New to Dodgerslist - Saying hello!
Hello Everyone!
My name is Helena, and my precious dog's name is Grimmie.
Grimmie is a
6 year old
Siberian Husky who weighs
75 lbs.
Grimmie had spinal surgery at Dogwood Veterinary Hospital which is where Dr. Isaacs practices who writes for Dodgerslist. I really wish Dr. Isaacs had been the one to do Grimmie's surgery, but it was a resident doctor.
Grimmie stepped from the dog steps onto the bed on 7/3/22 and made a little sound. I thought he had caught his nail on the carpet. After that he seemed just fine. The next morning on 7/4/22 he was acting completely normal, went outside with the other 2 huskies, went to the bathroom, and came in. It wasn't until late that evening that we noticed that his hind legs were getting a little wabbly. I called an emergency vet and they said it was likely a pulled muscle and recommended dog aspirin. I called two other emergency vets that night to make sure he didn't need to be seen, and all said the same thing. I had never heard of IVDD before. By about midnight, his hind legs were paralyzed. We had him at our vet at 7am, and they referred us to Dogwood and we went. He had an MRI and went into surgery a few hours later.
He had some DPS and peed on a bush as we went in. He had three ruptured discs that had compressed the spinal cord. The Surgeon said the aspirin hay have made the pressure on the spinal cord worse, and the surgery took an extra hour because of it.
After surgery, he had minimal DPS. By the second day, Dogwood did another "Complimentary" MRI. I always wonder if the resident didn't get something right and went back in to check.
We did 8 weeks of solid rest and started PT with Dogwood's approval at 4 weeks. He was getting acupuncture and laser therapy twice a week for about 4 weeks. Still minimal DPS.
At about 4 weeks his tail started standing straight up again and moving, but he cannot wag it.
He can pee on his own now, but we
still cath him once a day just to be sure that his bladder is getting fully emptied. We use a wrap the rest of the time as he can pee on his own, but
can't get up when he needs to. When he is out in his wheelchair he still pees on his favorite spots.
He knows when he has to go
poop, but has no control over it. When he barks a lot, he poops.
Rehab has him down to
twice a month for PT now. I feel like that was my message that there was no hope for recovery when they stopped his 2Xweek appt, but we still do the at home nerve stimulation exercises and he has an electromagnetic mat that he lays on for 1 hour a day.
He
isn't on any meds other than one gabapentin if he gets to stressed. He has always been reactive in that he
barks a lot at the vet, rehab, or when he sees people he doesn't know. It has gotten worse since all of this, so we
have hired a behaviorist to help us all with that.
We give him Bernies Perfect Poop, Nzymes, a bladder health supplement, a joint supplement, Omega oils that rehab gave him, and neurotrophin PMG that rehab also gave him.
He
LOVES his wheelchair!! My husband and I are older, so it takes both of us to get him in it as he gets so excited and as a husky, can really pull.
We still
have him sectioned off from our other two huskies by a low fence, though they see each other and interact, I am afraid they will try to play like they used to and reinjure his back.
He doesn't show any signs of pain. He gets a really good massage every evening to keep his upper body lose.
He eats and drinks really well, but since all the meds post surgery,
if we deviate AT ALL from his current diet...treats, anything, he gets diarrhea...and I don't have to tell this group what that's like.
Thank you for maintaining this site, forum, and for letting Grimmie and I join. I think that I have answered all of the questions.
Helena
