Geordi's Bilateral TPLO Surgery

Hello! I'm Hannah Howard and I've been lucky enough in this lifetime to have found my perfect companion, an Australian shepherd mix named Geordi, for short. (Lieutenant Geordi La Forge of the Starship Enterprise, for long). Much like the Star Trek hero, she is extremely loyal, fiercely protective, shrewdly intelligent, downright goofy and a little spicy.

A little over a year ago--likely on one very important, save-the-universe-type mission--we found Geordi unable to walk on her left leg. After a few days of rest, she seemed to be better, able to walk normally again. But as soon as she started adventuring again, she was right back to limping.

The first vet we went to found that she had a cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) rupture in her left leg--pretty much the dog version of a torn ACL. He told us that many vets recommend surgery for this injury, but with the proper amount of rest and restraint many dogs are able to recover without the traumatic and costly surgery.

So that's what we did. Geordi was on the sidelines for months. When she finally was allowed to play again, it seemed like she'd made a total recovery. Until she played too hard or slipped on some ice and was limping again. Wanting to avoid the surgery, we continued this way for several months--a vicious cycle of rest, recovery, play, pain, repeat. This was no way for a three year old dog full of life and energy to live.

In November 2023, I finally decided to get Geordi the surgery. Our new vet told us that a dog of her size, age and activity level was the perfect candidate for the tibial plateau levelling osteotomy (TPLO) procedure. After x-rays and saving up my pennies, we were set to have the surgery on February 1 of this year.

The day came, I dropped off Geordi, and 30 minutes later, I got a call. Before beginning the operation, the vet found Geordi's right leg also had a torn CCL. Dogs who tear one CCL are at a much higher risk of tearing the other, because they become much more reliant on it. The vet gave us the option of going through with the left TPLO that day, but we would have to get the right leg done once the left healed up, doubling the recovery period. Or we could wait until we could do both legs at the same time, the bilateral TPLO.

I decided the bilateral TPLO was the best option for our situation. Geordi has suffered long enough and going through two 8-12 week recovery periods just sounds cruel. It is also the cheaper option and only requires her to go under anesthesia once. Though it requires more diligence on my part, my situation allows me to be by her side nearly all day everyday.

The surgery is tomorrow. The estimated cost of the surgery is between $8500 and $9500. I decided last minute to make this GoFundMe to see if anyone has the ability to help us out.

Geordi is such a special, sweet angel, and she deserves to live her life freely without pain. She has been by my side through so much, from winter in Fairbanks, Alaska to living in a van in Baja California Sur, Mexico. And we plan on continuing an adventure-filled life together. If you or anyone you know are able to send help our way, we would be eternally grateful.