Down the Cushings Road Again -- Abbie, 15 year old beagle is now at peace

I've should of added that Dr. Feldman stated that in those certain situations that prednisone is needed.

Thanks, guys! I have all my notes ready ... ;)

And how is our precious Abbie doing today? I hope she is feeling better.

We're ready and waiting to hear all the news!!! :) :)

I wanna know too! :)

Hi, all! It's been a long-g-g afternoon/evening. Abbie has finally closed her eyes and I am getting to sit down with a heating pad on my back. Fibromyalgia and lifting a dog up and down don't go too well together ...

I met with both the neurologist and then her surgical tech. The neurologist said that she removed the portion of the bone and dispaced disk material in one disk in Abbie's neck that was completely herniated and then did what is called "fenestration" in all of the remaining disks, including one disk that was calcified. From what I understand, this involves removing the center of each disk. She said that she wanted to do what she could to avoid another herniation and, thank goodness, for no additional charge. Abbie was eating, walking short distances and peeing in the hospital.

I asked her what her thoughts were about starting the Vetoryl re suppressing cortisol. She said "What an excellent question!" :D She said to start it when the pred was reduced to every other day (in four days). The tech went over all her meds with me (tramadol, prednisone, robaxin and keflex). I am supposed to put neosporin on her incision three times a day and also put ice packs on it three times a day.

We got home about noon. I put Abbie on the bed--she was panting very heavily and shaking along with intermittent muscle spasms. She did drink some water. She was obviously uncomfortable so tried to get her to eat at around 4:00 so I could get some meds into her. I tried five different things but she wouldn't eat anything. I called my vet and he suggested I come by to pick up some recovery food which can be mixed with water and fed by syringe as well as a liquid food. I got one syringe of food into Abbie before she balked. Then I tried to get some meds into her via a cheese ball--what a fiasco. Ended up with cheese and pills all over both of us. A couple of hours later I gave her some of the liquid food. I was fixing my dinner and went into the bedroom to check on her. She had thrown up all over the bed. She seemed much calmer ...

After changing the bedding I called the neurologist. She gives all clients her cell number and encourages calls but I was still hesitant to bother her. She said to not push any food or meds tonight and tomorrow see if she would eat some white rice cooked in chicken broth. She said to text her with any concerns tonight and to not hesitate to bring her back to the hospital. So that's the plan!

My vet had an interesting observation after reading the neurologist's reports. He noted that the herniated disk had compressed to the side rather than straight down. This was why Abbie wasn't showing more severe neurological symptoms. We really dodged a bullet! I did ask him why the incision was on Abbie's throat rather than the back of her neck. He said that there are too many arteries as well as too much muscle in the neck to access the spine that way.

Abbie is still resting comfortably--I am hoping she will walk a bit more tomorrow so I don't have to carry her out to pee and sure hope the rice is a hit!

Wow, what a long day for sure. I am so glad she is doing better - I know it makes you feel better as well (stress is not good at all for fibro).

Keep us posted
T.

Fingers crossed that today is an easier day for both you girls!

Judy, I don't know whether a supportive harness like this would be OK to use after spinal surgery, but we bought one to help us with Peg when her hip really flares and she has trouble walking on her own. There are lots of varieties on the market, but this is the one we got from Amazon. They have several other brands for sale, as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Lift-Supp...upport+harness

If Abbie can't yet walk at all, then this probably won't help. But once she regains some mobility, this may assist her and also save your back. :o

Marianne -- Abbie will walk, albeit very, very slowly, outside to pee. Today she did not want me to pick her up. This afternoon she did sleep for a while without any muscle spasms. Biggest problem now is to figure out something she wants to eat. This morning she did eat a small bowlful of chicken and rice which was encouraging. She ate nothing the rest of the day and tonight she wanted nothing to do with the chicken & rice and would only eat chicken by itself. I really didn't think she ate enough to even coat her stomach but I gave her the tramadol, prednisone, robaxin and keflex anyway. I am not that concerned about weight loss (although she has already lost two lbs. since she got sick) but she needs nutrients to get better. If she will only eat chicken in the morning, I think I'll text the neurologist and see what her thoughts are. I hate to go down the Nutrical road ...

I hope she feels better tomorrow, Judy...the poor girl. I had back surgery and it is no easy thing!

Hopefully you won't have to go down the nutrical road, but even if you do, it would only be temporary to get her through this period of time.
Hopefully each day will see a bit of progress and at the end of 2 weeks she will be so much better and recovered and you can put this all behind you.

Hugs!