Frenchie w/ Stage V IVDD, Post-Surgery

Neurological Disorders Resources. Treatment and care for pets having pain or trouble walking or standing due to spinal injuries or neurological disorders like IVDD, FCE and DM.
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CarolC
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Re: Frenchie w/ Stage V IVDD, Post-Surgery

Post by CarolC »

I just wanted to add a post to your thread. 18 years ago today a little dog was found paralyzed behind my workplace. I took her to the vet, and from there to the specialty hospital for surgery because she had a displaced spinal fracture with no deep pain and 100% overriding of the spinal canal. I named her while she was lying on the examining table as we waited for the surgeon, and she quickly became, and will always be, the love of my life. After the surgery was healed, I thought I might be able to get her into PT, but they wouldn't take her, so I was left alone in the world with a paralyzed dog. Nobody at work had any idea what I was going through trying to care for her alone. It could take over 20 minutes to express her. I never got a full night's sleep because I worked rotating shifts so my schedule changed but the expressing schedule did not. We began doing our own exercises. The end of December I found this board and that helped. But still by April I was just dead, beyond wiped out. I remember lying on my face on a futon, thinking I should get up and send an extremely important email to a friend who just had aortic valve replacement surgery, and I couldn't do it. It had been a little more than 6 months since September 23 and I didn't have anything left to give anyone.

There is a phenomenon that may not be universal, but it's been noticed and commented on by a number of people here who've had paralyzed dogs. It is that you go a number of months caring for your dog and giving it your all, and eventually, maybe without expecting it, you kind of hit bottom, and then, for reasons nobody quite understands, it just turns around. We call it "The Six Month Wonder" after a message Anita posted, describing it so well. She had a paralyzed standard dachshund. Dianne used to call it "The Six Month Crash". It does not hit everybody at exactly 6 months, it could hit you a little earlier, or it may be a little later. The important thing to know, and others can tell you this as well, is that you do come out on the other side. You find you have adjusted to the new normal, and somehow things are never that hard again. Here was Anita's message, that summed it up so well.
https://handicappedpet.net/helppets/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=3507&p=16745#p16745 wrote: I can't say more than has been said about the 6 Month Wonder.

I wonder if I am doing the right thing?
I wonder if she/he is happy?
I wonder what people think?
I wonder if it is all worth it?
I wonder is he/she will ever walk again?
I wonder where I will get more money for treatment?
I wonder how long I can do this?

Wonder, wonder, wonder. We have all done it and know exactly where you are. I think what is missing is acceptance. Once you accept that this is they way it is going to be, then it becomes so much easier. I know that it is hard and you are tired but you have gone this far, why give up now? The hard part is over!!! It will all become a way of life and you won't think anything about. I promise you.

It will be 2 years Labor Day weekend that my Sydney went down. Looking back, it was tough. But now, it is no big deal. Yeah we have been through alot because of the UTI but it all worked out and through my bad experience I have been able to teach others. We can't do everything right all the time. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything in this world. I have met some of the nicest and kindest people-many on this board-that have helped me out and in turn I have helped out others. I look back now and wonder what I use to do with all my free time?? Now it is spent expressing, pooping, exercising, giving butt baths, Chiro treatments, accu treatments, and the list goes on. I must have had a lot of free time on my hands!!!!
It sounds like you have gotten most of the wrinkles ironed out now, and it may be that you won't have to do this long term as there is hope your dog will recover some function after the prompt surgery and attentive nursing care. But it's just something to keep in the back of your mind. When I was going through it, there was no one to tell me it gets better. Not sure I would have quite believed it anyway. Not sure I was even aware of my own feelings enough to realize how tired I was getting until it hit me. But I just wanted to mention it so you know it's not just you if you get there, and again, for reasons we don't quite understand, it does turn around seemingly by itself, not by anything we do, it just does. In the end, my dog did learn to walk again. It took us longer than 6 months, but it was worth waiting for!

http://www.fourfurfeet.com/2006-page2.html

C.
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