Raquel's Story

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	Raquel's Story Raquel, my 4 year old Afghan Hound, started limping badly all of a sudden one day in last November (2004), so I took her to the vet to have her leg checked out. After some xrays and examinations, the Doctor informed me that she would need Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy (TPLO) surgery as soon as possible. I went home that night and did some research on TPLO. What happens is that the dog's cruciate ligament in the knee gets torn while running, playing, etc. It happens mostly in large dogs, rather than small dogs. It's sort of like a sports injury in dogs. TPLO surgery is very expensive, and I could not afford it. What was I to do? After researching, I decided that I had to have this surgery done for Raquel. Otherwise, she would be lame for the rest of her life. My wonderful veterinarian agreed to go ahead and "fix the dog" and let me pay when I would be able to. So I went ahead with the surgery. It went very well; I have a very good veterinarian. In order for the bone to heal properly, the dog is supposed to be inactive for several weeks post-surgery, so she doesn't put pressure on the leg. They are not supposed to climb stairs at all or even climb up on the couch. This is crucial to healing well. The best way to make sure that they don't use the leg too much during this recovery process is to have them in a confined area, such as a crate. This is what I had to do with Raquel. For the first couple of weeks, Raquel was content to lie around in her crate and sleep while she was recovering from surgery. I checked in with the vet, and he said she seemed to be recovering very well. A few weeks into recovery, Raquel started to get bored. I would try to keep her entertained, and of course take her out to go potty, and give her lots of love. She was feeling so much better, and wanted to get out and run and play with our other dog, Amadeus. However, if she were to do that before healing completely, the bone would rebreak and she would have to go through the surgery again, or it wouldn't heal strongly, and she would have a weak leg. So she would have to stay fairly inactive for another couple of weeks, then have her leg x-rayed to make sure the bone was ok. During this time, I had to go out of town for a few days. My husband was keeping an eye on Raquel and taking care of her. One night, though, he was gone for a few hours and came back to a horrible tragedy. Raquel had tried to get out of her crate and had gotten her head stuck in the process and died. This was very traumatic for my husband to discover, especially since I was not to be home for a couple of days. He lovingly did not tell me about it until I returned home and he could tell me in person. When I got home to learn of the tragic death of my baby, my family came over also, and everyone was very supportive and caring. So now, not only did I lose my precious sweet dog, but now I had a $2200 bill to pay off while dealing with her loss. I called my veterinarian in the next few days and told him what had happened. He was consoling and understanding. I paid a little bit on the bill, and have been trying to be able to pay it off. Meanwhile, we have had tough financial circumstances and every time I think I'll be able to pay on the bill, there has been something else (car repairs, taxes due, septic problems, etc) demanding our limited finances. I have been so embarassed to even see the vet because I have not been able to pay for the surgery yet. As I continue to try to bring in some money to pay my veterinarian, I am asking for any help at all that anyone is able to give. I just want to pay this bill off and move on. So please, please, even if you can only contribute five dollars or whatever, please help me to take care of this. I want to help someone out in the same way when I am in a better situation. Thank you all for taking the time to hear my story, and if you have to have TPLO surgery for your dog, try to make sure that someone is always watching him during recovery. I don't want this to happen to anyone else. ~Abbie L.

Raquel's Story

Raquel, my 4 year old Afghan Hound, started limping badly all of a sudden one day in last November (2004), so I took her to the vet to have her leg checked out. After some xrays and examinations, the Doctor informed me that she would need Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy (TPLO) surgery as soon as possible. I went home that night and did some research on TPLO. What happens is that the dog's cruciate ligament in the knee gets torn while running, playing, etc. It happens mostly in large dogs, rather than small dogs. It's sort of like a sports injury in dogs.

TPLO surgery is very expensive, and I could not afford it. What was I to do? After researching, I decided that I had to have this surgery done for Raquel. Otherwise, she would be lame for the rest of her life. My wonderful veterinarian agreed to go ahead and "fix the dog" and let me pay when I would be able to.

So I went ahead with the surgery. It went very well; I have a very good veterinarian. In order for the bone to heal properly, the dog is supposed to be inactive for several weeks post-surgery, so she doesn't put pressure on the leg. They are not supposed to climb stairs at all or even climb up on the couch. This is crucial to healing well. The best way to make sure that they don't use the leg too much during this recovery process is to have them in a confined area, such as a crate. This is what I had to do with Raquel.

For the first couple of weeks, Raquel was content to lie around in her crate and sleep while she was recovering from surgery. I checked in with the vet, and he said she seemed to be recovering very well. A few weeks into recovery, Raquel started to get bored. I would try to keep her entertained, and of course take her out to go potty, and give her lots of love. She was feeling so much better, and wanted to get out and run and play with our other dog, Amadeus. However, if she were to do that before healing completely, the bone would rebreak and she would have to go through the surgery again, or it wouldn't heal strongly, and she would have a weak leg. So she would have to stay fairly inactive for another couple of weeks, then have her leg x-rayed to make sure the bone was ok.

During this time, I had to go out of town for a few days. My husband was keeping an eye on Raquel and taking care of her. One night, though, he was gone for a few hours and came back to a horrible tragedy. Raquel had tried to get out of her crate and had gotten her head stuck in the process and died. This was very traumatic for my husband to discover, especially since I was not to be home for a couple of days. He lovingly did not tell me about it until I returned home and he could tell me in person. When I got home to learn of the tragic death of my baby, my family came over also, and everyone was very supportive and caring.

So now, not only did I lose my precious sweet dog, but now I had a $2200 bill to pay off while dealing with her loss. I called my veterinarian in the next few days and told him what had happened. He was consoling and understanding.

I paid a little bit on the bill, and have been trying to be able to pay it off. Meanwhile, we have had tough financial circumstances and every time I think I'll be able to pay on the bill, there has been something else (car repairs, taxes due, septic problems, etc) demanding our limited finances. I have been so embarassed to even see the vet because I have not been able to pay for the surgery yet.

As I continue to try to bring in some money to pay my veterinarian, I am asking for any help at all that anyone is able to give. I just want to pay this bill off and move on. So please, please, even if you can only contribute five dollars or whatever, please help me to take care of this. I want to help someone out in the same way when I am in a better situation.

Thank you all for taking the time to hear my story, and if you have to have TPLO surgery for your dog, try to make sure that someone is always watching him during recovery. I don't want this to happen to anyone else.

~Abbie L.