Our vet called us tonight to let us know that after confering with a neurologist that the collected opinion was that Riley was most likely not going to recover and they are telling us that his bad heartworm infection is a concern in his case. They said he should have been showing more improvement by now. This Friday will be three weeks. From everything we have read on this board, it seems to me that it is premature to say there is no hope, but then we question ourselves because they all love him at the vets (he is there every day!). We told the vet that we respected his opinion and that we were committed until May 6th at a minimum, which would be 4 weeks. We did his ball excersises tonight and I am just going to go through each day until the 6th with the attitude that there is hope. The bladder medication did nothing for him after three weeks, so we need to continue to catheter him twice a day, but it really isn't a big deal for us or him at this point. My hope is that Riley will let us know when he has had enough and looking at him right this minute, that is so not what he is saying.
I really, really want Riley to be one of those success stories so in the future I can tell others not to give up hope when all hope seems lost. I guess the best thing is to wipe the tears and not give up. We were so hopeful and happy prior to that call tonight. Funny how everything can change in a moments notice. What a roller coaster of emotions the last three weeks have been.
As always, thank you all for listening. It gives me great peace to know that there have been others in our situation that can appreciate the "what is really best for him" thoughts...... Riley gets to sleep in our bed tonight and that will make him happy for sure
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