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Story of the
Month -
October
2007
"Clark"
One cool
Montana October morning 2006 a there was an unusual sound of
nails lightly grazing the wood floors. Uh Oh, had read something
about that. Immediately called the vet and got in within the
hour. By then the back feet could not place properly on the
floor when flipped backwards.
The vet gave the choice of steroids and crate rest or we could
drive to the nearest neurosurgeon 7.5 hours away. Panic set
in what if steroids didn't do the trick? Would the travel time
to Washington State University Vet Teaching Hospital and days
lost on crate rest reduce Clark's possibility of recovery? The
window of time for there still to be optimal surgery success
is 12-24 hours from loss of deep pain sensation. Was WSU the
closest and did they have the best surgeons there? First thing,
Clark went in a crate at home. Then I got on the phone and called
all the vets in my area and asked if their pet needed surgery,
where to go? 4 out of 4 said WSU. In fact one vet had just taken
her pet in. Ok, we were 4 hours into this since the morning
visit with the local vet and Clark could no longer use his legs.
We loaded up his crate in the van, had a friend watch Lewis
& York and off we went to Pullman, WA. En route we told
them ETA would be at 7:30 PM. They said the neurosurgeon would
be there and waiting when we arrived.
Three students met us at the lighted entrance door and immediately
started the neuro tests on Clark. Dr. Hicks, the neurosurgeon
came in to confirm the diagnosis & that he still had deep
pain sensation. Clark went for an MRI and then into surgery.
Later that night in our motel room, Dr. Hicks called saying
surgery went well and Clark was resting. After a restless night,
we stopped by the hospital with a thank you card & donuts
“from Clark” for the staff and to say bye to Clark
as we’d be back in six days to pick him up. Surgery was
costing us $3000, we kept our business open weekdays and traveled
the weekend..
We received calls from the attending resident student at least
two times a day and Dr. Hicks also called once or twice a day
with his updates. With the information we quickly learned on
the DodgersList.com web page and their e-mail List, we were
able to ask good questions of the surgeon and felt very prepared
to take care of Clark at home.
The neurosurgeon reminded us six weeks of confinement is necessary,
even if neuro improvement occurs sooner. He demoed passive range
of motion and light massage to be done 3x a day. We were to
assist with a sling to walk for pees and poops. Yup, that jived
with what they said at DodgersList.com. After 6 weeks Clark
returned slowly to exercise with 5 mins/day leash walking, next
week 10 min/day, etc. Clark was a perfect textbook case of a
successful surgery and recovery!
"Despite
your best efforts, however, this disease may recur." Now
why did they have to write that on Clark's discharge instructions?
They jinxed him! Three months later in snowy January, on a Sunday
night, he went down again. We knew the routine. We called WSU
told them we'd be there by PM Monday. Our local vet always kept
in communication with Dr. Hicks and so it was this time. Clark
went into surgery with deep pain sensation and left the hospital
able to walk with a sling to go potty. Last words from the surgeon
were “there should be no steps backward in progress, they
might be small steps forward but none backward.”
On the fourth evening at home something was very wrong, he was
in pain again couldn't pee. Our local vet, Dr. Lawson and Dr.
Hicks were on the phone to each other. After an injection of
Solu-Medrol prescribed by Dr. Hicks, our vet took Clark home
with him for the night. First thing in the morning we drove
to WSU. The MRI revealed a fracture in the vertebra causing
pressure on the spinal cord. The prognosis was bleak. Reading
on DodgersList about dogs that live quite happily with a pair
of wheels, we knew our four-year old would do
the same if that were to be the outcome.
Paula Milner
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