not "daddy"...gotta remember that we share a computer sometimes!)
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