Acronyms

Most people are aware of the prevalence of acronyms in the medical world. This week it was reaffirmed in my mind. On Tuesday I helped the orthopedic surgeon do a TPO. We weren't sure if was going to be an TPO or an FHO. Then on Thursday I helped with a TTA and we were going to do a TPLO, but that surgery got canceled.

One may ask, "do you know what all those letters stand for?" as a matter of fact I do, I can even tell you what is it for and what those words mean. A TPO is a triple pelvic osteotomy. (That is 3 incisions in the pelvic bones - the pelvis can be repositioned to correct a bad ball/socket joint.) An FHO is a femoral head ostectomy. (Removing the head of the femur - this is used when dogs have really bad hips that cannot be corrected any other way.) TPLO and TTA are both surgeries to repair the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament). TPLO is Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy. (Cutting a specific part of the tibial plateau and repositioning it). A TTA is Tibial Tuberosity Advancement (the tuberosity of the tibia is moved forward).

I got to scrub in for both of the surgeries that we did do. If we had done the TPLO I also would have gotten to operate the power drill. Power tools in surgery are fun. Some of you may be thinking, does that mean she is going to go to school to be a surgeon? NO! It would be another 10 years of my life in school. I just don't think that sounds like the least bit of fun.