Gina's Laz 6/7 surgery?wks G. Shep., GRAD ?

Gina, welcome to the Forum!  We look forward to Laz being back home and what all the surgeon directs for meds, any at home PT and for how many weeks he wants for post-op rest to let all the surgical areas heal.

Until Laz is discharged you may like to get ready for home care with these tried, true and tested ideas. 
    ◊  This is a general page on care tips of all sorts. Include setting up the crate mattress and other things in general for all sizes of dogs.  Well worth going thru to see what you already have around the house and which ideas you can incorporate:  dodgerslist.com/strict-rest-recovery-process/
    ◊  This page is devoted to large breed dogs and overcoming their specific care challenges. Safely lifting for both the dog's needs and your own back may need thinking outside of the box for different options:  Lots of options to see which fits your home and your abilities: dodgerslist.com/large-dog-care-tips-ivdd/

Everyone wants to know how long will it take to heal neuro functions. There are other things that need to heal too.  Be aware of each...take a look at this page for tools you can download to educate yourself and other family members: 
dodgerslist.com/most-asked-disc-disease-ivdd-question/

So no one will be able to tell you how long to heal nerve function. The textbook order of healing is all that is known.  Nerve healing is a predictable step by step order.  Once deep pain sensation has healed and back with ONLY the identification by the surgeon, then healing continues in this orderly order that you can monitor:

MONITORING NEURO FUNCTION HEALING
Think more in term of months rather than days/weeks for this slowest part of the body to self-heal.

1. _Deep Pain Sensation: the first neuro function to return.
    DPS is the critical indicator for nerves to be able to self heal after surgery or with non-surgical conservative treatment.
    Trust only the word of a neuro (ACVIM) or ortho (ACVS) surgeon about this very tricky to correctly identify neuro function.
2. _Tail wagging with joy at specifically hearing YOUR happy talk, seeing you or getting food.
3. _Bladder and bowel control verified with the "sniff and pee" test.
4. _Weak rear leg movement, and then
    _ability to move up into a standing position, and then
    _wobbly walking.
5. _Being able to walk with more steadiness and
6. _Ability to walk unassisted and perhaps even run. LEARN MORE:
 dodgerslist.com/nerve-healing-after-disc-episode/


Let us know if there is any particular thing on your mind, that we can comment on.  And as you get updates on Laz, please share with us. Do confirm the name of the disease, the surgeon diagnosed for Laz.

Expressing is tricky and must be practiced to be learned. You may want to try different positions and see which one works best. With Laz lying on his side, and one of your arms underneath and another over the top, lying on pee pads wold be easier than using a container. As Laz heals, you may find another position works better. With my dog, I started expressing him lying down. As time went by, and he could support some of his weight, while he was standing, I supported his back end on my forearms and used my hands to express. With this position, a container would work nicely.
dodgerslist.com/bladder-bowel-care/

Gina, due to your "hitting the books" and learning as much as you can before discharge date, home care should be a much smoother process for you.

HANDY TIP TO REPLY

Gina, it is, indeed, a very fast thing (acute) for a disc episode. Fast action needs to be taken to crate at once and get vet help upon any suspicion of a disc episode. You did a good job!

This is the layering order for the mattress system:

Top layer: Fleece "bottom sheet" tucked in all around tightly and a bit under the mattress keeps pee pad from shifting.

Middle layer: Pee pad on top of mattress

Bottom layer: Mattress enclosed in trash bag to protect and avoid having to clean urine out of a mattress.
    
At suite freshening time, dispose of used pee pad, put the bottom sheet in the washer.
    Having extra fleece bottom sheets means you have them near by and can quickly remake bedding.
    Fleece is no sew, no worries about raveling just cut one of those cheap about $10 (100% synthetic throws found at Target,  large grocery storea down to sizes you need.
    Fleece (no cotton, 100% polyester) is available at almost every fabric store like JoAnns.
    Fleece washes and dries very quickly. On a warm summer day I even dry mine outside in the sunshine so it smells wonderfully "outdoorish" for my dog.
          i.postimg.cc/2yzMZ5g3/suite_setup_CHUNK.jpg

Nerves are slow to heal. We always have to think in terms of months, not weeks for healing.

It can take about two weeks for the swelling caused by the surgery to go down. That is what happened after my dog Frankie's surgery. He went in with some DPS and came out with none. I didn't understand how this could happen until I found out about post-surgical swelling. Over the course of some months, he began to regain function.

[MED LIST/HISTORY- Moderator's Note. Please do not edit
60 lbs 3 y.o.
6/7 surgery
Prednisone as of 6/13:  10mg  2x/day  for 1 day, 6/14 begins taper doses
gabapentin 300mgs 3x/day 
traZODone 50mgs  3x/day
Tamsulosin (Flomax) 00.4 mg  1x/day  muscle relaxer for bladder neck
Flagyl (metronidazole) antibiotic ]  ?mg    ?x/day ]

1. PREDNISONE 10 mg tablets: Give 1 tablet (10 mg) by mouth every 12 hours for 1 more day. Then give 1/2 t mouth every 12 hours for 3 days. Then give 1/2 tablet by mouth ONCE DAILY for 3 doses. Then discontinue, 
NEXT DOSE DUE: 6/12 at 8pm with dinner
2. GABAPENTIN 600 mg tablet: Give 1/2 tablet (300 mg) by mouth every & hours for pain relief
    Easiest dosing for most owner is 6am, 2pm, and 10pm
3. TRAZODONE 100 mg tablets: Give 1/2-1 tablet (50 mg 100 mg) by mouth every 8 to 12 hours as needed. Laz has been receiving 1/2 tablet by mouth every 8 hours and tolerates this well without being overly sedated. 
     If there is more exciting events in the house or as he regains more of his spark during recuperation, you may need to increase the dose to 1 tablet by mouth every 8 hours.

It is not uncommon for dogs to whine much more than usual. His life has changed a lot. Whining is not a sign of pain.
- restless, can't find a comfortable position
- slow or reluctant to move in suite such as shift positions
The usual dose of Pepcid AC (famotidine) for dogs is 0.44mg per pound, 30 mins before the anti-inflammatory and thereafter every 12 hours for as long as your dog is on the anti-inflammatory.

Moderator Paula is reading and preparing a reply.

When a new med or change in meds is mentioned, please provide the details of ?mg ?x/day. Thanks!

✙Carafate ?mg ?x/day
✙Cerenia ?mg ?x/day
✙Prilosec ?mg ?x/day
✙Pepcid AC ?mg ?x/day ]

It's been a long time since I updated. Things went south with the FloMax. He was urinating non-stop (like a faucet you forgot to turn off) and ended up with some paraphimosis and skin issues during the weekend of the 29th of June. The urine had been an issue - I could not time expression because it was ongoing - but the skin and penis had been okay - I just wasn't connecting to the FloMax and was blaming it on me not catching it in time. He went to his regular vet July 2, and the med was discontinued. I will say since that washed out I noticed a huge difference in him, not just urine wise but attitude (good enough to be obnoxious) and strength. I think the med was knocking him out, perhaps via low BP.

However, that weekend was the straw that broke me and a friend volunteered to start a GoFundMe so that he could do boarding rehab. I am not sure he will be able to walk but am praying so. I didn't want to post on here so as not to looking like I was fundraising.

On Tuesday July 9th I took Laz to rehab boarding. He will be there at least 3 weeks, getting PT and then doing underwater treadmill and other therapies like laser. I will never be able to thank my friends and his donors enough.

From their report from 7/9 - this is Thera-Vet Acres in Webster NY:
"Laz has questionable deep pain in both hindlimbs, but withdrawal is present in both hindlimbs and in his tail. He has rectal tone and hyper patellar reflexes bilaterally (a full neurologic
examination was not performed)."

I honestly am not sure if that's a good or bad thing.

He will go to Cornell on July 18, then back to rehab. Getting to work on and off all day on therapies is a dream to him. He is also loving his new friends there and is especially fond of the boarding manager - his respite home is in her office. In just 2.5 days he began bossing her for attention, so I know he's feeling like himself. She is working on this with him. 😂❤️

Thanks again for the support here.

Gina,  is the July 18th Cornell visit with the surgeon?  Let us know if the surgeon identifies if there is deep pain sensation.


Would you let us know when will or did the post-op rest period directed by the surgeon end?  It is now 5 weeks post-op.

Gina, wish we could've seen that wag.  How about painting us a word picture.  The details are of importance.

Did you see the wag after doing some happy talk or him seeing you?

Or did you see the tail move during a potty break?

Hearing the happy talk and seeing Laz move his tail in a wag sure appears as though not only did deep pain sensation return, but the next step of a happy tail wag. Next to return would be bladder control ...or does he have that now?