Jamie's Sammy 7/20 surgery

Hi all,

I have been reading everything I can on the internet to find someone with a situation like mine, and while certain people have bits and pieces, obviously no one's dog is 100% like mine. I am TRYING to be hopeful, but these past 2 weeks have been really tough!

To start off, we have an almost six year-old doxie named Sammy. He was such an active, strong little guy (well not so little--he's NOT a mini, and he weighs 19 pounds but it's all muscle from his daily 2-3 mile walks). One night, he was rolling over, playing with us as he normally does--and the next morning, he wasn't himself. He didn't present any outward signs that he was in pain, but he was almost disinterested in seeing us, which is not his typical morning behavior. Sammy lives with my parents and has become my mom's "baby"--but he will always be mine as well, since i bought him and have been in his life prior to moving out of my parents house. I bought a townhouse, which did not have a yard, and Sammy was already comfortable living at their house with their huge backyard that he could run in---he also formed quite an attachment to my mom. This particular Sunday (7/20/14), we came home later in the evening to see him somewhat limping. Earlier in the day, he seemed hesitant to go up the porch steps. All of these were warning signs to me--especially when he went to lay on his side and seemed unable to get back up! Then we sat him up, and he couldn't walk or move his back legs..he just dragged them behind him. We immediately rushed him to an emergency hospital, as it was around 9 pm on a Sunday evening and our vet was closed. They took awhile to see him, but when they did, they confirmed he had DPS in his back paws/legs and assured us it was a good sign. They then recommended another animal hospital to keep him overnight and do an MRI the next day, with possible surgery. We then rushed him there around 11 pm, where they admitted him and kept him overnight.
I must say, Sammy is an ANXIOUS dog and has always been that way, especially when separated from my mom. He has always howled and cried in the car, but at this point, besides some panting, he was good on both car rides over. The nurses at the 2nd place told us he still had DPS, and they kept him overnight.

All day Monday I waited for the call, which eventually came and confirmed his MRI had ruptured discs. They sent him into surgery, and we waited for the next call to hopefully tell us he came out of it ok. He did, thank god. BUT, after surgery and the sedatives wearing off, Sammy became a nervous patient and would cry and try moving if/when anyone came near him, including the neurosurgeon who wanted to check his DPS! Due to him already crying when the test was performed, the surgeon gave us a prognosis that he no longer had DPS and his chances of walking had gone from 80% down to 50-80%. This devastated us, as we rushed him to both places as soon as he went down, and he had DPS the night before, and supposedly prior to surgery! And obviously boarding him there and having all of that done was NOT cheap.

I know all of that was very lengthy, and sadly, that is not the issue for us anymore. We brought Sammy home 2 days post surgery due to his anxiety and our belief that he would be more comfortable at home (he was!) Besides pulling his catheter out a day before it was to be removed, we thought all was well. We watched all the videos we could on expressing, and while I still can't get the hang of it, both my mom and boyfriend have been able to (we also made one trip to our local vet to have him show us how to do it). We thought our little man was coming around, because his appetite was voracious and he was drinking a lot of water due to being on prednisone and tramadol. While he was having a lot of dribbles and leakage in between expressing, we dealt with it the best we could and kept on trying to express him. The suddenly this past Tuesday (7/29/14), he stopped leaking overnight and having dribbles! we thought MAYBE this was a sign he was getting some control of his bladder back...little did we know that yesterday, he would seem great in the morning (eating, trying to move, etc) but after coming home a few hours later, he would NOT  be expressed, howled/cried and then started shaking. We rushed him to the local vet, where they completely emptied his bladder (and bowels) and told us it was VERY full. So apparently we were not expressing him fully enough, even though we tried for 15 minutes at a time prior to this and got several "spurts" out onto pee pads. We had an appointment back at the emergency hospital that his surgery was done at to get his staples removed later in the afternoon, so the vet tech at the vet had us ask our questions to them instead of the vet about his bladder (do they not want to step on any toes?) He was still shaking, but the vet tech said it could be from his spinal pain, or even anxiety at being brought in. We went with that---until we got him back home and he dranks lots of water and promptly threw it all up (it looked like a lot of saliva, mixed with water and bits of food). He did that twice. Then, we loaded him back in the car for the staples appointment, and not only was he still shaking, but he threw up more on the ride there.

They took him, assessed him and told us they suspected a UTI and sent us home with amoxycillin. He did have a fever and continued to do so after taking him home, but we had hopes the antibiotic would kick in. Due to cost, he didn't have the urine cultured yet nor bloodwork since the surgeon knew we were already thousands in debt. Last night, he drank some water and slept through the night, but his pee pad was bone dry this morning when we woke him up (we were unable to express him before bed).
We got some urine out of him this morning, but it was darker (some blood) and smelled. We hoped maybe by lunchtime he'd show some improvement (after his second dose of the antibiotic) but my mom has just confirmed his pad is soaked in urine with lots of blood. He did eat this morning, so he had his appetite back (which he had lost yesterday prior to all this), but he still feels fevered, and clearly the blood is a bad sign.
I am going to bring him back to the animal hospital/surgeon, but it scares me because 1) he doesn't do well staying there, 2) i don't have an endless amount of money to keep paying for his stays/appointments/medicines, even though i love him with all of my heart, and 3) I'm missing work again to take him there and I worry about losing my job.
My mom is his primary caretaker, but we have been staying with her while my dad is away this week and helping her throughout this. She has become VERY stressed and emotional, unsure as to whether she can "deal with this for the rest of his life" and sometimes in her bouts of crying, mentions that maybe we should put him down. I KNOW that UTI's are common when a dog loses his bladder control after the surgery, but is a fever common with that? The surgeon acted like it wasn't a common symptom, and it worries me. I KNOW that if we could just get through this hurdle of expressing him and getting his UTI under control (unless it's something more serious--i am hoping an xray and bloodwork shows something), that he could live a happy life even if he does never regain use of his back legs. I just HAVE to keep my mom on board, because every night that he is not 'better' she accuses me of keeping him in pain and saying she wants to do what is best for him and put him down--and I KNOW she loves him just as much as I do! I am at my emotional limit..I live in constant fear and worry for him, and it was so much easier a few days ago when he seemed himself. If this UTI/symptoms will pass, then I will do whatever it takes to get through this...but I just need some advice/encouragement. Will the antibiotics kick in? Will his fever break or is 24 hours too long (when he's had 2 doses of the amoxycillin)? HELP!