The last 48 hours have been a living nightmare for us. Our Romeo baby who is only 5 years old (turning 6 on November 26) has been diagnosed with IVDD (intervertebral disc disease) stage 5 with loss of deep pain sensation to both his legs.

We noticed he couldn't walk Saturday October 5, 2024 at around 8PM. We immediately took him to an emergency vet where he got great care to stabalize him. He was in so much pain and respiratory distress, almost had to get sedated/intubated. At 12am he was stabalized enough to transfer him to a specialty hospital where he would get further evaluated by a neurologist in the AM.

The next morning we received a call from the neurologist that they were going to perform a MRI to identify what area needed to be addressed. At 11:10AM-1:15PM Romeo went into surgery for a L3-4 hemilaminectomy. Even with this surgery Romeo only has a 50% chance of ever walking and being able to have control of his bladder/bowel. We will not know until 4 weeks after surgery how well he is going to recover. Full recovery takes up to one year. We have a long road ahead of us but we are not giving up on him. We are broken and devastated.

For those of you who have pets, you may understand the financial burden. For those of you who do not, veterinarian surgeries are extremely costly. This life saving surgery for Romeo has gotten us in debt with $14,000. Post op Romeo will also need extensive rehab (about 1 year) to get his continence and hind leg movement back. This costs about $150/ session.

Romeo has been a part of our family since he was 2months old. As many of you know he has lived his best life in our family and we want to continue giving him a great life. He loves giving cuddles and kisses and serves as an emotional support for his mom. Please keep us in your prayers as we navigate this new journey with Romeo.

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