Another Crappy Day

We went for our reassessment with Dr. Bush.  This vet is terrific.  His assistant Christina is also.  They are a good team and are very responsive.  I really can’t say enough good things about them.

So the news.  His pain has increased over the last ten days which prompted the visit.  Dr. Bush gave him a thorough physical exam and the pain in the lower back and neck are still there and bad.  Up until now that pain has been controlled by Nuerontin.  We’ve had breakthrough pain for the last ten days after two months of really good times.

The overall assessment is that his surgery fell into the 30% failure category.  But we are still hopeful of finding ways to control his pain.  We are going to put him on a broad spectrum antibiotic for 10 days in case the pain increase is because of an infection of some kind.  It’s not likely as his temperature was normal but his white blood count was slightly elevated so who knows?  Also there is some possiblity that his thyroid might be kicking the bucket.  His T4 went from 2.2 to 1.0 so we are testing further for that.  This would make sense as he has gained 12 pounds (72 to 84.5) in three months.

With Dante things are always an adventure and the soup thickens here. 

I absolutely don’t regret the surgery.  It gave him a shot at a better life.  Now we follow a different approach to

Rough Patch

We are having a bad patch that requires a reassessment by the neurologist on Monday or Tuesday. 

He’s really having some pain.  The Nuerontin only dulls it.  His back legs seem particularly affected.  Especially his right rear leg.

He’s had crying out and trembling episodes for about a week now and when he snuggled up to me on the bed today (which he hasn’t done in a while) his body would jerk and then he’d let out a big sigh.  I think the pain episodes are frequent and only result in a crying out when really bad.  The muscles in his back legs seem to be getting smaller.  Also sometimes, he looks like his hips are hunched if you look at him from the side.  It seems, from my perspective, that the pain eminates from his hips up to his head, not the reverse.

As a result, his IBD is flaring.  Not awful with fresh blood in the stool but he does have mucous and a somewhat goopy stool.  It’s not fun cleaning up after him.

The neurologist seems to think there must be something more there.

What?  Who knows.

I love him so much.  I just want to figure out what to do to help him

Yep an SM flare

He just cried out infront of me.

A Little Heartbreak

I’ve been concerned that he was experiencing a bad period with the SM. 

About 2 days ago I thought I heard him cry out.  My nephew was here and I said, “Did he cry?”  He said no.  But tonight he did.  Not a horrible cry, but a cry none the less.  I felt his head and there was a muscle tremble.  The first since app. 7/4/2006.

What this indicates is that the surgery stopped the progression but we are going to have to deal with some bad times.  O.k.  I’ll deal with it, but I really do wish that he would have a day without IBD or SM.  I love him and will do whatever to keep him good.  It is heartbreaking though to here him cry

Now This Is Weird…..

Spears: ‘I want to be buried with my dog’

I don’t need to say anything.  Just go read it. 

IBD/SM Flare

If it’s not one thing, it’s another.  With Dante it’s either the Chiari related pain,  his IBD or both.  This can be tiring.

It was about this time last year when he first got so bad that a visit to the emergency vet led us to his nuerologist.  At that time, two weeks of a muscle relaxer and Tramadol seemed to get him past it. 

His pain is pretty well controlled by the Nuerontin but I notice that his back legs sometimes give out when he’s galloping up the stairs from the backyard.

His IBD is also flaring which is probably as a result of his discomfort.  So he’s on Budesonide again and that is making him very hungry and very thirsty.  On Monday it is 21 days on Budesonide so I will try him off it and see how it goes.

It has been suggested that heat and humidity exacerbate SM.  I believe this to be true because we’ve had a lot of that around here that’s for sure.  The truth will only come with time as we go through a couple of years with the weather cycles.

I can tell he has some discomfort also because he doesn’t really ever get fully relaxed (which usually means laying on his back with his legs wide open and front paws up taking a nap.

In comparison to some other stories I’ve read he’s relatively o.k though so I shouldn’t complain.

He can be motivated to big action however as evidenced by his protective exhibition when we had a coyote in our yard about a week ago. 

I must admit that I do wish there was some period of time where he had nothing bothering him, not pain or bum. 

Hope all you other SM dog parents out there are doing o.k.

No Way/Bad Dog

Neighbors: Dog Drove Car Into House

CUMMING, Ga. — The worst damage most dogs do is chew up the occasional shoe, knock over a trash can or two or soil the carpet.

But one Georgia pooch could be the new alpha dog of damages…….

Can you imagine?  A car crashes into your house and you look in the car and all you see is a guilty dog?  Love it!

Bum Good, Pain Controlled

This morning we had good poop.  No mucous or diarrhea.  What a gross thing to write about but it’s a thing I have to monitor.  He’s currently chewing his compressed rawhide bone.

The one thing regarding the Chiari I notice is that although his pain appears to be controlled with the Nuerontin, sometimes, when galloping up the stairs his back legs will give out and he will stumble.  That’s what makes me believe there is still pain there sometimes. 

Things are much better than pre-surgery and he’s happy, but I think the heat may be irritating things a bit.

It’s so hard with a multiple health issue dog to put things together.  So now it’s a process of elimination.  On Sunday he’s done with Flagyl which should have solved the giardia if he ever had that.  If the diarrhea comes back then I continue him on the Flagyl and eliminate the Budesonide and see what happens there.  If I can’t make heads or tails of his problems then we finally go to the vet.

It would be really great to go even a month with nothing else cropping up or flaring.

No matter what though I love him.  This is probably the ‘new normal’ which is better than pre-surgery so that’s it.  We will deal with it!

Good Dog/Bad Dog

Since people are nice enough to come by and read about my experience with Mr. Poodle, I thought I should jazz things up a bit and start a Good Dog/Bad Dog series.  Just for fun.  I love dog stories because I love dogs.  Hope you all enjoy them.

Bad Dog

Dog eats Elvis’ Teddy…