I dropped BHRR’s Apollo off for just after 9 AM today and in Dr. Liston examining him, it was agreed that when Apollo is under, he will take a look at both the meniscus and the ligaments and if he feels that at this time, only the meniscus needs to be removed that is what shall be done. He does hear a faint clicking upon flexion of the knee. If Dr. Liston feels that the anterior cruciate ligament needs to also be removed and replaced by the nylon; then that is what he will do. Yet if he feels that the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is not affected enough to require repair or if it is not affected at all; then he shall not perform a procedure on the ACL. The reality is that yes, it might well need to be repaired possibly in the future yet the putting the ‘cart before the horse’ thought process is not one that he nor I feel is necessarily in the best interest of BHRR’s Apollo. The bottom line is if the anterior cruciate is affected in that it should be repaired, then absolutely it shall be done. Even the one other Vet plus Dr. Philibert stated that until Apollo is under, it is not going to be a ‘for sure’ in knowing just what is going on in that knee of his. So, Dr. Liston is going to look at the whole knee. I leave all in his very expert and capable hands.  While Apollo is under, I asked to have the goober boy’s nails also trimmed up.

Update: July 2nd – 1:34 PM: BHRR’s Apollo is out of surgery and Dr. Liston said that his ACL was strong and large and looked great without any abnormality or injuries discovered. However; it was Apollo’s PCL(posterior cruciate ligament – back) that had a partial tear along with a small tear in the meniscus. Both tear/damaged areas have been ‘trimmed’ off and repaired along with nylon placed such that it runs across the knee per standard procedure. Dr. Liston indicated that usually this type of injury in his experience has been related to severe trauma such as being in something like a car accident whereby the knee can take a terrible pounding. Then one can often also find injuries to the Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) yet the rest of Apollo’s knee looked very sound. There is no longer any ‘clicking’ sounds after Dr. Liston was done with surgery. Dr. Liston was a bit surprised by this PCL tear findings when he opened up Apollo’s knee yet things went wonderfully and all has been repaired and I shall be bringing him home later today.

Please consider supporting BHRR’s Apollo during his time of need.

Our ASKING FOR APOLLO goal – To raise $300 more for Apollo’s Vet Bills
**Cash, Checks/MOs or Bank Drafts, Email Transfers to gwen@birchhaven.org or PayPal (account name gwen@birchhaven.org)
**OR you can call Liston Animal Hospital at (613) 591-0966 to pay on his Bill directly by Visa or MC – account name of ‘Apollo Boers’

Update: July 2nd – 8:36 PM: BHRR’s Apollo is now home! His incision area is much smaller than BHRR’s Ava Marie’s due to how much arthritis/swelling she had so Dr. Liston had to make a much larger incision with her. He is wearing his pain patch and that should ‘kick’ in within the next 24 hours. He has come home with Novo-Clav 375 mg(2 Tabs BID). Thanks Dr. Liston and Dave for assisting myself in getting him into the car. Dr. Liston managed to get him to lay down, surgical site up so that his back was to the back of my carseat, so no risk of him ‘rolling’ in the wheel well. Unfortunately, the poor soul could not make it all the way home and peed all over the backseat on the two blankets I had there. NO worries Apollo! He felt so bad. With some encouragement, Sean helped me get him into the house(I had his hind end slung) and after settling him into the triage area; I gave him his first of 2 hydromorphone injections. Thank you as well to Dr. Liston and Staff for allowing me to carry a small balance as I did not have enough funds myself today to pay for more than the $2,417 I did on his upcoming bills; so that nothing else would be owing on his Vet bill at LAH. We NOW only owe $300 more and we woud be so humbly indebted for any additional monies to help us to finish paying off his bill at LAH.

**Cash, Checks/MOs or Bank Drafts, Email Transfers to gwen@birchhaven.org or PayPal (account name gwen@birchhaven.org)
**OR you can call Liston Animal Hospital at (613) 591-0966 to pay on his Bill directly by Visa or MC – account name of ‘Apollo Boers’ I am adding two pictures from his post-op at BHRR below.

BHRR’s Apollo – July 2nd, 2010 – Post-Op at BHRR – Left knee meniscus & PCL(Posterior Cruciate Ligament) repair