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maggiefromnj · 09-17-2016, 06:21 PM

I previously posted about Maggie having a potential disc herniation. Maggie got worse as yesterday went on and into the evening. At dinnertime she was trying to eat with her right leg/foot pointed out to the side on an angle and her left leg almost crossed behind. If she tried to move she would lose her balance. Even on only Rimadly and a muscle relaxer I didn't think she should get worse. Her bowel control was "off" but not completely. We could see no point in waiting to go to U of Penn.

She seemed to get worse as we were there...it was a long wait with lots of patients arriving when we did who needed faster treatment. Finally we were able to meet with the Dr. Maggie was pretty much at stage 3 of the IVDD stages. She had serious loss of proprioception, that is not knowing where in space her feet were. What I considered walking the vet said wasn't really walking, she sort of was dragging her right leg, but trying to move it. Knowing that her symptoms were progressing they wanted to keep her overnight to do testing (MRI most likely--which is what they did). The vet said they would monitor her overnight and if she got worse they would call a team in, otherwise it would be in the morning. They said it could get worse within hours, or it could be days or weeks. She's seen it get really bad in 12 hours. She had her MRI and there was one disc ruptured and pressing on the cord. They did surgery and she came through it well, her cord was flat (like it should be) when they were done. We didn't go see her today because it would make her anxious if she was aware of us. We will see her tomorrow. She should come home Monday. We really miss her!

I think it was the right choice because it killed us to watch her falling down, and I was afraid she would injure something worse. Her chance of a full recovery is better with surgery. If we had waited and it progressed her chances would be lower even with surgery. I hated leaving her, but felt better for doing so, knowing she was in good hands.

With the surgery she will be allowed to sleep with us, and be out and trying to walk. Of course no jumping and she will be crated when she is not closely supervised. Without it I believe she would have had to be crated constantly. I read this "diary" on dogster and Scooter's case sounds eerily like Maggie's, I hope her recovery goes as well (though I only got to read part of it so far) [page 9] Scooter's Diary - A dog diary by Scooter, PAWS I don't know what kind of therapy she will need, but the vet said she had strong abs and good leg muscles and that should be in her favor for recovery.

She's never been really sick. She recovered from her spay like a trooper, without even a cone. I'm not sure what to expect. I hope she does well and I hope her personality etc are unchanged. She is a sweetheart with an awesome temperament.

09-17-2016, 06:21 PM	#1
maggiefromnj YT Addict Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: nj Posts: 497	Maggie had disc surgery today....(IVDD) I previously posted about Maggie having a potential disc herniation. Maggie got worse as yesterday went on and into the evening. At dinnertime she was trying to eat with her right leg/foot pointed out to the side on an angle and her left leg almost crossed behind. If she tried to move she would lose her balance. Even on only Rimadly and a muscle relaxer I didn't think she should get worse. Her bowel control was "off" but not completely. We could see no point in waiting to go to U of Penn. She seemed to get worse as we were there...it was a long wait with lots of patients arriving when we did who needed faster treatment. Finally we were able to meet with the Dr. Maggie was pretty much at stage 3 of the IVDD stages. She had serious loss of proprioception, that is not knowing where in space her feet were. What I considered walking the vet said wasn't really walking, she sort of was dragging her right leg, but trying to move it. Knowing that her symptoms were progressing they wanted to keep her overnight to do testing (MRI most likely--which is what they did). The vet said they would monitor her overnight and if she got worse they would call a team in, otherwise it would be in the morning. They said it could get worse within hours, or it could be days or weeks. She's seen it get really bad in 12 hours. She had her MRI and there was one disc ruptured and pressing on the cord. They did surgery and she came through it well, her cord was flat (like it should be) when they were done. We didn't go see her today because it would make her anxious if she was aware of us. We will see her tomorrow. She should come home Monday. We really miss her! I think it was the right choice because it killed us to watch her falling down, and I was afraid she would injure something worse. Her chance of a full recovery is better with surgery. If we had waited and it progressed her chances would be lower even with surgery. I hated leaving her, but felt better for doing so, knowing she was in good hands. With the surgery she will be allowed to sleep with us, and be out and trying to walk. Of course no jumping and she will be crated when she is not closely supervised. Without it I believe she would have had to be crated constantly. I read this "diary" on dogster and Scooter's case sounds eerily like Maggie's, I hope her recovery goes as well (though I only got to read part of it so far) [page 9] Scooter's Diary - A dog diary by Scooter, PAWS I don't know what kind of therapy she will need, but the vet said she had strong abs and good leg muscles and that should be in her favor for recovery. She's never been really sick. She recovered from her spay like a trooper, without even a cone. I'm not sure what to expect. I hope she does well and I hope her personality etc are unchanged. She is a sweetheart with an awesome temperament.