The next day, the swelling on that callous lessened, but now, the other callous on her hind left knee swelled. It was quite a sight.
Even with cleaning/antiseptic and a day of rest, the swelling persisted. The next day, Person D informed Kiya's rescuers and they came, and because I am a high-maintenance dog, Person D stayed behind to walk and take care of me, while they took Kiya to the vet. The verdict was not good. Kiya has a completely torn ligament on her left hind knee (which explains her VERY slow sprints, and her on/off limping ever since Person D fostered her in January!), and by sheer coincidence, the callous on the same leg suffered an infection (reason very unknown).
To operate on her leg to 'fix' the torn ligament, the infected callous would first need to be surgically removed, i.e. she would need two separate surgeries. I think Person D was very upset. The financial toll was depressing (less lamb meat for me?!) and we all live in a walk-up apartment on the fourth floor, which made it very uncertain whether, even with the ligament surgery, Kiya would recover (think of the impact of going down four flights of stairs at least twice or thrice daily).
In any case, she was given antibiotics and a jab to hold down the infection, and a week later, she had her surgery. When she returned, she had a thick white cast which kept slipping down her knee. When her leg began to swell, Persons D and S decided to remove the cast immediately, but had a very hard time removing it. The cast was wrapped much too tightly around poor Kiya's knee.
This is the very leg.
It isn't a pretty sight.
Over the next week, Person D constantly fussed over Kiya's leg. I have to grudgingly admit that Kiya's tolerance of pain is quite astounding. She was given no pain killers so that the dull throbbing pain would remind her not to sprint or jump around, potentially pulling open the wound. One day, Person D changed the dressing and only put a thin layer of gauze on Kiya's leg, and then left us for a short while for grocery shopping. When she and Person S returned, ha ha! I had a good laugh seeing their reaction, as Kiya had bit through some parts of the stitches and even the plastic tube thingy (which was supposedly to help the skin stretch).
Person D was furious with herself. Some parts of the wound was gaping. She bought Steri-strips, sterile surgical strips to hold wounds together, and spent hours doing up Kiya's leg.
It was all very systematic.
Even when the wound finally began to heal, Person D was still extremely careful, and would only remove the dressing when she was around, and let the wound 'air' out a little. Here is Kiya, looking murderous with her shaved leg. I'm sure she is putting on that expression to hide her embarrassment.
The dreaded box of bandages, tapes, strips, antiseptic ointments, gauzes, etc.
Sometimes I tell Kiya to simply chill out. "Everything will be better", I told her. She glared at me.
Today, the stitches have long been removed, the wound has all but healed, and hair has started to grow back. Kiya looks almost normal now! Her next ligament surgery is still uncertain, but if Persons S and D get a place with a garden (so I overhear..), they will send her for the surgery then.
I do miss the very first meeting I had with Kiya. We were both taken to a fenced dog park in Pasir Ris, and Kiya was very interested in me. But I was quite terrified of this big black thing. I was finally brave enough to play with her, and I let her chase me. Of course, no dog is fast enough to catch me. Still, she was rather fast for a "Rottweiler", and she bunny-hopped as fast as she could, tongue lolling out, having the run of her life. I will always remember that. And I will remember it for her.
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