Miracle in the making!

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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Sasha's Mom
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Miracle in the making!

Post by Sasha's Mom »

As some of you may remember, I adopted Sasha on December 12, 2009 with no rear mobility.
Over the past couple years I've noted that there has always been some "action" with the hind legs and last summer, Sasha even stood on all fours for a few seconds at a time.
He has always "crawled on his knees" as an alternative to dragging and he manages to get up and down stairs without help.
Well, just now as I was going upstairs, Sasha started crying from down stairs, "Mama, take me with you", so rather than wait for him to claw his way up the stairs, I lifted his hind legs (wheelbarrow style) and let him climb with his front two legs, when lo and behold, he actually pulled his hind legs out of my hands and used his REAR LEGS to climb the last four or five steps!!! When he came into my room, he was walking on all fours, albeit severely knuckled-under on the rear legs!!!
I can not tell you what this means to me!
He has been more affectionate, more frisky, more vocal and more playful the last few weeks (even after two long car trips to PA back and forth).
I really believe that Sasha will walk again and can hardly believe what I just saw myself, but after two and a half years, with nothing beyond massaging and exercising his hind legs (the Nivalin hasn't even arrived yet), this was the most promising sign I've seen yet!
This is the first place I ran!!! :wub:
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Christine
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Re: Miracle in the making!

Post by Christine »

Oh my God!!!! This really is a miracle!! So happy for you and Sasha!! :trophy:

:cheer: :wow: :newyear: :elephant: :banana: :snoopy:


:grouph:
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CarolC
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Re: Miracle in the making!

Post by CarolC »

Ohhhhhmygosh... That is sooooo wonderful!!! :yay: And when you least expected it! How funny the way it happened! Isn't it amazing that you did daily exercises with him all this time with no objective reason to think anything would change, and yet...? Nerves heal, but they do it very slowly. But 2 1/2 years, that is something!!!! I'll bet he feels so satisfied with himself right now. :D
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critters
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Re: Miracle in the making!

Post by critters »

Congrats! :hurray: Watch out, though, that he doesn't contract into the knuckled position; I can tell you from experience that that's a mess.
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Sasha's Mom
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Re: Miracle in the making!

Post by Sasha's Mom »

:thankyou: :snoopy: (Tidbit: A never-seen cat lives next door to Snoopy. The main focus on this cat occurred in the 1970s, although Charlie Brown mentioned "the cat next door" as early as November 23, 1958. Snoopy often taunts the cat (usually starting with, "Hey, stupid cat!"), who generally responds by violently carving up his doghouse in a single swipe. The neighbors who own the cat have complained to Charlie Brown about Snoopy harassing their "kitten". The cat's name was revealed to be "World War II" in the October 20, 1976 strip.)

Maybe it was the smell of Spring that motivated him! We have a few females in the area and believe me, he knows when they are around! :hearts:

The problem IS the knuckling under - it's very bad and even with daily manipulation of the ankle (do cats have ankles?), the area is not extending as it should. When I press my palms against the bottom of his paws to work the area, there is a great deal of trembling and the ligaments are very tight (seem to have shortened from lack of normal use). Any suggestions on a different method to exercise the area?

It is so amazing to see him stumbling around and actually sitting on his haunches instead of looking like a little boy playing jacks. He's not up completely, of course, but as soon as I stand him up, the rear legs are moving in sync as they should.

Sorry I didn't respond sooner, I don't always get notifications of new posts.
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critters
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Re: Miracle in the making!

Post by critters »

The tight ligaments are are probably contracting; I suggest a splint.
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Sasha's Mom
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Re: Miracle in the making!

Post by Sasha's Mom »

critters wrote:The tight ligaments are are probably contracting; I suggest a splint.
That's an affirmative on the contractions and two splints are on the top of my "next to purchase" list. :thankyou:
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It was just a fluke - not a miracle... :(

Post by Sasha's Mom »

Had two new x-rays done of Sasha's spine today and very sadly, it's taken this long to find the real culprit.
How the other vets missed this is literally beyond comprehension...

Sasha has had eight x-rays not counting today, with four different vets, but only of the lower spine. I was about to have his tail x-rayed today, when I finally got a vet who did more probing and examining than any other have done.

It turned out, Sasha was shot with a 25 caliber (the vet said a 22 would have gone straight through) and it lodged in his spine.

This explains why the parasympathetic nerves have healed, but motor function from mid-spine to the tip of the tail has not.

So Sasha's little five step walk the other day was a complete fluke, unfortunately.

The radiographs are too large to upload here, so I added them to my website:
http://eagles-sparrow.net/Sasha.aspx
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Re: Miracle in the making!

Post by CarolC »

Well, it is pathetic (among other things) that you have taken him for so many exams and nobody could find that. What I think about the monster that did it is unprintable. I am so sorry, it is horrible to think of someone doing this to him, it's an adjustment every thing you look at him or pet him.

I do not believe any steps are a fluke. One thing I know is, when my dog began to walk, she would do something absolutely wonderful and thrilling I had never seen before and I'd be "over the moon" with the rapture of it, then she would not do it again for like...6 months or something. So once everything came together to where she could do something new, for some reason it did not mean she was suddenly up to a level of doing it consistently, but that didn't mean it wasn't there. I remember very well when I was reading about spinal injuries, and in humans it said (don't have the link, if you need it I can try to find it again) that only about 10% of function of the spinal cord is required for walking, in human spinal injury cases. I don't know, but I don't think we know exactly what they can and can't do, and what you see with your eyes may be more real than what logic tells you "should" be possible. The fact that you have never stopped daily PT has certainly given him a chance to maximize what he has been getting back. They say the spinal cord is plastic. I'm not stopping the celebrating one bit.
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Sasha's Mom
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Re: Miracle in the making!

Post by Sasha's Mom »

When I posted here after returning from the vet's, I was completely heartbroken. For two days, every time I looked at Sasha, all I could see was a bullet lodged in his spine and the tears poured. But this morning, watching him crawl (run) around on his knees, using his hips (which certainly IS a motor function) and "squiggle" running when he plays hide and seek with me or his following me up and down the stairs and how happy and lovable he has become, I figured he's not thinking about a little piece of metal in his spine, so why should I?

In retrospect, considering how the original owners abandoned him at the vet's in Bulgaria, after finding him on the side of the road a month or more after claiming to have thrown him out, I would bet 10 to 1, the husband was the one who shot him, left him for dead and told the wife he ran away. I would also bet it was the wife who made the husband take the cat to the vet and when the vet first suggested x-raying the cat, the husband said they would come back the next day. That's when my friend offered to pay the 15 leva ($10) for the x-ray and when the vet went back to x-ray him, the husband feared the vet finding the bullet during the x-ray and forced the wife to leave as well. It all makes perfect sense knowing how things work in Bulgarian villages.

The wound from the bullet had already healed by the time Sasha was brought in. The irony here is, none of us, from the day Sasha was abandoned at the vet's, ever saw any sign of a puncture or any visible injury on his back. There were visible bite wounds from other animals on his face and scratches on his legs, but nothing on his back.

This time, I went in specifically to have his tail x-rayed, thinking something was pinched back there that we missed. This vet asked the right questions and made statements that finally started making sense, especially his explanation about the parasympathetic nerves healing, but not regaining motor function. He said the injury could not be in the tail and was ready to walk away saying the x-ray would be fruitless, but you could see this guy was actually thinking and something struck him. He started pinching every one of Sasha's toes with a medical clamp and only one toe on his right side didn't produce a reaction. He proceeded to go up his spine, from the tip of his tail with a needle probe. The area a little above his shoulders did not twitch, so he repeated the probe several times.

Again, another vet was baffled, and he shrugged his shoulders and could only think it was some sort of brain lesion affecting the hind motor nerves. I asked if trauma through a bite could have caused it and he said it was possible, but only an MRI could tell the complete story.

Having just had a C spine and lumbar MRI myself the day before and looking at my injuries and where the pain radiates to, seemingly incongruous at times, I mentioned all the previous x-rays and said we never x-rayed his upper body. I figured, why not? So that's what we did. The other vet who usually sees Sasha was called in and every vet tech in the place came back into the room with him after the x-rays were complete.

The second he brought it up on the computer screen, I just shook my head in disbelief. You could see the outline of the top ridged part of the bullet as clear as day. He didn't feel surgery is a viable option and may cause more harm than good because of the location, but at least the mystery was finally solved.

I completely agree with you about the levels of activity Sasha goes through and although everything is going very slowly, he may take a step back, but he always rebounds by three. Finally received the Nivalin I was waiting for and I am going to start another round of injections. Nivalin has many uses, including but not limited to:

ANTICHOLINESTERASE ACTIVITY
Nivalin increases the intensity of nerve impulses leading to the muscle tissues, increases muscle contractions and their duration.

IN NEUROLOGY NIVALIN IS APPLICABLE IN:
Neuritis, myopathies, myasthenia, progressive muscular dystrophy, cerebral paralysis in childhood, cerebral palsy in neonates.

The combination of PT and the Nivalin may just do the trick. His hind muscles have suffered more atrophy, but the Nivalin built the muscles up in a matter of 2 months the last time and he is so much stronger than he was two years ago.

Thank you for the pep talk! :cheerleader: :trophy:
I wish my spine looked as good as Sahsa's! :D
Be simple, be earnest and spread that simplicity throughout everything you do.
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Christine
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Re: Miracle in the making!

Post by Christine »

What an amazing story. I always say that I wish our animals could speak, especially the rescues who come to us with injuries and/or fears that we just want to wash away with our love. Your love, dedication and persistance actually gave Sasha that voice, not to mention educated the vets. What a journey you two are sharing...teaching many along the way. :trophy:
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Sasha's Mom
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Renal Failure...

Post by Sasha's Mom »

Since April 28, every spare moment has been invested in taking care of Sasha.

The reason he appeared to have momentarily regained use of his hind legs was not a miracle, but a disaster in the making.
Sasha's calcium and phosphorus levels had shot through the roof, causing both the twitching and the "locking" of his legs in a "walking" position.

http://sashaofvinitsa.weebly.com/bloodwork.html

I can't even write at this point, but the link above will tell the story.

Leah
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Christine
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Re: Miracle in the making!

Post by Christine »

Prayers for you and Sasha...
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BendyMom
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Re: Miracle in the making!

Post by BendyMom »

so sorry to read this news on Sasha.
I wish I knew something that could help him. You have done so much with him.
Purrrrs from the crew here.
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Bendy Kitty
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BendyMom
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Re: Miracle in the making!

Post by BendyMom »

"skin is too thick for fluids" = "vet is uncreative"
that is a LAME excuse
fluids can make a huge difference in so many conditions, i am floored that anyone would simply write them off becuase the cat has thick skin.
Lance's skin had clogged and bent needles. he still shots, and if he needs fluids you better bet he will get them.
as stated in teh previous reply, just give them somewhere else. it may be trickier, they may complain more, but some treatments are worth the trouble and fluids are one of them!
one of the vets at myh clinic told me she actually had to use the side of the needle to cut a slit in Lance's skin because just sticking him clogged the needle and bent the tip.
please smack your vet for me.
i really really hope the fluids will help bring down his mag/calc levels.

many purrrrs for him and you.
http://www.alittletlc.com

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Bendy Kitty
forever in my heart
always missed
i am not the same without you.
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