Saturday 28 June 2014

Week 8 & 9

Finding the "New Normal"

The daily routine is really grinding us down, it is so much work, but it is obviously paying off!  Penny can now waddle along on noodly legs, and hold her weight pretty well, one side is stronger than the other, so she often lists to one side.  She will drag her legs behind her, then sort of lever up onto them, take a few steps.... actually lifting her feet and moving her leg forward from the hip for 2 or 3 steps, fall over and do it again... 

So the last two weeks have brought only minor changes, but they do add up! It's the little things, like she is licking her bum... ok, gross, but you know, a good sign that some feeling is coming back....Unfortunately, she is still incontinent.  I was hoping it would be starting to come under her control by now.....but it obviously is just going to take longer.  

We have had another 2 acupuncture sessions, and Dr. Neil says Penny is improving, and getting stronger every week.  Her treatments now include the needles being hooked up to an electrical device that sends electric pulses down the needles and across the spine.... she really does look like Frankensteins dog when she is all hooked up.  In the last treatment, for the 1st time, she didn't really like it, she kept turning around and trying to get them off, and shaking, trying to remove them.... usually she is kinda in a trance.  Dr.Neil says its a good sign....

We have had another physio session with Dr. Naomi, and some of Pennys exercises have changed, increasing in difficulty.  As Penny is now doing a lot of "hand-standing" the focus is on trying to engage the rear legs to bear more weight, so we have to put her front legs on a book and lift one front leg at a time so her weight moves into her rear legs and transfers from side to side.  Not as easy to do as you would think!  She still trys to hold all her weight up front, and then because one side is stronger than the other, on the weak side she ends up balancing on 2 legs.... so challenging to make her use both rear legs, its a fine balancing act of treat-coercion, co-ordination, firm handling and patience.  If we get it once or twice for 3 seconds we feel we have achievement!

Winter Magic came and went.... Lady Penelopes 1st Winter Magic absence ever.  We had to leave her at home but took little Gidget.... who took 2nd place in the Pet Parade!  Thanks to Leura Doggie Store and Katoomba Vet Clinic for hosting!  It was really fun.  Truffle the Magic Dragon came 1st, so we felt it was all in the family....

Then we had our final follow up appointment with the surgeon Dr. David Lidbetter.  
He examined her, and tested her strength and asked us a lot of question on what we had been doing, so we told him, physio 2 x a day, with weekly sessions with Dr. Naomi Boyd, , weekly acupuncture with Dr. Neil Barnsley, ester c, rose hip vital canine, walking in the bath 2 x a week.  Kane showed him a video of Penny walking.

He said she was doing much better than he expected.   *yeah* !

We talked then about the on-going expectations.  She still needs to be in her pen mainly 24/7, for another 4 weeks which makes it 13 weeks post op.  But that for her own safety, he would keep her in there while we are out, and at night, pretty much till she is fully ambulatory (so the flip side would be, if she is not fully walking she has to stay in her pen during un-supervised times) .  So she can be allowed out of the pen, with supervision, to scootch around, on grass or carpet as long as she does not hurt herself (stairs, falling off furniture  etc) or get raw spots on her skin.   I wanted clarity on this, because some comments on the IVDD fb site had led me to believe that scootching was bad, and that she could harm herself, ... but no, at this point post-op (9 weeks) , there was no harm in her scootching on flat ground, as long as she is motivated to *try* to get up, and in actual fact it was good to let her move around, to build up her strength.  

He said to keep up the physio, the more energy we put in, the more we will get out.... so thats good news that our efforts are actually effective!  He also said that the more she tries to walk, she is getting her own physio, so we will need to do less of the stand/sit type exercises.  

There was a long discussion about her bladder function- he wanted to know if urine just dribbled out all the time, or only at excitable moments, does she ever initiate or had a full stream on her own?  So I explained that we were expressing her bladder about 4-5 times a day, but when we came home, someones knocks on the door, or when you pick her up in the morning it would dribble out.....   He seemed to think this was good, and so he did not prescribe any medication for her.  He said it would be pretty unusual if as she gets more control of her legs if her bladder function did not come back, so just be patient.  I told him it wasn't the pee so much as the poop, and told him of her trying to squat, but still having *no clue* that she was going..... again, just be patient and be glad shes not a ridgeback...LOL. 

We also talked about the long-term do's and don'ts.... the list is unfortunately growing.... I wish we had known all this from the beginning... maybe I just didn't ask the right questions.  Anyway, heres the list:

  • no jumping, 
  • no stairs, 
  • no playing ball, 
  • no slippery surfaces, 
  • no running at the beach on soft sand, 
  • no playing with dogs larger that she is, 
  • no wrestling, 
  • no tug of war, 
  • or running at high speeds 


Basically, any activity that causes jarring impact, or overt bending of her spine is off the table. For the rest of her life, we’ll need to try to keep her spine as ‘straight’ as possible, as often as possible.  

$65 for that follow up, and no need to see him again, unless her situation changes, and he wants us to email him an update in 6 weeks. Once again I was struck with how nice he is, and how patient he is with all our idiotic questions!  

In week 8 I had a lovely conversation with Chrissy from the Dachshund IVDD Australia support group, she is a really encouraging, supportive lady!  So much experience and so much love for our little 4 legged friends.  She offered Penny to be one of the Rose-Hip Vital canine recipients in a 6 month free sponsorship, but as we had already purchased some we declined, so someone else can take advantage of it who may need the financial support more than us ATM... she also suggested little non-slip booties for the house, and a back brace for Penny.  Both which I am looking into.  

I also read a fascinating blog written by a Canadian lady about her 2 french bulldogs and her experience with IVDD... her story is very similar to ours, except of course we have dachshunds.... (way more cute in my eyes.... ) it was nice to read a blog and hear her personal experiences with the highs/lows fully documented, and to see how she is faring 2 years on.... 

https://ouroslo.wordpress.com/about/


No comments:

Post a Comment