Nicky needs our Prayers-Intervertebral Disc Disease
How can one day be great and the next disasterous. Sunday morning Nicky was fine, playing ball and having fun. By Sunday evening he was walking funny, his rear legs were not moving very well. He could only sit with his head up. This morning Monday it was worse. Took to vet at 9am took X-rays that showed he has a disc thats bulging and signs of sure pain. By 1:00 he could no longer walk on his rear legs. Not good. I have to get an MRI done. But my questions is has anyone gone thru this, and if so what is the recovery rate on back surgery and do they have full use of legs or semi or none. I am trying to keep him comfortable and still. The vet did give him a shot and some steroids for now.
Update: Tues afternoon
MRI showed herniated disc and that it is bleeding out along the spinal cord. Not good. But they will operate and hope for the best. The surgery itself is about 4-5 hours long. OMG, and will be a very delicate surgery. My wishes are that he pulls thru this major surgery and can walk, and if not fully walk , just a little bit. That would be the best Mothers Day gift i could receive. To just hold him in my arms again. So this will be a long afternoon of waiting and prayers.
Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers and corgi paws crossed***:)
Update: Nickey's out of surgery 4:00, Neurosurgeon said it went well they cleaned out the area and stopped the bleeding. Was a 4 1/2 hour operation. His incision is 12 inches long. I can;t imagine seeing something like that on a dog. He will stay there for 2 days. She said that therapy will be very important and critical for his recovery. We still won't know how effective the surgery was until he wakes up and do some tests on any feeling that he has, also will take some time for the swelling to go down i imagine. I can't wait to see him. I can't imagine the pain he will be in when he wakes up. For now, he is very sedated till tomorrow.
UPDATE: Wed Night--- Just came from visiting Nicky at the hospital. Looks so sad. They were showing me how to expell his bladder. Its not that easy. The news is Nicky is not showing any signs of deep pain feeling. Or when the doctor ran her fingers along his spine, he did not flinch at all. I was hoping for some good signs. None at all at this time. I sure hope he comes around, i feel so bad for him. Looking for a good rehab for canine now.
THURS 5/10--Went to visit with Nickey. Sad to say no deep pain feeling as yet :( . Gotta keep positive. Practiced expressing his bladder. Then sat with him and massaged his toes and hips and legs. Might bring him home Sunday. With surgery and hospital stay and MRI i have surpassed $8000.00. Yikes. I am almost maxed out on credit card. But i will do whatever it takes for him. Gonna have to come with something. Maybe have a garage sale. We still have rehab ahead of us. I just pray for him, that he can get some feeling back.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Natalie, Lance &Tucker on
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Rebecca, just reading the updates now, so sorry the news isnt better right now, praying that you will get some good news soon with Nicky. Hang in there!!!!
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Permalink Reply by Aber, Ragnar and Kelso on
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Our Aber was diagnosed with IVDD in November 2009 when he lost all use of his back legs. 2 of his discs had ruptured and they tried to treat with steroids, but he only worsened. The surgeon then waited a couple of days while he laid in a cage and they padded the ever increasing bill. Estimates were originally $1500, but once they finally put my baby on the table, it had ballooned to $4800 and they kept demanding we come in and get the deposit up to 50% before they would operate. Then they chucked him out of the hospital less than 22 hours after the surgery, with absolutely no follow up visits or advice beyond walking him with a towel under his belly. Then they abruptly closed their doors, only to re-emerge in a different town under a different name about 6 months later.
Yes, I'm a little bitter about the way they handled this, as I really think this cost him the use of his legs. All of the waiting and then lack of information after the fact all worked against him, and cannot walk. However, he's a happy guy most of the time. He has some depressed periods, but he's also over 12 years old now and is starting to go deaf and maybe a little blind. As long as he's mostly happy and interacting with everyone, we'll keep him around and carry him wherever he needs to be.
It sounds like your baby got attention quickly and went for the surgery quickly, and is getting excellent after care, all of which I think are key. And I've also heard that sometimes things do not appear to be good after surgery, but the dog picks back up and regains use of its legs weeks or even months later. There's a lot of swelling around the spine sometimes, and it takes a while for the inflammation to go down. So, my fingers are crossed that this is the case with your corgi. Also, if it turns out that he doesn't get his feeling back, most dogs (not mine, but most) do quite well with a cart and are often just as active. Doggonwheels also has carts that are designed to accommodate any changes and declines in your dog's mobility, which is good to know.
Good luck and I do hope your baby makes a full recovery.
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