Frustrated :(

In my last blog I wrote a little about Eddie and how I was concerned that he wasn't using the leg very much and how I felt the gap in his ulna. On Thursday Eddie jumped off the couch, which he has done before even the vet said that height would be okay but we still watch his as much as we can. Well, when he jumped off he meowed a little bit like it hurt, but it wasn't like the other 2 times he broke it. The other times he broke it he ran away hissing and meowing and tried to hide. This time he didn't do that. I have been sleeping on the couch at night to watch him, I'm such a light sleeper so pretty much any noise he makes I can hear. He jumped up on the couch while I was sleeping and the dog was under the covers and she barked and it scared him and he jumped down. Like i said he meowed a few times, I picked him up and pet him and he was fine. He went and loafed in the other room on his back with all 4 legs up in the air. He was also still using it the same amount as he had before this happened, which wasn't much, but he would occasionally put weight on it and when he got out of the litter box he would use it. The other times he broke it, he just held it back and didn't use it at all. I have also been feeling his leg throughout the whole process because I want to know what's going on. I felt it after this happened and it felt exactly the same, even the space that has been in the ulna. Of course me being a worrier and already thinking something was wrong because at the last visit he didn't seem so sure when he was feeling Eddie's leg, I wanted to get him in for an x-ray. I wanted the reassurance that everything was really okay. Dr. Candotti is the vet that has been doing the surgeries and he wasn't there that day, so I saw another vet. They took xrays and they looked the worst out of any xrays taken so far. She couldn't tell me much because she wasn't an orthopedic vet, but she said it looks like he will need another surgery. I was so upset, frustrated, sad, hurt, angry...pretty much every negative word you can think of is what I felt. I feel so bad for Eddie. She gave me the x rays and gave me the names of some doctors in case I wanted to go to them for another opinion. When I got home I looked at the xray more and realized that there were now 2 breaks in the radius when there was only one break before and this break is where he put 2 pins in very close together. That gap in the Ulna I was feeling wasn't what he said it was. He said in order for him to line up the radius that there was a gap in the ulna but it was lined up. The gap I was feeling was where it is not lined up, not even 50%, which is what it needs to heal. There were no signs on the xrays of any callouses forming, which means his bones haven't been healing. Here are the Xrays:

The first break before any surgery


This is after he re-injured it about a month after the first surgery. He had 4 pins in.


This is the X-ray they took the other day, he has 6 pins in


A closer look


You can see where the bone on the top (radius)is now broken in 2 places, where before it was only broken once. You can also see the pins going in right there at the break. This makes me think that this break happened while he was doing the second surgery, but we will never know since x rays were never done after the surgery.

I recently met a woman here, her name is Amy and she is our Squadron Commanders wife, they just moved here about 3 months ago. In the states she was a vet, I talked to her at a bake sale we did a few weeks ago and she was asking about Eddie. She said she would like to see him because she was concerned with some of the things I was telling her that they did, or about the meds they gave him or didn't give him (antibiotics). I took him over to her house the next day so she could see how he was walking and to feel his leg. I showed her where I felt the gap in the ulna, which she felt as well, and I told her what the vet told me it was. At this point we had to trust him. He was walking on it a bit and putting some weight on it, but not much. She just wanted to look at him and get a general idea of what he did. So, after I left the vet from getting this xray I called her and told her how much worse it looked, but they couldn't really tell me anything because Dr. Candotti was out. We had an event planned for the next morning that we both were going to be at, so she told me to bring a camera and the xrays and we will go to the vet clinic on base, put the xrays up on a light board and take pictures so she can post them on a VIN website and get opinions for other vets out there. She also had a friend going to her house for dinner friday night who is also a vet and they looked at the xrays together. They both agreed that I shouldn't let Dr. Candotti do anything more with this because how much he screwed it up. They also think that the 2nd break in the radius was caused by the pins and that this is how his leg has been since his last surgery. Some of the doctors on the VIN website wrote Amy saying that we need to get Eddie in with an Ortho surgeon who does bone grafts. They said he needs plates and bone grafts for it to heal. They also said we really only have one more chance to get this leg fixed before it needs to be amputated. Oh, I left out the part about the woman vet that did the x-ray...she told me "The worst thing that will happen is that he leaves here with 3 legs." Comforting, huh? I understand that, but have a little sympathy.

Anyway, those vets on the VIN website sent Amy a link to European College of Vet surgeons, you can chose where you are and what specialty. There were 2 in Italy on there and 3 in Germany. I emailed them all and sent them pictures of the Xrays. I haven't heard back from any of them yet, but I needed to know if any of them did bone grafts. The one Italian vet that is on this website was Dr. Candotti's teacher. I had to take the x rays back yesterday and I asked the vet I saw that did the x rays and she told me this. She gave me his phone number so I will call on Monday. On Friday afternoon, I called one of the vets that they recommended for a second opinion. I talked with a guy who gave me an email address to email everything and he said they would get back to me. One of the orthopedic surgeons called yesterday, he told me he couldn't believe how this last x ray looked. He said that for the weight of the cat there should be a lot more pins in there because if that bone moves at all, it breaks all the new vessels around it, which won't allow it to heal. He also said that the pins that were used are too big. I asked him what he thought about the new break in the radius and if it was caused from the pins during the second surgery, he said yes. He said it would be difficult, but if he were to do the surgery, he would take the pins out, clean up the bone fragments that are in there, take out the little portion of the radius that's broken and re-do external fixation. I asked him about the plate, he said he didn't think there was enough room for a plate and if there is infection, it's not a good idea to do that. They don't do bone grafts there, so that's not an option. With everything Amy, her friend Cindy and these vets from the VIN website, he really needs a graft and plates. He can do external fixation and get everything lined up perfectly, but that's not saying the bone is going to heal, there has already been too much damage.

So, I have an appt with Candotti on Monday, he hasn't even seen the xrays yet, but I am going to ask him to call the Vet that thought him, Dr Vezzoni, who was on this European college of vet surgeons website and see if he does bone grafts of knows of anyone who does. Hopefully I will hear back from some of the people I emailed in Germany as well. Eddie is acting fine, like he has the whole time, so that's good. It just breaks my heart knowing he is going to have another surgery, possibly an amputation.

Sorry for the long, rambling blog, I'm sure there are many typos...a lot has been going on the past few days, I have a lot on my mind and I'm not too happy about it. I will update you all after I see the vet on Monday afternoon. Keep your fingers crossed for us.