Two ... count them ....

....Two post in One week .....

Things were clicking right along ... Life was good ... Jere & I attended the ballgame last night between the Memphis Redbirds and the Las Vegas 51's (get it ... Area 51 )  and our Boys of Summer showed the stuff they were made of ...  The boys scored first with Dan Johnson getting a single Home Run in the bottom of the 1st.  Then came the 3rd inning ... OMG ... LV got 2 runners on 1st & 2nd and the 3rd batter up got a double scoring those 2 runs.  Then the next 2 batters loaded up the bases and then WHAM .... a grand slam .. making it 6-1.  But our guys didn't give up ... slowly, inning by inning they chipped away one run at a time until the bottom of the 7th with a score of 8-4 LV the Birds tied it up with 4 runs ... 8-8 ... The game then was a battle of the wills  ... LV got another run in top of the 8th .... 9-8 .... but then came the bottom of 8 ... A ground ball to right field scored one tying it up again and then a sac fly by our new hometown boy, Jacob Wilson brought Xavier in !!!

It was a GREAT game !!! Really love those "edge of the seat" battles of the bats & balls !!

Arriving home later than usual, I noticed that Nestle, our male chocolate cocker didn't meet me at the door as usual, but I came on in and he was politely waiting at his eating spot.  I got food down and after taking one bite he sort of stumbled around like his back legs weren't working.  After a few minutes he yelped.  I tried to direct him back to his food but when I touched his hips, for the first time in his life he acted like he might snap at me ... This was so NOT like him and his docile self.  

Nestle in his favorite spot... Jere's chair ! 

Another middle of the night trip to Memphis Veterinary Specialists, and a tense 2 hours while he was evaluated.  When the doctor came in I was DEVASTATED ... She said he most probably had a slipped/ruptured disc and the ONLY way to determine was a CT Scan under general anesthesia and if she was correct in her suspicions  would require surgery to the tune of 4 - 5 THOUSAND DOLLARS... OMG !!!  but she would send him home with Meloxicam, Tramadol for pain and Methocarbonal which is a muscle relaxer.  I was to take him to his doctor on Saturday for re-evaluation or bring him back to emergency if he got worse.  

I got home at 2:30 a.m. and headed to the barn to dig out the wire kennel.  Medicated him and went to bed finally at 4:00.....

When I got him out of the kennel the next morning he was not able to even push himself up on his FRONT legs ... I immediately called my vet and was there at 9:00.  Dr. J wanted to keep him for the day and do X-rays of his spine, suspecting that he DID NOT have a slipped disc.  

When I picked him up at 2:30 that afternoon, I reviewed the X-rays and Dr. J pointed out that the disc space between all vertebrae was evenly spaced, so there was NO indication of disc slippage, but based on symptoms he suspected that he had a fibrocartilagenous embolism.  In layman's terms small particles of fibrocartilage believed to come from the disc between the vertebrae break loose and block blood vessels within the spinal cord.  At the onset it is usually very painful but tends to resolve itself within hours. AND unlike disc slippage, the treatment is not surgery, but anti-inflammatories and therapy.  He changed his meds to Prednisone and took him off the muscle relaxers.  The problem was neurological and not skeletal so all the muscle relaxers were doing was dope him up and exasperate the lack of control over his hind quarters.  He did continue the pain meds for 48 hours and will re-evaluate him on Monday.

I thought he was going to drain the water tank when we got home .... He is so pitiful on his knees!!! 

6.5.2015

I kenneled him and he slept off the remaining muscle relaxers and when I took him outside around 4:30 he PEED !!! No bladder issues which is GREAT !! But he still couldn't get his back feet under him to walk.  

This morning (Saturday) when I opened the door to his kennel, he "belly crawled" out and looked up at me like "really, you're going to just stand there and expect me to walk outside to pee?" ...So I picked him up (all 321/4 pounds) and carried him out and set him down in the damp grass ... he immediately got up on his back legs and peed !!! Then shuffled to the concrete patio, got his back feet under him and "duck walked" to the door !!! GOOD BOY ... those legs ARE going to work again !!! 

I have now given him his first dose of Prednisone and another Tramadol and he is passed out for the morning ... 

Walking is such hard work !!

Needless to say, this pet emergency has derailed my trip to Georgia to meet my new grandson, Wesley, but here is a new picture !! 

He is getting SO BIG ... look at those hands and long fingers !!! I'm sure those socks are big on him but he looks all hands &b feet.  Maybe I'll be able to meet him before he starts to school !!! 

Well, I need to jump off here and get out in the yard before the rain hits again this afternoon.  One of these days, I will actually have time to get some stitchin in ... I HAVE TO...There are 2 more X-Stitch projects I need to complete for my upcoming trip to Tulsa in July !!! 

Till next time,

Cindi

6.6.2015