- S
July 25, 2018
My husband found our Buster on the hallway floor at 3am. We rushed him to the emergency vet. Only to be told they couldn’t help us. We would have to go to tufts in Boston (over an hour away) or East Greenwich 40 minutes. We went to Ocean state in East Greenwich.
The first ER called ahead and they were waiting for us. They took him immediately. Dr Hallowell came in and let us know all the possibilities it could be, spinal, cancer, tumor, meningitis. They would have to run tests. Lots of them. We signed a ton of paperwork handed over the credit card and left him there. They would call us with their findings. 2 hrs later Dr. Hallowell Called to let us know that Buster had gone into Cardiac and respiratory arrest. And he was down for 5 mins. But they got him back and he was currently intubated and being assigned by a ventilator. And they hadn’t gotten many of the tests done. Aka MRI, CT, X-Ray. She would call us when they got them done.
she call back in a hour. The test came back as 2 herniated disc in his neck. And a fibrocartilaginous embolus. They performed a spinal tap and that came back normal.
She said they can fix the to disc but not the embolus. However when the swelling subsides he should be able to breathe on his own again. As you can image all this information is so overwhelming. She would call us back in a 1/2 hr. To let them know what we wanted to do. Surgery or let him go. George and I discussed it. When we came home from the hospital we talked about it. If it was cancer, tumor, meningitis anything that was going to make him be in pain or suffer at all. We would have to make a choice. Now we were facing a choice it was none of the above. They can fix him. We wanted to give him a fighting chance. He was and is our kid. We have no children. He’s it. if your child have a broken neck that could be fixed, wouldn’t you fix it. When she called back we said yes. Do it.!!! We had to give them the Credit card number over the phone. $6500. In a matter of hours. We asked when would he be going it. She told us they are taking him now! I give them the thumbs up. The surgeon will call you when he is done. Approximately 1 1/2 to 2 hrs. And at the 2 hour mark. He called the surgery went well and that his is in ICU. And sedated and on a ventilator. We can come tomorrow. We went that night. And everyday for 2 weeks. They woke Buster up a day and a half after surgery. He still couldn’t breathe on his own. So they need to give him a treach tube in his throat for the ventilator. He was on 7 IV drugs. A feeding tube down his nose, a catheter. When they woke him. They retested his legs. He had sensation when we brought him in. He could sense pain. Just no voluntary movement. He had no sensation on any of them the first day of being awake. The next day he had sensation in his front legs. The day after that one of the back legs. The next day the other back leg. He was making improvements every day. Day 3 he was eating and drinking water through a syringe. He was alert. The doctors told us he was anemic from the surgery. But his numbers where holding steady. but if there were a dip. He might need a blood transfusion. Everyday they challenged him with the ventilator. Cutting it back a little to excerise his lungs. Get him to breathe on his own. He was on the ventilator for 10 out of the 14 days he was there. He had a incredible day. His doctors Called me everyday between 11-12 noon with an update. but this particular day my phone rang at 10:30am. Scared me to death. But she was calling me to let me know Buster at that point had been off he ventilator for 1 1/2 hrs. Just being assisted with oxygen. He was breathing on his own. When my husband and I got there later that afternoon. They had just put him back on the ventilator. He was off for 8 hours. We were all so happy. He had another milestone. He was so alert and Nosey as he is. Now being able to somewhat move his neck. He pulled out his feeding tube. And it happened to be a blessing is disguise. They needed to do an X-ray to get the tube back in and discovered Buster had pneumonia. A complication of the ventilator. They started him on antibiotics immediately. Did a treacha wash and swab to check the strain, to make sure they had him on the correct antibiotics. the next day the other shoe dropped. Buster wasn’t responding well. He wasn’t eating, drinking, they tried to challenge him on he ventilator. Nothing. It was like the floor fell out from under us. Still waiting on the bloodworm to make sure they had the correct antibiotics. They ran his blood again. And the red cell were dropping fast. They told us he needed the blood transfusion. And they have to do a treacha wash and change the tube everyday. My heart was breaking seeing him so lifeless. He had been doing so good. They call us that night when he had complete the transfusion said he was resting comfortably and they would see us tomorrow. We went in that afternoon he was a whole new dog. He was our Buster. Alert, bright eyed, flirting with all his techs. He came off the ventilator that day. And stayed off. Two days later they took the treacha tube out, the the feeding tube and the catheter. They kept him for a couple of days to make sure everything was good. And 2 weeks to the day we brought him home.
Now the hard part starts.
Buster was an infant in every sense. He can not walk, roll over, reposition himself, or pee by himself. His neck needed to be stabilized. He couldn’t hold his head up for more than 2 mins. He could eat and drink out of a shallow bowl. But you need to stay with him and help him. Because you don’t want him to face plant and drown in his food or water bowl. We had to reposition him every 2-4 hours. Espress his pee from his bladder. Excerise him 3-4 times a day. Range of motion. Strength train with a puppy yoga ball. ( yes there is such a thing). Physical therapy 2 times a week. We have had Buster for 9 years this past July. He is not a bark. He has never been a barker. My husband can get him to bark but teasing him with a toy. But NOT a barker. Since the accident. Buster now barks. So now we are trying to learn what barks mean what. Kind of like a baby. Is he hungry, thirsty, does he need to pee, did he poop. Not complaining, just a new norm. And we are trying to figure out. We have a blow up mattress on the floor in the living room. My husband works 3rd shift. So we take 12 hr shift each. I’m 4pm to 7am. He’s 7 am to 4 pm. Nighhe doesn’t work. I get to actually sleep in our bed. And days i don’t work he gets to sleep in the bed. Because an air mattress is fine temporarily but every night is a killer. But we can’t hear the barks from down them hall.
Buster physical therapy at first was acupuncture and laser therapy. And did wonders on him. We saw results after the very first session. He is done with that phase. And has moved on to underwater treadmill. His first session was last week. They would like him to go 2 times a week. However they are booked solid through October. So i have made set appointments through the end of the year. Through October once a week and November / December 2 times. He did much better than they thought he would.
We had an appointment with the neurologist this past Tuesday. And she’s the one to suggest the quad walker. He needs to get his legs strengthen. We also found out that, the fiborcartilaginous embolus. Yeah somehow it got lost in translation. That is a spinal stroke.
So in a nutshell.
Buster has survived being paralyzed
Cardiac and respiratory arrest, a spinal stroke, neck surgery, 7 IV drugs,
Ventilator for 10 days, pneumonia, blood transfusion, and is Currently in physical therapy
And using a loaner quad walker. awaiting his Custom fitted quad to be finished in a couple of weeks.
We are overjoyed with his progress. Everyone is!!! The hospital is amazed at his fight. And I really hate to say this. But we are also getting overwhelmed by the financial part of saving our fur baby. Anyone who knows us.
Knows that buster is our child.
And our love for this dog.
And we are exhausting all avenues to continue his care to get him home and to physical therapy walk again. The doctors are saying he has a 90+% chance of making a full recovery.
So we have set up this page for Buster our little fighter Our gladiator!
For anyone who would like to help anything would be greatly appreciated.
We appreciate all the love, prayers and support you all have given us.
#BusterStrong
#webelieveinmircles
#lovehealsall
My husband found our Buster on the hallway floor at 3am. We rushed him to the emergency vet. Only to be told they couldn’t help us. We would have to go to tufts in Boston (over an hour away) or East Greenwich 40 minutes. We went to Ocean state in East Greenwich.
The first ER called ahead and they were waiting for us. They took him immediately. Dr Hallowell came in and let us know all the possibilities it could be, spinal, cancer, tumor, meningitis. They would have to run tests. Lots of them. We signed a ton of paperwork handed over the credit card and left him there. They would call us with their findings. 2 hrs later Dr. Hallowell Called to let us know that Buster had gone into Cardiac and respiratory arrest. And he was down for 5 mins. But they got him back and he was currently intubated and being assigned by a ventilator. And they hadn’t gotten many of the tests done. Aka MRI, CT, X-Ray. She would call us when they got them done.
she call back in a hour. The test came back as 2 herniated disc in his neck. And a fibrocartilaginous embolus. They performed a spinal tap and that came back normal.
She said they can fix the to disc but not the embolus. However when the swelling subsides he should be able to breathe on his own again. As you can image all this information is so overwhelming. She would call us back in a 1/2 hr. To let them know what we wanted to do. Surgery or let him go. George and I discussed it. When we came home from the hospital we talked about it. If it was cancer, tumor, meningitis anything that was going to make him be in pain or suffer at all. We would have to make a choice. Now we were facing a choice it was none of the above. They can fix him. We wanted to give him a fighting chance. He was and is our kid. We have no children. He’s it. if your child have a broken neck that could be fixed, wouldn’t you fix it. When she called back we said yes. Do it.!!! We had to give them the Credit card number over the phone. $6500. In a matter of hours. We asked when would he be going it. She told us they are taking him now! I give them the thumbs up. The surgeon will call you when he is done. Approximately 1 1/2 to 2 hrs. And at the 2 hour mark. He called the surgery went well and that his is in ICU. And sedated and on a ventilator. We can come tomorrow. We went that night. And everyday for 2 weeks. They woke Buster up a day and a half after surgery. He still couldn’t breathe on his own. So they need to give him a treach tube in his throat for the ventilator. He was on 7 IV drugs. A feeding tube down his nose, a catheter. When they woke him. They retested his legs. He had sensation when we brought him in. He could sense pain. Just no voluntary movement. He had no sensation on any of them the first day of being awake. The next day he had sensation in his front legs. The day after that one of the back legs. The next day the other back leg. He was making improvements every day. Day 3 he was eating and drinking water through a syringe. He was alert. The doctors told us he was anemic from the surgery. But his numbers where holding steady. but if there were a dip. He might need a blood transfusion. Everyday they challenged him with the ventilator. Cutting it back a little to excerise his lungs. Get him to breathe on his own. He was on the ventilator for 10 out of the 14 days he was there. He had a incredible day. His doctors Called me everyday between 11-12 noon with an update. but this particular day my phone rang at 10:30am. Scared me to death. But she was calling me to let me know Buster at that point had been off he ventilator for 1 1/2 hrs. Just being assisted with oxygen. He was breathing on his own. When my husband and I got there later that afternoon. They had just put him back on the ventilator. He was off for 8 hours. We were all so happy. He had another milestone. He was so alert and Nosey as he is. Now being able to somewhat move his neck. He pulled out his feeding tube. And it happened to be a blessing is disguise. They needed to do an X-ray to get the tube back in and discovered Buster had pneumonia. A complication of the ventilator. They started him on antibiotics immediately. Did a treacha wash and swab to check the strain, to make sure they had him on the correct antibiotics. the next day the other shoe dropped. Buster wasn’t responding well. He wasn’t eating, drinking, they tried to challenge him on he ventilator. Nothing. It was like the floor fell out from under us. Still waiting on the bloodworm to make sure they had the correct antibiotics. They ran his blood again. And the red cell were dropping fast. They told us he needed the blood transfusion. And they have to do a treacha wash and change the tube everyday. My heart was breaking seeing him so lifeless. He had been doing so good. They call us that night when he had complete the transfusion said he was resting comfortably and they would see us tomorrow. We went in that afternoon he was a whole new dog. He was our Buster. Alert, bright eyed, flirting with all his techs. He came off the ventilator that day. And stayed off. Two days later they took the treacha tube out, the the feeding tube and the catheter. They kept him for a couple of days to make sure everything was good. And 2 weeks to the day we brought him home.
Now the hard part starts.
Buster was an infant in every sense. He can not walk, roll over, reposition himself, or pee by himself. His neck needed to be stabilized. He couldn’t hold his head up for more than 2 mins. He could eat and drink out of a shallow bowl. But you need to stay with him and help him. Because you don’t want him to face plant and drown in his food or water bowl. We had to reposition him every 2-4 hours. Espress his pee from his bladder. Excerise him 3-4 times a day. Range of motion. Strength train with a puppy yoga ball. ( yes there is such a thing). Physical therapy 2 times a week. We have had Buster for 9 years this past July. He is not a bark. He has never been a barker. My husband can get him to bark but teasing him with a toy. But NOT a barker. Since the accident. Buster now barks. So now we are trying to learn what barks mean what. Kind of like a baby. Is he hungry, thirsty, does he need to pee, did he poop. Not complaining, just a new norm. And we are trying to figure out. We have a blow up mattress on the floor in the living room. My husband works 3rd shift. So we take 12 hr shift each. I’m 4pm to 7am. He’s 7 am to 4 pm. Nighhe doesn’t work. I get to actually sleep in our bed. And days i don’t work he gets to sleep in the bed. Because an air mattress is fine temporarily but every night is a killer. But we can’t hear the barks from down them hall.
Buster physical therapy at first was acupuncture and laser therapy. And did wonders on him. We saw results after the very first session. He is done with that phase. And has moved on to underwater treadmill. His first session was last week. They would like him to go 2 times a week. However they are booked solid through October. So i have made set appointments through the end of the year. Through October once a week and November / December 2 times. He did much better than they thought he would.
We had an appointment with the neurologist this past Tuesday. And she’s the one to suggest the quad walker. He needs to get his legs strengthen. We also found out that, the fiborcartilaginous embolus. Yeah somehow it got lost in translation. That is a spinal stroke.
So in a nutshell.
Buster has survived being paralyzed
Cardiac and respiratory arrest, a spinal stroke, neck surgery, 7 IV drugs,
Ventilator for 10 days, pneumonia, blood transfusion, and is Currently in physical therapy
And using a loaner quad walker. awaiting his Custom fitted quad to be finished in a couple of weeks.
We are overjoyed with his progress. Everyone is!!! The hospital is amazed at his fight. And I really hate to say this. But we are also getting overwhelmed by the financial part of saving our fur baby. Anyone who knows us.
Knows that buster is our child.
And our love for this dog.
And we are exhausting all avenues to continue his care to get him home and to physical therapy walk again. The doctors are saying he has a 90+% chance of making a full recovery.
So we have set up this page for Buster our little fighter Our gladiator!
For anyone who would like to help anything would be greatly appreciated.
We appreciate all the love, prayers and support you all have given us.
#BusterStrong
#webelieveinmircles
#lovehealsall