Donation protected
I thought losing my job was going to be the only summer-time curve ball that life was going to throw my way. As it turned out, that was preparation and a small blessing for the events of the last 5 weeks.
Treated for a pulled muscle that just wasn't healing, nothing was working and I watched my active and athletic Doberman, P.A.M. yelp and cry at slight movements, and slowly walk less and less. One night after close to an hour of constant screams, we ended up at the emergency vet. We knew something was terribly wrong. It was finally determined the pain was in her neck but there was no to know if this was Wobblers (not so treatable) or Intervertebral disc disease - IVDD (far more treatable) without an MRI.
I felt like I needed to make the most informed decision, so I put an $1800 MRI on Care Credit. This revealed a major herniation/IVDD in C5-6 of the cervical spine and meant surgery was our only option. The first vet we saw wanted to perform a hemilaminectomy. Traditionally, this method is used further down the spine, but he had never attempted this approach in the neck, and certainly not that far down into the neck. I went for another opinion at well-regarded clinic recommended by my wonderful vet, and he agreed that this could be operated on using the traditional method – using a ventral slot. He felt her full recovery would be high and I agreed to go ahead with surgery - another $2600.
The weekend leading up to it was more than I thought I'd ever manage as P.A.M. had to come off steroids, and she was in tremendous pain. We made it Monday June 27th, and she had the surgery. Sadly, there were complications. The vet nicked the cavity that holds a blood vessel which resulted in quite a bit of bleeding. A surgery that should have been 45 minutes turned to 2.5 hours. In the end, he was unsure how much of the disc material he was able to remove prior to the bleeding. The biggest thing in the coming days was SUPPOSED to be to see if her pain had subsided - to determine if this surgery had worked at all. He knew he hadn't gotten it all, but we hoped gravity would be our friend and the remainder of the disc material would "float" out of the completed spinal compression.
On the morning of Tuesday June 28th, the vet called and said that my P.A.M. was not in any clear pain but that she had lost her ability to walk. He was unsure if this was due to all the bleeding and swelling or if this would be permanent. When he saw us interact that morning, she was active and vocal and he told me that it wasn't time to give up and to let this play out for a few days and monitor her progress. I'd also been in close contact with my own vet who agreed. At that point, she could move all of her legs and had clear reflexes.
I brought her home Tuesday night and by Wednesday we realized we had even MORE complications. P.A.M. was not peeing on her own. I was successful at manually expressing her bladder once but we ended up back at the vet. They couldn't get her to release her urine either so had to use a needle to get it all out. She's now on Prazosin to help relax the muscles. 24 hours later we had beautiful golden showers and we never cheered so much over pee pee before in our lives!
Since then, we’ve gotten a better potty routine and P.A.M. has shown signs other signs of tremendous improvement. She’s less of a dead weight and now pushes off the ground with her back legs, giving herself a little boost as she’s lifted. She’s figured out how to scoot around which looks more like a grasshopper launching (and sounds like an elephant because she’s so big!). She eats and drinks out of her bowl and doesn’t require any more hand feeding or syringe drinking. I heard her bark for the first time two days ago when the landscapers were here.
I have seen such incredible kindness from so many people in the last several weeks too. A man I don’t know who was selling his Hoyer lift on KSL allowed me to borrow it to help boost P.A.M. off the ground. Her dog dad, Dane – aside from being tremendous moral support for me, built a ramp to get her in and out in a wagon, and eventually a wheelchair. Tena at Alta Dog Rehabilitation in Midvale, Utah loaned us a quad wheelchair. Our vet, Michelle at Hillside Animal Hospital has arranged acupuncture with another vet at the practice at no charge for a few weeks to see if it will help. So many of my friends have called to check on us, offered to run errands or just sent love and positive vibes. From the bottom of my heart – THANK YOU.
So what’s left?
P.A.M. has been cleared for Physical Therapy and this will be a critical component in her rehabilitation and continued healing. She needs to maintain movement in her legs and continue to build strength as she re-learns to walk. We will be working with Tena at Alta Dog Rehabilitation who unlike many other places charges one flat rate, no matter what type of therapy is done. Depending on P.A.M.s strength and mobility, she offers Underwater Treadmills, Cold Laser Therapy, Manual Therapy (with a home exercise program), and Electrical Stimulation. We’ve done two acupuncture sessions with Katrina at Hillside Vet at no charge but we’ll need to start paying for those soon.
Everyone that has evaluated P.A.M. feels like there is a strong chance given her improvements already that she will walk again. That’s why we haven’t given up yet. But my reality is that I still don’t have a job and I’m tapped out. Between the MRI and surgery, plus all the visits before and after, I’ve spent about $5000. So I’m asking friends and family to help me get my furbaby the continued aftercare she needs.
Why $1771? It comes from my grandparents, and more specifically my grandfather. (He even had cufflinks with this combination of numbers.) Most of you know that P.A.M. is named after them…Phyllis and Albert Morris.
Thank you so much for reading our story and for any small donation you can contribute. If you’d like emails and pictures on P.A.M.s progress please include your address in the comments!
With love,
Sydel Carie & P.A.M.
Treated for a pulled muscle that just wasn't healing, nothing was working and I watched my active and athletic Doberman, P.A.M. yelp and cry at slight movements, and slowly walk less and less. One night after close to an hour of constant screams, we ended up at the emergency vet. We knew something was terribly wrong. It was finally determined the pain was in her neck but there was no to know if this was Wobblers (not so treatable) or Intervertebral disc disease - IVDD (far more treatable) without an MRI.
I felt like I needed to make the most informed decision, so I put an $1800 MRI on Care Credit. This revealed a major herniation/IVDD in C5-6 of the cervical spine and meant surgery was our only option. The first vet we saw wanted to perform a hemilaminectomy. Traditionally, this method is used further down the spine, but he had never attempted this approach in the neck, and certainly not that far down into the neck. I went for another opinion at well-regarded clinic recommended by my wonderful vet, and he agreed that this could be operated on using the traditional method – using a ventral slot. He felt her full recovery would be high and I agreed to go ahead with surgery - another $2600.
The weekend leading up to it was more than I thought I'd ever manage as P.A.M. had to come off steroids, and she was in tremendous pain. We made it Monday June 27th, and she had the surgery. Sadly, there were complications. The vet nicked the cavity that holds a blood vessel which resulted in quite a bit of bleeding. A surgery that should have been 45 minutes turned to 2.5 hours. In the end, he was unsure how much of the disc material he was able to remove prior to the bleeding. The biggest thing in the coming days was SUPPOSED to be to see if her pain had subsided - to determine if this surgery had worked at all. He knew he hadn't gotten it all, but we hoped gravity would be our friend and the remainder of the disc material would "float" out of the completed spinal compression.
On the morning of Tuesday June 28th, the vet called and said that my P.A.M. was not in any clear pain but that she had lost her ability to walk. He was unsure if this was due to all the bleeding and swelling or if this would be permanent. When he saw us interact that morning, she was active and vocal and he told me that it wasn't time to give up and to let this play out for a few days and monitor her progress. I'd also been in close contact with my own vet who agreed. At that point, she could move all of her legs and had clear reflexes.
I brought her home Tuesday night and by Wednesday we realized we had even MORE complications. P.A.M. was not peeing on her own. I was successful at manually expressing her bladder once but we ended up back at the vet. They couldn't get her to release her urine either so had to use a needle to get it all out. She's now on Prazosin to help relax the muscles. 24 hours later we had beautiful golden showers and we never cheered so much over pee pee before in our lives!
Since then, we’ve gotten a better potty routine and P.A.M. has shown signs other signs of tremendous improvement. She’s less of a dead weight and now pushes off the ground with her back legs, giving herself a little boost as she’s lifted. She’s figured out how to scoot around which looks more like a grasshopper launching (and sounds like an elephant because she’s so big!). She eats and drinks out of her bowl and doesn’t require any more hand feeding or syringe drinking. I heard her bark for the first time two days ago when the landscapers were here.
I have seen such incredible kindness from so many people in the last several weeks too. A man I don’t know who was selling his Hoyer lift on KSL allowed me to borrow it to help boost P.A.M. off the ground. Her dog dad, Dane – aside from being tremendous moral support for me, built a ramp to get her in and out in a wagon, and eventually a wheelchair. Tena at Alta Dog Rehabilitation in Midvale, Utah loaned us a quad wheelchair. Our vet, Michelle at Hillside Animal Hospital has arranged acupuncture with another vet at the practice at no charge for a few weeks to see if it will help. So many of my friends have called to check on us, offered to run errands or just sent love and positive vibes. From the bottom of my heart – THANK YOU.
So what’s left?
P.A.M. has been cleared for Physical Therapy and this will be a critical component in her rehabilitation and continued healing. She needs to maintain movement in her legs and continue to build strength as she re-learns to walk. We will be working with Tena at Alta Dog Rehabilitation who unlike many other places charges one flat rate, no matter what type of therapy is done. Depending on P.A.M.s strength and mobility, she offers Underwater Treadmills, Cold Laser Therapy, Manual Therapy (with a home exercise program), and Electrical Stimulation. We’ve done two acupuncture sessions with Katrina at Hillside Vet at no charge but we’ll need to start paying for those soon.
Everyone that has evaluated P.A.M. feels like there is a strong chance given her improvements already that she will walk again. That’s why we haven’t given up yet. But my reality is that I still don’t have a job and I’m tapped out. Between the MRI and surgery, plus all the visits before and after, I’ve spent about $5000. So I’m asking friends and family to help me get my furbaby the continued aftercare she needs.
Why $1771? It comes from my grandparents, and more specifically my grandfather. (He even had cufflinks with this combination of numbers.) Most of you know that P.A.M. is named after them…Phyllis and Albert Morris.
Thank you so much for reading our story and for any small donation you can contribute. If you’d like emails and pictures on P.A.M.s progress please include your address in the comments!
With love,
Sydel Carie & P.A.M.
Organizer
Sydel Morris-Greco
Organizer
Salt Lake City, UT