Daphne

Daphne was brought to the clinic by her dedicated owners Khaya and David! They rescued Daphne from a life of abuse in Thailand. Daphne had been attached with a machete and the resulting injuries were horrific – she had lost one of her front legs and had a badly damaged foot on her remaining forelimb. Although Daphne was now living a wonderful life with Khaya and David it was clear the abuse she suffered left deep running scars both physically and mentally. Daphne was beginning to struggle with getting around as the wrist of her one remaining front leg was collapsing under her weight and without some form of surgical intervention it was clear that in a short period of time Daphne wouldn’t be able to walk on her remaining forelimb!

After complex imaging of Daphne’s limb Noel decided that the only way to salvage her limb and ensure she could retain her life was to fuse the wrist and digits. At this point Noel borrowed some ideas from the world of Superheroes! Wolverine has metal spikes coming out of his metacarpals and this is exactly what we mimicked during surgery for Daphne. The metal spikes, or kirschner wires to give them the correct surgical name, were suspended in a circular external fixator to hold the bone and metal construct together while the bones fused.

The surgery was not without its complications and Daphne suffered a surgical site infection that gladly resolved with antibiotic therapy. After her post-operative hospitalisation Daphne returned to her loving family.