First and foremost - This site has been incredibly helpful in furthering my understanding of IVDD and how it affects dogs (and owners!). I only recently found the site and my beagle Peanut underwent Hemilaminectomy surgery for a bulging disc that was compressing her spinal cord on March 9 at Red Bank Veterinary Hospital in Tinton Falls, NJ. I brought her home on March 12. I was informed that she has IVDD. There is not a known event that caused the injury to the disk in March.
Peanut is 5.5 years old and she is an energetic, loving, and easily excited little beagle.
Peanut showed signs of a spinal cord injury up to 2 weeks prior to her emergency surgery and the diagnosis was missed. Peanut exhibited lethargy and a low white cell count in bloodwork about 2 weeks before being brought in for surgery, she was put on prednisone, and weaned off when she showed improvement. After being taken off the Pred, Peanut began moving stiffly. I crated her immediately and resolved to "keep an eye on her." In hindsight, I should have taken her back to the vet. In my head I was thinking, I've had her there twice in the past couple weeks, I'm sure this will resolve. Wrong! The following morning she was still stiff. I wrote myself a note to call the vet the next day. She was still stiff when I returned from work, and then towards the end of the night when I walked her, her back legs/hind end were swaying from side to side and she could not seem to control them. She was still eating, and relieving herself normally at this point. I took her immediately to the ER vet who diagnosed the bulging disk and put her on 6 week strict crate rest with a pain med, anti inflam, pred, and pepcid. I stayed home with her the next day and made an appt to see my regular vet the next day as she was not getting better. She continued to worsen and pretty much
stopped moving her back legs. I was feeding her by hand to get her to eat. The next day our vet saw her and told me to make appointments for surgical consultations since she would probably need surgery. She still had some pain sensation in her feet. I asked if I could have them watch her next day while I was at work to observe her progress, which they reluctantly agreed to. I made several appointments for the following weekend, but did not make it to them. When I picked Peanut up the next day (Friday) at the vet, a different doctor sat me down and lectured me on "putting off" my dog's surgery. I was told that I need to make a decision on if I "want my dog to walk again" and "at this point, her chances of walking are less than 50% even with the surgery." I was told she would probably end up in a cart with paralyzed back legs.
The facility I was asked to take her to was about 1.5 hours north of us. I left with my dog, stunned, saddened, and shocked. I felt like I had been following every order and suggestion given to me since she was diagnosed, and at that moment I felt totally responsible for my dog's pain and injury.
My dad drove us up to North Jersey for the surgery while I held Peanut in my arms. When we got there, the hospital staff was amazing. They were kind and understanding and saw us right away. The doc who saw Peanut told me that she still had deep pain sensation in her feet and therefore the chances of a recovery with surgery were great. I was even more confused at this point considering what our vet had told me just a couple hours earlier. They discussed their plan with us which was to hold Peanut overnight (at least) and try to see if she could wait until Monday so she could have an MRI done, which meant she would have to maintain pain sensation in her feet and perhaps show signs of improvement, otherwise they would do a Myelogram test the next day. I said See you soon to Peanut and we headed home. While I was sad to leave her there, I knew she would be in amazing hands and that someone would have an eye on her 24/7.
The next morning (Saturday) I received a call from a surgeon who said Peanut was in the same condition but he thought it would be best to do the myelogram and proceed with surgery to repair the disk. I told him to go ahead with it! A few hours later, I was called with an update that the surgery went smoothly and she was recovering as expected. Every call that followed after had equally and more positive updates. She was up and walking with a sling, eating, relieving herself. She was Miss Popularity and loving anyone who stopped by to see her. I couldn't believe it and I was overwhelmed with happiness.
I spent the next couple days preparing for Peanut to come home. I bought lots of soft fleece blankets to put in her crate among other things. I was so ready and so scared at the same time to bring her home. I thought I would break her or do something wrong. I was still blaming myself for everything that had happened. The vets at the hospital assured me I would not break her in half.
I will never forget when Peanut WALKED into the room where we were picking her up. The tech holding the sling could hardly keep up with her. Her tail was wagging and she started doing her Peanut-Bark (excited yips and howling) and giving lots of kisses when she saw us.
Once I got her home, I switched into total caretaker mode. I spent every moment I could with her, carried her in and out of the house to go out with the sling, and kept a watchful eye on her at all times. She was a great little patient and was improving every day. Before I knew it, she didn't need the sling anymore and was walking balanced on her own.
So here we are, not too far from 3 months out from surgery, and my dog is just as sweet and loving and energetic as she was pre-operation. I am still constantly monitoring her and I carry her in and out of the house because of the stairs. She expects it now and it is her preferred method of travel, we call her the Queen of Sheba. She does have an issue with her
left leg which moves kind of stiffly but we are starting PT to work on that. She is not on any meds.
One thing the site has helped me with is what determines "quality of life". I remember being so worried before the surgery that my dog wouldn't walk again or would have to walk with a cart. In reading other success stories, I now know that these seemingly worst case scenarios were not that at all. I now know that the worst would be Peanut living in constant pain or losing the will to live, or losing her. I no longer cringe when I think of a dog in a cart, instead I think that it is truly amazing that we can do this for our dogs and give them a way to travel when their legs cannot. Peanut has no idea that she moves her left leg stiffly or that she has a bald back from the surgery. She is happy and has a huge appetite for life and nothing holds her back.
