Field Trip!

Katie was definitely back to her normal self this morning....... dragging her entourage around the yard and through the bushes. It is kind of funny being dragged around by a dog you are supposedly helping to keep balance. She actually doesn't need that much support. I simply offer it when she looses her balance and I keep her from falling, but otherwise she is pretty much traveling without support.

Our first stop of the day was for more electro acupuncture. She was pretty excited to go just about anywhere today. She seems to find acupuncture very relaxing. The needles are so thin that I don't believe they cause any pain going in. We left Travis here for his minor surgical procedure to remove a lump.

We then headed to the Cobb clinic to meet with the surgeon again. We lucked out and got to meet Dr. Filer. Dr. Filer was highly recommended by everyone I had talked to. No one had heard of Dr. Wagner. He was very nice and he had evaluated Katie during her prior stay. He was very pleased with her results and thought she was doing great. He said she should start physical therapy, swimming, and walking now................ so happy about that!!! She can do steps with some support.......... she's happy about that (she doesn't like being carried)!

He explained the spinal stroke or fibrocartilagenous emboli (FCE) to me. It is when cartilage breaks off and travels in the bloodstream. He said when that it got to the spinal cord it caused an interruption in the signals from the brain...... this is probably what caused her to lose her footing. When she did the splits, she probably strained or tore some muscles, bruised her pubic bones causing her the pain that she was crying about. I thought that was interesting since I originally though that her accident caused the back problem. I think I feel better knowing that it was probably just a random, unstoppable thing that happened. I hope I explained all of that correctly.

Dr. Filer didn't know why she was worse temporarily last night other than maybe she laid wrong or had overdone it in the ex pen causing her to be fatigued when we finally took her outside. But in other words... who knows. He also said we should see slow, steady progress over the next 6 months and that he expected a full recovery. He said that at 6 months that is generally the full extent of recovery.

He also suggested putting runners on the hardwood floors around corners, on steps, and at stopping points. There is also something called Shaws Paw Wax that I can apply 3 times a day to help give traction.

Her first swim appointment is this Saturday at 10 AM. Can't wait! First physical therapy session and evaluation is on Oct. 29th. I'm excited about that too!

Tonight, I took her to the building that we do obedience in. It has smooth, rubber mats and I thought it would be great for doing some walking. All in all, she's had a big day and should sleep well tonight.

As it turns out, Katie just makes a good pillow for the other greyhounds.

Hmmmmm...

Well, I actually think Katie looks worse tonight. Even just a few hours ago she was placing her foot down correctly most of the time and maintaining her balance. But tonight she was all over the place. Her left foot knuckled over more times than not, she was out of balance most of the time, and her back legs kept getting tangled. It was a considerable difference from earlier today. I am not sure what to make of it. At least we will be at the vets tomorrow for acupuncture and a recheck. Hopefully she's just having a weird night.

Today, Travis helped me give Katie a massage...... not really. He was hoping I would give him one too. "Maybe if I lie practically on top of Katie, Mom will just keep massaging all the way down to me."

Poor Travis has to have a growth removed from the inside of his elbow tomorrow. It was something scheduled last week before any of this happened. Its a funny looking growth that I pointed out to the vet and she felt that it looked abnormal and that it would be best to remove. He was pretty happy tonight though. I only feed our dogs in the morning, so he got tomorrow's meal tonight.... so right now he's feeling pretty lucky for the moment.

*** Thursday morning update - She seems to be much better than last night. I did not have to support her constantly with the towel around her waste and her foot placement was better. I just have no idea what would have caused a temporary setback like the one we had last night.

Day 6 of Bed Rest

Happily there is not much to report today. So many of you have emailed to say you check the blog everyday that I feel like I should at least put something on it. I really really appreciate the support and knowing that Katie has a lot of fans cheering for her.

About the only thing new to report is that Katie is now making her own bed. I try to keep it smooth so her left foot doesn't get caught up in a wad of blankets (see prior blog photos), but she has started fluffing and mixing it up again.

She also appears to be in no pain, so she is not receiving any pain medication anymore.

Also, last night she was really cute. After a good poop, she usually does wheelies in the yard in celebration. Obviously she can't with a leash around her neck and a towel around her waist...... but she got that naughty look in her eye, started wagging her tail (and she's not a tail wagger), and did just the tiniest little hop. It was very cute and made both Stephen and I smile.

I sure hope I will get to see her do wheelies, sass the neighborhood from the backyard, and chase after a toy again. I have no doubt that she will do a great job of recovering, but I just can't imagine letting her really let loose again. I've also considered what to do with her next. I do not believe I would ever jump her full height again (24 inches). Even before, she already was starting to have some issues with it and at her level of obedience she is required to jump that high. There is another type of obedience called Rally obedience. Its a little more user friendly, allows more verbal praise, and much smaller jumps. I never tried it since Katie is trained through utility level and I felt that Rally was a bit of a step backwards for a utility dog. But I think it might be just the perfect outlet for when the rehab is over. Katie just needs a reason to go into a ring, show off for a few minutes, and then come out to eat a lot of good food. I think Rally would be fun and easy for her.

Pin Cushion Day

Today we went for more acupuncture (notice the needle in her head). My Dad was kind enough to tag along and to offer an extra set of hands when needed. I again had Katie ride uncrated in the big van (see photo left). I'm still not sure about putting her into a small crate yet. Less room might be good, so she isn't bounced around, but it might be a struggle to get her out. Nonetheless, she traveled great once we got her to lie down.

This time, Dr. Castle hooked up the acupuncture needles for some electro therapy. Katie was perfect as usual. And dare I say.... I think she actually was moving better when she left the hospital. She appeared to be placing her foot down better with less knuckling over.

Well, I'm glad this story line is starting to get boring. Nothing but good news to report each day. Our next big day is Thursday. More acupuncture at 9 AM and then Dr. Wagner rechecks her at 10:45 AM. On the phone, I asked what to expect and the lady said that Dr. Wagner was going to determine if a bone biopsy was needed and then she might have to be left overnight for that procedure. I told the lady that I already knew that I would not be doing a bone biopsy and that I was going to wait longer on the pelvic x-rays. So the lady asked what I did want and I said that I had some questions and I wanted Dr. W to see her progress...... so that is what we are set up to do. I hope she can start swimming and doing some exercises. This rest stuff is driving us both crazy. I wanted to choke the little darling this morning. :-)

Day 4 of Crate Rest

Katie seems to be doing well. The left leg is moving forward quite a bit, but it moves diagonally and crosses underneath her body instead of tracking straight. But it is moving. And I was messing with her toes and I could feel her tensing them up, so I think its just a matter of time before everything is working the way it should.

Today, we got up about 6:30 AM. Katie was sort of panting and shaking, so I wasn't sure if it was hunger related or bathroom related. She's definitely getting a little high strung with no exercise. We usually feed the dogs and then turn them out, but just in case I took her outside first. It was obvious she was more anxious about eating. I think she worries about not being in her usual place and missing out.... she hasn't noticed she's actually getting more Kongs and chewies as well as the usual meals in the ex pen. We decided to go back to bed after the dogs were fed and pottied. I crawled into her ex pen and planned to nap for an hour. About 3 hours later, I woke up :-). I think I sleep better in the ex pen.

Stephen and I snuck out the other 4 greyhounds and took them hiking..... we decided it was stupid to go separately and each take 2 dogs. He had to run an errand, so I turned the dogs out back, Stephen went out the front door, and then loaded everyone in the van from the backyard. About 30 minutes later, I gave her a Kong and left the house to meet up with Stephen. When we got back, I took her outside to sun while he brought the dogs in. Hopefully she never knew they went anywhere.

This afternoon we moved her to the computer room so she could hang out with me while I worked. She normally hangs out in this room by choice.

Overall, I think she's doing great. Her biggest problem seems to be not picking the left foot high enough and once it is dragging and knuckled over... she doesn't seem to know it. But if you do support some of her weight in the rear, she can walk for a few steps on a smooth flat surface with the left working like it should. She definitely can stand up on her own (although I don't think the left helps with that) and she can remain standing with weight on the left hind. If she turns around though, she sometimes falls down because the left leg gets kind of hung up. But I think overall, she is making great progress from what I have heard. I'm kind of wondering what sort of tissue damage the left leg has. It seems to be too flexible now..... a question for the vet next week.

Poop!!!

Saturday night, about 11 PM - We finally have poop with no problems or complications!!!

*** I was kidding when I said to take a picture of it, but Stephen did it anyway.

Day 3 of Rest

I think Katie is starting to feel bored. Travis hasn't gotten to do much over the last few days, but he has been a good sport about it. I'm getting ready to take him to PetsMart to get Katie some chewies and to the agility field for some much needed exercise. I'm hiding all of the getting ready to go signals so I don't get her excited. Everything I need was put on the front porch an hour ago and I will send Travis out the backdoor when its time to go. I don't want her to feel like she's being left behind.

She's starting to jump to her feet more often which I'm glad she is feeling better, but she really is suppose to rest and do nothing. She is allowed to have Kongs and chewies, and I'm sure I could work on her holding a dumbbell or something, but she might get too excited about the clicker. I'm really wanting to see some poop. I don't think she has gone since Wed. morning and now it is Saturday morning. She doesn't appear to be uncomfortable, so I'm being told not to worry about it.

I'm also starting to look forward to getting started on the rehab and therapy. I've put the bone cancer possibility out of my mind. No reason to worry about it right now. We need her spine to get better so that when it turns out that she doesn't have cancer... she'll have a better quality of life.

I have to be the best at anything I do with the dogs, so I figure that Katie and I will work at being the #1 rehab extrordinaires. If we can involve food and training in learning the therapy exercises, Katie will thoroughly enjoy the challenge and stimulation. I'm excited about learning strengthening exercises for the dogs. It will be a new challenge for us and something to look forward to. I'm really excited about the hydrotherapy and can't wait to see how it works. I actually purchased 4 sessions of hydrotherapy at a silent auction last weekend. I figured I'd kick myself later if one day I needed them and I let them go for such a reasonable price. Toby, SEGA's vet, purchased some as well and gave them to me. He said to give them to someone who needs them (wasn't that super nice?). I just didn't think I was going to be the one to need them. SEGA is also giving me one extra one. So I already have 9 swim sessions all paid for and ready to go.

**** Travis and I went shopping at PetsMart. I was looking for some American made rawhide chips, but would you believe that the Petsmart brand is not made in the USA. So we got her some Greenies (she is chewing one in these last 2 pictures), Red Barn bully sticks, and some canned food to freeze inside of Kongs.

Then I took a 2 hour nap inside the ex pen. I sometimes do this at dog shows. I think Katie liked having the company.

Still no poop as of Saturday night!

Home Again

Finally, we were home again. Stephen helped me get her out of the van. I fed her immediately since it had been 36 hours since the last meal. I supported her with a towel around her waist. I was warned that she didn't like to pee with it around her waist, but she was a champ and quickly got down to business in her usual place. We settled her into her x-pen glad that she was home and safe for now.

She didn't sleep as well as I had hoped she would. I thought she would be exhausted and would just crash now that she was home, but she seemed uncomfortable. I slept on the couch and woke up anytime she did anything.

The next morning she definitely did look better. She had her bright eyed expression back and her left leg was actually moving forward. The toes still dragged and knuckled over, but she was definitely taking some steps. As always, she ate and with the usual vigor. Since she has not pooped since Wed. morning and possible internal bruising, I am feeding her food that should come out a little softer and easier than the chicken backs or necks do. Definitely more meat and veggies, less bones. Day 2 was a good day. I was able to work at home during the morning and finally get some work done. Luckily, my boss is super nice and understanding. Most of my job can be done at home.

How many vets can you visit in less than 48 hours?

For me, the answer is 4. Prior to the accident, we had taken the dogs to the vet the day before for some routine work. I called Cobb ER at about 9 AM to see how she was doing. They said she was doing fine and had shown some improvement. A surgeon, Dr. Wagner, had evaluated her and believed that she actually had a spinal stroke (or FCE-fibrocartilagenous emboli). Again, just too many details about something I do not know anything about. She wanted to continue Katie on the conservative course of action and said I could take her home this afternoon. However, there was one concern. Katie had indicated pain during a rectum exam and that was not typical for a spinal cord injury, so she wanted to get a pelvis x-ray which I agreed to. I called my vet, Diane Castle. She had already received a fax from Cherokee, but wasn't sure what was going on, so I explained.

I was really concerned about having to choose surgery and discussed this with Diane. The price was not worth the benefit if she did not live 2 or 3 more healthy years (remember that year 1 would probably be spent rehabing). At age 9, I felt that it was a crap shoot. If she were any older, I think I would say no to surgery. Any younger and I'd say yes. It is such a terrible thing having to put a price tag on your dog's life, but I'm a big believer in quality of life, so there is a limit to how much I will put my dogs' through. Diane mentioned that she other clients that were faced with the same and simply couldn't afford it. They came in for accupunture and had had good results. She suggested that we start accupuncture as soon as possible, so I took her latest appointment for that day hoping that I would be able to pick her up in time.

I hadn't heard from Cobb ER, so I headed down there at 2 PM, so that I would be ready to pick her up the instant she was ready to go. It worked out perfectly. The surgeon was ready to discuss her x-rays within 10 minutes. Unfortunately, there was something. On her pubic bones, there was definitely something going on. She said it could be bruising, but it could also be bone cancer. The surgeon wanted to do a biopsy right away to confirm and started to explain that dogs can live without pubic bones. I questioned her and said that its still bone cancer that probably has spread to somewhere else and that she'd probably die of the cancer 6 months later anyway. She agreed. I questioned her about the pain caused by a bone biopsy since I have friends that have told me that they would never put their dogs through that again. That the biopsy was worse than the amputation for the dog. Dr. Wagner didn't agree, but then she's not the one who goes home with the dogs either. Talk about overwhelming and keep in mind that I'm sobbing during this entired conversation. A chest x-ray was also recommended since we would want to know if tumors had started elsewhere. In my mind, I knew I would not do the surgery for the bone cancer with Katie being so badly injured already. Talk about adding insult to injury. But I did want to know if it was cancer because if it was, I didn't want to torture with this spinal injury............... but I didn't want to miss the accupuncture appointment either. If she was just bruised, we need to be doing all we can for her back and as soon as possible........... so I told Dr. Wagner that I was going to take her home.

Katie was pretty glazed over when she came out with the support of 2 techs. Such a heartbreaking sight. The techs tried to lay her on her left side in the van, but she fought them and I finally figured out that she had seemed to prefer her right side during all of the other travels, so I told the techs to just leave her and let her figure out what is best and Katie positioned herself on her right side. So off to Diane's.

Dr. Wagner had already called Diane and given an update. She wanted Diane to convince me to do the biopsy, but Diane felt it was rather invasive and agreed with my decision. I explained to her that I did wish I knew because I really hated to see her so disabled and helpless and didn't want her to suffer anymore if she was just going to die of cancer in the near future. So we decided to do a chest x-ray. If we found a chest full of tumors, I was prepared to let Katie go. As much as I was not ready for this and with little time to think, I really felt it would be selfish of me to keep her around in this state for my sake. I called Stephen to see if he would want to be there if I made that choice. He did, so he started towards Diane's just in case.

Well, the chest x-ray was clear. I calmed myself down and I told Stephen to turn towards home. Poor Katie exploded with pee and urinated all over Diane's pant leg and then we settled in for some accupuncture. Katie slept through the procedure. Diane felt that if it was bone bruising, the x-ray would look clearer in a week, so I tentatively thought I would have the x-ray redone in a week to see if it had improved.

Terrible Injury :-(

It is Saturday morning and a lot has happened over the last 3 days. Wednesday night we were in Chattanooga at the Play Dog Excellent facility for Travis' indoor agility practice (preparation for the invitational). I had already set him up and put him inside the building and was just going to drain some of Katie's energy before bringing her into the building. She was fetching her toy for probably the 10th time when Katie lost traction on the grass and did the splits with her hind legs. She immediately pulled herself into a sit position with her hind legs laying out straight and to the right and she was screaming in pain. I ran to her and cupped her face in my hands and asked her to quiet down. I asked her to lie down, but she refused. She wanted to maintain this awkward sit position. She was leaning far back and roaching her back so that she was sitting far back on her haunches. I'd never seen her sit anything like this before. I was afraid she was going to fall over backwards, so I got behind her and squatted down to make sure that didn't happen.

Luckily, someone was still in the parking lot (Melodi, I think) and she asked if I needed help. We talked and tried to figure out what was going on and what to do. I knew she needed to get to the ER. There is a good clinic in Chattanooga, but I wanted her closer to home, so I opted to make the hour and a half drive to Cherokee ER clinic. I lifted Katie to her feet and it was obvious that the hind legs weren't responding like they should. Melodi got a towel out of my van to put around her waist and we let her back to the van. The left hind leg was dragging and knuckled over. She couldn't do anything with it. The right leg seemed to be a little better off.

I didn't want to put her in a crate in the van because I was afraid I might not be able to get her out again. I made a flat, supportive bed between the crates and the side doors. I felt that would be the easiest way to get her in and out of van. We placed her in the van and she really wanted to keep sitting. I sat with her while Melodi ran inside and rallied the others to bring out my stuff, break down my crate, and bring Travis to me. I called Stephen and told him what was going on. We loaded everything and Travis. Katie managed to lay down on her right side propped up against the door.

I, of course, wanted to drive 200 miles an hour, but didn't want to jostle her around either. So I took it easy for turns, braking, and accelerating (a few years of horse trailering experience came in handy). Chattanooga, of course, has to have curvey highways, so we still had to keep speed to a minimum initially. Once on open interstate I pretty much drove between 80 and 90 MPH.

I believe I arrived at the clinic a little after 9 PM. I had warned them that I was coming and Stephen arrived about 10 minutes before me to fill out paperwork. A tech carried her away and we were placed in a room for well over an hour, I think. We brought Travis in eventually for a little pet theraphy. I can't sit idle, so I brought in some bills and things I needed to fill out just to keep busy. I tossed away a show & go entry for Katie. I knew we weren't going and that she had retired a couple of hours ago. I finally told Stephen to go home since he would need to go to work the next day.

Finally, a vet came in to talk to me, Dr. Grasso. He had evaluated her, but wanted to know what had happened. He was nice and explained a lot of details. Probably a little too much information. He felt it was a ruptured disk, but listed some other possibilities (explaining them much too thoroughly for me to remember at that time) and wanted to start her on a treatment of steroids. He warned me about surgery and quoted me a price.... Yikes! He also wanted to take x-rays to rule out any fractures in her back. This clinic closes during regular business hours, so we decided to transport her to the 24-hour clinic - Cobb Emergency and Referral Center. At about 1 PM in the morning, I transported Katie to the other facility where they took over her care.

I knew I was not going to work the next day..... or probably the next, so I ran by the office to pick up a few things since I can work from home. I think I finally crawled into bed around 3:40 AM.......