Re: Onset Paralysis
Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2021 10:55 am
I've never fundraised before, but you might look at Labrador Lifeline.
https://www.labradorlifeline.org/process
https://www.labradorlifeline.org/process
https://handicappedpet.net/helppets/
https://handicappedpet.net/helppets/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=22343
There is so much variation between dogs, such as the status before surgery, breed and age of the dog, which disk or disks were affected, etc.
What you described seeing is the way recovery occurs, though. It tends to be by baby steps. You notice a tiny bit of function, then a tiny bit more. Some days (or even weeks) it may seem like there was no improvement, but in reality he is healing in the background the whole time, even though it may not be visible to the eye. If your dog has bladder control or partial bladder control, that is a great sign so soon after surgery.
So...maybe someone will reply about how long it took their dog to walk, but even if they do, it may not apply to your dog...? I very much remember the early days after my dog had her spinal surgery. I searched the Internet and could not find a case exactly like my dog's, but I found one I could relate to, a beagle named Murphy. After reading Murphy's story, I began to expect in the back of my mind that my dog would stand at a certain timepoint like Murphy, and then walk at a certain timepoint. Like Murphy. When she didn't, I was very distressed, I would almost say crushed. I didn't realize until then how much I had built it up in my mind that her recovery was going to proceed exactly like Murphy's. And boy, was I wrong. But she learned to walk again on her own schedule, and it was worth waiting for.
So anyway, I hope you know I understand that state of mind. I love to tell my dog's story, but I also hesitate sometimes, because I don't want anyone to inappropriately apply the case of my dog with a broken back to their dog, and think if their dog is going to take 9 months like mine did, forget it, I can't keep this up that long. Your dog is way ahead of where mine was. At two months I was just glad she could turn herself in her bed. We had been rejected for PT and were not able to start PT till 5 months post-injury, though I was doing what I could at home. My dog did learn to walk again, and it was worth it.The thing is you ARE doing it. You ARE getting there. I think the secret is, it can just take a lot more time and effort than anyone bargained for. Oh, for a crystal ball, huh? Have you heard me go on and on about this? My dog first managed to walk about 4 feet (going on a downhill slope, mind you) at around 9 months. Nobody was more surprised than me. At that point, she still couldn't stand up for 10 seconds. I used to watch her try to stand and topple over, and we were lucky if I counted to 7. We did our therapy all along, like you and your partner are doing, but I wasn't working toward a goal because I pretty much abandoned hope at about the 4-month point. Once she got to point of taking steps downhill though, it seemed that progress accelerated. Before that, as I always say, I could Maybe, Possibly, if I really Stretched my imagination, think PERHAPS I saw a little progress about every 6 weeks. I can't even say we proceeded on faith. Honestly, we proceeded on auto-pilot. We just kept doing therapy with no goal in sight. There wasn't anybody telling me we were getting anywhere. There wasn't anybody saying to keep doing it, you're accomplishing something. I didn't know a soul whose dog walked after 9 months. We just kept doing it mindlessly more out of habit than anything. I figured the exercise was good for her, I didn't think she was going to walk.
If he couldn't move it before for 2 months and he can now, then that sounds like improvement and recovery to me. It is little things like this that are examples of the baby steps we talk about. They seem small when they happen one at a time, but they all add up and one day you look back and see how far you have come.pbj_33 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 20, 2021 11:56 am Like, Kujo has started to slowly move his tail. Very rarely, very new, but very much something. Am I taking a small sign like that as too much when looking at recovery? In the long run, his tail is not needed to walk but to see it move again makes me feel better! It makes me feel like some connections are being made but I can't help but wonder if I may be 'reaching'?
It sounds like he had a really great time. Doggie training camp! Of COURSE you had to check on him. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to relax. Glad it worked out.pbj_33 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 30, 2021 11:25 am We are back from the beach!! We missed our boy like heck but it was totally worth it in the long end.
Kujo had a great week with his therapy team, doing 4 total sets of treatment. He did water therapy on the treadmill & followed that with cold laser. They told us that he did amazing on the water treadmill, he enjoys the cold laser, and they are steadily seeing improvements. Sweet music to our ears. We probably only called 10 times to check in on him.
That is super good news about being dry all night. That really is. When you read the literature about FCE, there is one article that says 7.5% of FCE dogs may not recover bowel control. It's a very small percentage. But it's interesting how bladder and bowel control do not necessarily return at the same time.pbj_33 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 30, 2021 11:25 am He did go #2 but he ate a substantial amount. He is known for being picky about his food and has even went days not eating when we leave town without him. I assume this might have happened by his own choice at the vet. Whatever the reason, he was a hungry boy & we all know what that turns into.
Tinker's Mom had the same problem with Tinker.pbj_33 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 31, 2021 10:37 am I struggle so hard when we go outside. Maybe more than I'd like to admit. It's a struggle that he can't really understand where we're going. He's so used to me being in front with his face that he will keep trying to look back at me or turn around and we will end up going in circles. LOL. We really are something to see. It gets easier each trip and I've had some assistance from my little sister where she takes on my roll of leading him. It makes things so much easier for both me and Kujo.
Their solution was to walk him with both the rear harness and a leash. You can see a couple of photos of Tinker in his harness + leash below. I would only say that he was a smaller dog, and I would think really carefully about whether trying to hold a leash with your left hand is something you can do, when you already have plenty to do holding the harness. It might be an improvement if it means you get him to head in the right direction. Or it might be one too many things to juggle.https://handicappedpet.net/helppets/viewtopic.php?p=26569#p26569 wrote: During that phase of his recovery when we walked him on a rear harness, Tinker would sometimes literally have us running in circles as we struggled to convince him to change direction. Even handicapped, he still has that stubborn Beagle streak....lol.
pbj_33 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 02, 2021 11:07 am Since he is starting to do more and more with his legs, what should our next steps at home be? I feel like getting him in the correct sitting position (both knees bent, feet under body) then helping him stand is our biggest issue. The actual getting up part seems to be the most strenuous part. It makes sense due to his size.
In https://youtu.be/uaDrMGfzwr8?t=2917 Dr. Darryl Millis wrote: Some dogs are maybe not as strong. They can't push up from a full sitting position. So we can have the dog sit on a raised platform like we see here, and then they only have to push up part of the way. Or we can have them sit with this little peanut between them here.
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[Youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5s_bOlB8cs[/Youtube]