Steve came into the humane society where I (Amy or mom) volunteer with a deformed right rear leg. The staff doctors were unsure if the deformity was due to a previous injury that healed wrong or if it was congenital, but what they did know was that the leg needed to come off before it got stuck in something and caused Steve even more pain (or pain for the first time since she seemed to be doing just fine). When they removed her leg, they discovered that the ligaments and tendons in the leg were upside down, which caused her leg to be permanently stuck out straight. Think of your knee and the tendons and ligaments that make it bend and straighten and how they relate to the tendons and ligaments in your ankle for bending and walking. Now imagine if those tendons and ligaments were all flipped over. That was Steve’s leg.
Why the name Steve? I volunteered to foster Steve through her surgery for pre and post op care. Her name was originally Mya, but my fiance and I always rename our fosters. As soon as she came into our home we began to think of a new name. All of the usual tripod names seemed too cliche. Have you ever seen the Michael Keaton movie “Multiplicity” with the clones? Michael Keaton’s character’s name in the movie is Doug, but one of the clones is a copy of a copy – you know how when you make a copy of a copy it doesn’t come out that great – and call’s Doug “Steve.” At one point in the movie he’s holding a saw and looks at Doug and says, “Sorry, Steve, that leg’s gonna hafta come off!” I said that to “Mya” once and it stuck!!
As for the foster thing…she’s my second foster failure 🙂