Leg Incision

Lewis and all of us had a nasty surprise Christmas day when his incision, which had been healed for weeks, came open and oozed a white, ominous pus. Dr’s Toni and Gary Cotton saw him in their office on December 27, and determined that the new callous growing around the break had an infection. Dr. Gary cleaned out the area and inserted a drain. Lewis is now back on antibiotics and has the area flushed twice daily. If we can get the infection cleared up he should continue to heal well. A photo showing the long incision and ends of a piece of surgical tubing inserted to keep the area open for drainage and twice-daily flushing. Not a pretty sight!The good news was that radiographs taken on December 27 showed the bone plate still intact and holding! Other than the infection, the bone is healing and well and we are very hopeful of a good recovery.

As the days have gone by, Lewis has been resting more comfortably, able to kush easily and his pain seems to be easing. The long 18 inch incision is healing well. Lewis has gotten to walk to the front yard and nibble some grass, which has been a welcome diversion from his hay! He has gotten excited by the “almost freedom,” and tried to move more quickly on that leg than we would like, so we keep an eye on him to prevent any over-activity.