Staples are out!

On Monday, Justin and I took Boomer to NCState for his follow up visit and to get his staples out.  We dropped him off at 8 AM and picked him up at 4 PM.  He was there all day to get his staples out and do the testing for the study.  Kim brought him out to us in the afternoon and said that he walked on the two different treadmills and when they brought him in to do the sensory study where he lays on his back and he fell asleep.  Guess he was comfortable there!

His back looks much better without the staples:

The fur is also starting to grow back and look much better.  Boomer is going on Saturday to the groomer (I'm going with to make sure that he's okay) and they're just going to do a trim up so his fur growing in doesn't look as funny.  I think he'll be happy though to get more of a summer cut on the rest of his body too-- it's hot here in North Carolina.  Been in the 90s all week.

Also for going through all of his pains, Boomer got a new summer bowtie.  He hasn't been too keen on showing it off lately.  He won't let me take a good picture to show.  But, he's doing well with his walking. 

He really wants to do more and more, but knows that he can't.  So, he's getting a bit frustrated.  Everyday when I get home and let him out of his crate he's standing up and putting his front paws up on the crate and bouncing with his back legs until I make him sit and wait to get out of the crate.  

His balance is getting much better, but it's still not there 100%.  We could try the aqua therapy now that his staples are out now. Who knows if we will. He's not too much of a water dog, but it'd get those legs moving!

Speaking of getting legs moving-- he's trying to get them moving up the stairs. 

You can see in the video he tries really hard to get up the steps.  We were told on Monday that it's better for him to go up on things instead of down because of how it compresses his back.  So, we're letting him try to go up the front three steps with assistance.  He's gotten better at it since I took this video earlier in the week.
His walking has also gotten much better:

You can tell he is a bit more stable but he still wobbles towards the end or when he's getting tired.

And, I think one of the favorite things that he can now do again is roll.  When he had his staples in he wanted to roll so bad on the grass and on the carpet but we wouldn't let him.  So, I think on Tuesday when he realized that he was allowed to roll, he went for it! He rolled for about 10 minutes on the carpet.  I'm sure where his staples were and with his fur growing back in it must be itchy. I guess we just don't scratch it enough; but, we don't want to mess with his scar.

So, we're making progress.  I'm so happy that he's able to walk and able to be more of himself again. He still doesn't have it in his back legs to jump up on the couch or to look out his front window, but that's okay.  I don't think we're wanting him to jump at all.  In fact, if we can just master the stairs again I'll be happy because we bought him stairs so he could walk up and down on the bed.  They key will be to get him to walk on the stairs to get up and down.  I know he'll just want to jump off the bed, so we'll have to train him.  He's a smart cookie, so I think he'll pick up on it.

But for now, that's all. Hopefully we'll post more progress soon-- but those legs are working and getting stronger and that's all we can ask for!

No News is Good News

So, we have been busy-- and thus no news is good news!

Boomer has been doing really well.  We are so happy he's returned to himself more and more.  However, with him returning to himself that means that he thinks that he can do everything before he had his surgery.  He wants to be able to do the stairs and jump on the bed and go under the table.  These are just all things that he just cannot do just yet.  However, he's a little sneaker and ends up getting underneath the coffee table and then we make him lay on his side and slide him out so that he doesn't hit his staples when he gets out.

He does want to play with this toys and have you throw them the way he used to.  But, his back legs just can't keep up with him, so we've just been throwing his toys just a small distance on the carpet so that he can keep his traction on the carpet.

His walking has also gotten much better and this weekend he tried to run a bit, but it really tuckers him out.  Those back legs just aren't back to perfect, but he can get around himself. I can't believe the progress that he's made in just these two short weeks.

Justin and I feel like we had a toddler in the house and we have to keep watching what he's doing and have to be super aware of where he is so he doesn't do something to hurt himself.  Boomer has been very much baby training for us.  I'm glad to say that Justin and I have been a great team throughout this whole process and I am happy that we have each other to lean on to go through this together.

Boomer goes back on Monday for his check up and to walk on the super special treadmill again and get his staples out.  Here's how far his incision has healed:

His staples are looking good, but I think he'll be happy to get his staples out. We will find out what we need to be doing for him when we talk to the staff after his appointment on Monday.  

But for now, his sweet face is back:

making progress one paw at a time

Boomer slowly continues to make progress with that he can do. Monday he was able to walk about 1/2 of our usual walk on his own.  Of course, this is with me picking him up and getting him to the sidewalk.  He still can't do stairs and I'm afraid for him to do the stairs.  But he went outside and was able to do a lot of the walk on his own and when I went to put the sling underneath him, he would stop and wouldn't want to move.  He wants to do his walking unassisted. I'm glad he wants to make all of the progress on his own. He's a good little dude.

He also is a bit more sure of himself when he is downstairs in the house.  I was in the fridge getting my lunch together and I had left him on the bed about 20 feet away from me.  All of the sudden I saw him at my feet!  He is wanting to get up and walk around downstairs.  He's really good on the carpets we have down, but the hardwood floors make him uneasy.

He wants to be able to do what he used to be able to do, like go under the coffee table, but I've now yelled at him for that.  He doesn't understand his staples and that's a hard thing.  But, he's making more and more progress.  His walks do seem to tucker him out.  For example:

We're happy that he's making so much progress.  We'll continue to update as things get better.  But for now, here's a picture of his sleeping quarters: 

Boomer's a baby

I now have a taste of what it will be like when you have a baby.  Boomer woke us up every so often last night with his coughing.  Then this morning, it was hard to get ready because he wanted to be near me and I had to make sure that he didn't try to get up while I was doing other things.  So, I got his bed and put it in the bathroom so I could get ready.  He was close to me and could watch me and I could watch him to make sure that he was staying put.  Then I had to carry him and the bed downstairs so that I could get my lunch together, with him watching me.

Justin and I did take him out this morning and he wouldn't potty so it was nerve racking to have him not potty.  So, after Justin left for work I took him on a walk and used his favorite word "walk" and he was so excited and that did the trick! He was able to urinate and defecate and get totally tired out.  He was able to walk from our house around the corner (both ways-- one way on each walk this morning) and he wanted to keep going, but I thought it best to stop him at one point so that he wouldn't be hurting from his over zealous walking.

I realized that I needed to tire him out before I went into work and so we went for a walk again. I got him all settled and got my stuff together and left for work.  We have our security cameras and I was able to watch Boomer on the cameras.  He seemed okay for a bit but when I checked when I got to work Boomer was howling.

When I got home we went for another walk and he was tuckered out again.  He did well in his crate and was standing when I got home.  So, he knew I was coming in and I hope he didn't over do it to get up as I walked in the house.  We're going to have to work on him staying calm when someone walks in.  But, he's making progress and we're moving his legs and giving him some massages.  But most of all working on his stamina so that he can build strength in those legs.

Boomer's First Day Home!

Boomer came home yesterday! We couldn't be more excited to have him home.  It is a lot of adjusting and making sure that he is comfortable.  Before he came home we prepped by cleaning the house so we didn't have to do anything when he got home and we could just lay around with him.  We also bought him a new crate that we put in the study for him to stay in during the day while we are at work.  It ended up being a great deal and he has enough room to have a bed and an area that we have a pee pad on just in case.

We got to NC State right at 9 AM and Dr. Bray walked Boomer out with a harness and his sling.  He was doing really well walking and Dr. Bray said that Boomer was able to walk unassisted in the grass.  The slick floor and concrete is another story. It was great news that he was still progressing.  Dr. Olby came out and she was very excited about the progress that Boomer was making too.  They gave us his discharge papers and he isn't on any pain meds-- actually he isn't on any medications at all.  Which is awesome! They told us that we needed to bring him back in a week because it's 2 weeks from his surgery, so that he can walk on the extra special treadmill again.

So, we waved good bye until his check up to Dr. Bray-- she gave us the PT papers that he needed to do (massage and moving his legs around) and off we went. We brought Boomer's seat for the car so he can see out the window and he was so excited to get into the car:

You can see the big smile on that face.  He was ready to go to his home and be back in his bed and with his stuff.  We are a bit nervous with his staples and making sure that we keep him happy.  It's hard because Boomer is like a baby.  He can make noises that let you know that he's not okay and you don't know what's going to make him happy.  We have to guess, but he's been a good mute patient so far.  Since he's not on any pain meds it makes it easy to know that when he's tired he's had enough.

We were so excited that when he got home we wanted to test out his walking unassisted in the grass and we were so excited with the results:

Even though it's just a few steps and just a few seconds, it's wonderful to see him walking on his own again.  Now, he does sway a lot with his back legs and he is unsure about pottying unassisted, so we still have a long way to go.  In addition, he still cannot just stand up on his own.  He pushes back to stand up but his back legs still aren't cooperating the way that they used to.

Boomer was just so happy to be back in his space and on his big bed:

He loved being home and being surrounded by his stuff. We were happy to have him there, but his quick walking stint outside really tuckered him out.  It probably takes a lot of energy out of him to walk since he really has to do a lot of work to make it all work.  It was okay though, because we really enjoyed the puppy snuggles as well.

 We also liked having the time to just relax and not have to worry about anything else but enjoying having our puppy back home. We did get concerned because we would take him outside and he didn't want to potty at all. So that's been an adventure to get him to pee.  Finally when we took him out for a final time he did pee and we could go upstairs to bed happy.  I think out of all of the things that Boomer missed the most was our bed.  I placed him on our bed and I think that was the biggest smile that he had all day.

Even though he's not smiling in this picture it made him super happy to lay up there again.  He wasn't too thrilled though when it was time for bed and we put him in his crate on the floor.  Luckily he didn't cry when we put him in there, he just realized that was where he was going to sleep.  He did wake us up every three hours though with his coughing.  Hopefully he kicks the cough soon because it sounds awful!

Saturday Visit

We were up early on Saturday so we could go and visit Boomer in the morning during visiting hours.  Dr. Bray was there from 8-10am and that's when we were allowed to visit.  Side note: Dr. Bray is ALWAYS there. I am so impressed with how much she works and how happy she always is to see us or talk to me on the phone.  She's an awesome resident!

So we go there after 8:30 so that we could let Dr. Bray get into her day before we wanted to see Boomer. When we got there, she walked out with Boomer on the sling and he was doing really well walking.  Boomer hadn't seen Justin all week so he was really excited to see him. Boomer tried to jump up, but those back legs just still aren't cooperating yet.  Dr. Bray wanted to show off how well he was doing and give Justin a try at walking Boomer in the sling.  So, we walked around the corner over to the neurology exam rooms and sat down in there and Justin was able to give Boomer a big puppy hug.

Dr. Bray talked to us in our exam room and Dr. Olby joined us as well.  They were both impressed with the progress that Boomer was making.  We discussed that he would be released on Sunday at 9 AM and they would fill us in on all of the information then about what needs to happen.  We also discussed when he would need to come back and visit and walk on the special treadmill in the Biomolecular building.  He needs to come back on June 16th or 17th for his follow up.  

Dr. Bray and Dr. Olby left and we were allowed to take Boomer outside and walk around.  So Justin was the one to try doing his sling walking today and outside we went! 

We tried walking Boomer around outside and we could see that his back left leg in really strong and his right one isn't quite there yet.  Right now I think he likes to walk more so on the concrete instead of the grass because he cant quite pick his feet up he kind of shuffles them instead of really walking.  

We had a really chill visit with Boomer and just loved on him.  We are just really excited to be able to bring him home and snuggle with him on the couch while he continues to recover. 

Family Selfie!

Learning to walk on a sling

Today Dr. Bray greeted me before I got to see Boomer.  She brought out a piece of paper with pictures on it:

The top picture is of Boomer getting his sensory therapy. This is when they put sensors on Boomer's back paws where he lost the feeling and see when he reacts.  So, today was the first day that he could feel the hot and cold sensors.  They said that Boomer looked at them like seriously what's going on here?

The bottom picture is of Boom walking on the extra special treadmill in some Biomolecular building. So Boomer got to go on an adventure today to a different building and walk somewhere new.  So in this picture they are "tail walking" Boom, by holding up his back end by just the base of his tail.  This is one of the options that we do have with Boomer when wanting to walk with him, but you have to be down on his level.

Dr. Bray had to disappear because she had another dog that was in a similar situation as Boomer and she
was getting ready to do his surgery.

So earlier in the day when I talked to Dr. Bray I had asked if they could show me how to walk him with the sling and the towel. So, when they rolled Boomer out, yes I did say roll, he was on a cart sitting on the top like he was king. We went outside to go learn to walk with Boomer on the sling.  So, here's the video of Boomer walking to me in the sling:

This looks really encouraging for Boomer's progress.  He can walk with the support-- so he has motion in his legs and he needs just a little bit on support so he doesn't fall over (balance) and he can't get up on his own so he needs that start to get to walking.  So here's how he walks with the towel.

They also wanted Boomer to urinate while I was there because he hadn't all day and they had just measured his bladder.  So we went walking around and I was helping Boomer to walk by tail walking and he did end up peeing.  As soon as he was done sniffing, we went inside and they took him back to measure his bladder by ultrasound again.  It took about 5 minutes and then he was back and we got to sit in the exam room.

I was by myself today so Boomer and I just sat down together and he just laid in my arms.  It was good to just get to snuggle with him and let him relax.  It takes a lot out of him to do his walking so it was good to just snuggle and I was able to look at his incision.  His incision is really healing:

You can see in this picture that his fur is really starting to grow back as well.  So, we'll have to trim down his other hair so that it all kind of grows in together.  One of my co-workers said that Boomer's front paw where they had his IV in looks like he's just wearing one Ugg boot on his foot.  I thought that was cute!

Today's Boomer Selfie

Our snuggles in the exam room. 

We get to go visit him again tomorrow morning, but I think the most exciting news is that Dr. Bray said that Boomer will come home on SUNDAY! :) We are so excited to bring him home but know that it's going to be a big change. We look forward to seeing him tomorrow!

Leaping and Bounding

I just got off the phone with Dr. Bray for Boomer's morning update.  She said that he did really well walking with the sling this morning and walked himself outside and went down and they lowered the sling and he was able to potty-- which is great! He's able to stand a bit more on his own once you get him up in the standing position and tries to take some steps.  Dr. Bray's quote was that he's "leaping and bounding" ahead with progress.

I asked her if she would be able to show me how to use the sling to walk him this afternoon for our visit and so she said that she would and so I'm excited to not have my back hurt from walking him around.  I also checked on his discharge date and she is looking into seeing when he would be able to come home, so it depends on when they counted the 7 days of hospitalization that he needed for the study. So he might be coming home on Sunday or Monday. Hopefully I'll find out the answer this afternoon when I go to visit him.

Progress!

Dr. Bray called me at 2:10 letting me know that she was really busy and that she was really sorry that she forgot to call earlier and that she was really busy.  She also wanted to share in the good news that Boomer was now in control of his bladder and he peed twice last night and today.  She also was happy that there was movement in Boomer's legs-- he's not ambulatory but there is movement.

So, when we got there today Boomer was so excited to see us-- and he had a fluffy visitor today too! Cooper came to visit Boomer. I think Cooper was thoroughly confused about what was happening there, but was thrilled to see Boomer.  Boomer was happy to have someone of his own species there visiting him and I think that it seemed a bit more like home for him.

Since when Dr. Bray called she said that he had leg movements and I wanted to see what movements he had.  So, Nancy was able to hold him and we were able to see what he was up to:

We were so impressed with what Boomer has accomplished so far.  It's just good to be able to hold him too. I think he looks forward to the time that we come to visit him. I want to believe that he's gotten into a routine with his day and knows that after he does certain things that we are going to come visit him.

I think Boomer doesn't like being cooped up in the little exam room because when he does lay in my arms he looks at the door for the exit.  So today we decided to take him outside.  We just had one of those rains this afternoon and it had finally finished so outside we went.  I put Boom down and held up his rear end and he was so happy to be able to sniff.  We walked around a lot and he sniffed a lot of grass and then halfway through our time outside he got into his squat position and as I held up his back end in his squat he peed.  It was great that he wanted to be able to pee and he did.  We walked around a bit more-- It's hard to walk around bent over holding up his back end. I wasn't able to walk as fast as he was.  And staying bent over that long really hurts my back.  We're going to have to learn the sling method sometime soon so my back gets saved! We came inside and were able to let the staff know that he peed which I'm sure that they wanted to know of what he did.

Boomer Selfie

We came back inside and went back into the exam room.  Cooper was still concerned that he was going to have something done to him while he was visiting Boomer, but he ran around the room and that gave Boomer motivation to want to get up and move around too.

All of the moving around and everything that he did outside really got him tired and he wanted to just sit for awhile after we came in. He then started to really whine and complain and I didn't know if he over did it and he was in pain.

One thing we also did notice today was that his patch on his side that was giving him medicine is now gone and he has nothing on his body at all, so he's getting all of his medicine orally now.

The staff from the study did hear about his peeing when we went outside and part of what they are monitoring on him is his bladder functioning.  So they did want to take him and do an ultrasound of his bladder to see how much he was able to void. When they entered the room Boomer and Cooper were up to their usual antics and barked at the staff when they came in.  I think that is the first time that they would have had Boomer bark at them.   Then they brought him back in the room and he was just really tired. So we were seeing that it was probably a good time for us to depart.  The vet tech came back in and took Boomer in her arms and he was sad to see us go.  He realized that he was going back to his kennel and then didn't want me to leave.  Today was a good visit and I'm glad to see that he is making as much progress as he is.

Boomer with Nancy showing off he doesn't
have his patch on his side anymore. 

We cannot say enough how thankful we are for the staff at NC State.  We love Dr. Bray and her dedication to our case and how much see seems invested into Boomer.  We cannot be more pleased with the care that the whole Neurology staff is giving Boomer and how welcoming they are to us each time we visit.

Hanging out with Boomer after his
adventure of his walk and peeing!

Our little man! 

Thursday Morning Update

This morning was a little stressful.  We usually get the update around 8-8:30 AM and I didn't get a call.  It got to be 9:00, then I went to a meeting at 9:15 and still no call.  My mom called the unit and left a message.  She got a call back that there were a lot of emergencies this morning and that they didn't have a chance to call yet.  That made me feel better that they weren't calling me because Boomer was one of the emergencies.

But, today was good news.  Someone who I had not spoken with before gave the call today because Dr. Bray was busy with the emergencies.  But, the good news.  It's funny for me to say, but he peed on his own! Twice. It's great that he now has control over his bladder and they don't have to catheterize him anymore.  He's making steps back to being normal.  The other really exciting news is that he is more ambulatory.  I'm excited to see what progress he's made when we visit this afternoon.  The tech that called this morning let me know that Dr. Olby was very excited with the progress that he made over night!

Wednesday Visit: Farts, Love and Happiness

Boomer is still where he was neurologically on Monday; however, he is back to himself.  You can see his big personality and all of his love for live when we saw him today.  You could tell he was no longer feeling the drugs and was back to thinking clearly.  When I first got there by myself today, Boomer was so happy to be in my lap, we took a selfie (on the left).  I actually got some kisses from him today too.

In addition to the sweet love that Boomer gave me, he also gave me some farts.  They were loud! I couldn't believe that they were coming out of him-- and he gave me some of his fecal matter too.  This I was not very pleased about.  Luckily Nancy had arrived at this point and she was able to help me clean up and get one of the technicians in to make sure that Boomer was all clear and he didn't have to defecate.  Since Boomer brought it up, I had to ask about him having BMs.  The said that because it is a muscle in his body he will continue to have BMs but they are uncertain if he knows if he's going to have them or not.  Since today he really started eating well and finishing all of the food that they gave him we will find out over the next few days whether or not he alerts you to know if he needs to go.  They are still helping him with his bladder.

He was so excited that I brought his hedgehog.  When he saw it, he tried to jump on it and he got it in his mouth and shook it all around.  I know he's happy to have that piece of home there with him.  He just looks happy today and happy that we were there.  Partially through the visit Boomer started to whine and I was concerned that it meant that he needed to poop, so when we went to start looking for someone to help us to know if they knew Dr. Bray walked in.  She thought that his whining might be because he was feeling back to his usual self and didn't want to get left behind.  So he was whimpering looking out the door and not wanting us to leave him there.

Nancy and I tried hard to get him to stand up and get him to walk around the room.  When one of the technicians was in the room, she helped him to walk around and he tried to jump up on me.  Luckily Nancy was able to catch this one on film: 

 Dr. Bray also told us that she would be able to show us how to walk him using a sling.  It does hurt your back bending over and trying to help Boom walk even though he's a little dude that position isn't comfortable after just a few minutes.  She also told us that Boomer is a little stinker in taking his pills.  He eats the meatball and then spits out the pill.  I told her we have the same problems so you have to switch up what you're giving him his pill in.

Boomer got comfy with us sitting on the floor too.  He was happy, just like yesterday, to be held.  I wonder if he knows that we are coming each day around the same time and looks forward to it.

We had to keep the little pad underneath him because I didn't want to be the place that the poop ended up on if he were to poop.  So, we made sure to keep him on the pad today even when I was holding him. When we were sitting on the floor he was looking out the door and whimpering, so we decided to take a little walk and sit out in the lobby area.  We couldn't take him outside because it had just started to rain, but he was happy to get to look out the window like we do at home.

We did take him outside after the rain stopped so that he could put his paws on the ground out there too.  Of course, he loves to go in the tall oriental grasses.. so we went into the tall oriental grasses. He got himself and me all wet, but I'm sure that he loved it. 

Nancy also filmed when I tried to help Boomer walk in the exam room: 

I love that in all of the pictures from today you can see how happy he is again.  You can see it in his face and eyes that he's all there.  Hopefully that's motivation for him to want to get going again and we get more feeling back into his legs and paws.  Everyday is just a little bit more progress and we are happy progress is being made.  

Justin hopefully will get to visit tomorrow.  He told me he doesn't want Boomer to think that only his mommy loves him and comes to visit him, so hopefully Justin can carve some time out of his day to come out and visit him.  I know it's hard for him to see all of the pictures and videos that I take and not be able to share it with me.  

We also found out today that fluffy visitors are also welcome! 

Wednesday Morning Update

Dr. Bray gave me a call right around 8:15 this morning to give Boomer's update.  She said that he is a bit more perky this morning and more and more himself.  It's probably because he is coming off the meds and can think straight.  Yesterday he did still look a little puppy-drunk, so hopefully today he's more himself.  Dr. Bray was happy that he was eating more and moving himself toward his water bowl to drink.  The more exciting news was that when they took him outside this morning and were working on his PT he was able to stand on all four paws for 30 seconds.  Yesterday afternoon when we stood him up on all fours he was able to hold it for just a few seconds before he slumped down.  So, for him to hold himself up that long, hopefully his legs are starting to realize that they're there.  It's progress-- and good progress.  Baby steps still, but baby steps in the right direction. 

We'll visit him this afternoon and I have the hedgehog in tow.  Hopefully that cheers him up and he gives us a nice big smile.

Tuesday Visit

Today my mother-in-law, Nancy, and I visited Boomer.  We arrived at 4 PM and stayed for an hour.  It was great today to get to hold Boomer and learn more about what it's going to be like when Boomer comes home.  He is still in the same place in terms of progress as he was yesterday afternoon, but today he was a little bit more himself.  We are happy with him staying stable.  He didn't look as drugged and the tech that brought him in today removed his blanket quickly because she wanted to see him wag his tail.  And he wagged his tail when he saw us!
Boomer also got some FaceTime in with his MiMi (my mom).  It was good that she was able to see him walk around the room with help today. I love that technology helps to bring everyone together.  Even my parents who are in Kentucky can feel like they are here with us and experience the ups and downs of this whole experience.

I was a little nervous holding him with his staples in his back, but the incision looked more healed today and I felt less nervous.  I think he was excited that I was able to hold him and he could be close to me.  Boomer still doesn't understand what has happened and is adapting, but I think it still confuses him.  From the point on his lower back where the disc herniated he cannot feel below that.  That is also the spot where his back starts to curve under when he's sitting on the ground.  I don't think he understands why his back is doing what it is and so he constantly moves his front paws trying to get comfortable.  It's like his front paws are always on a slippery surface and he's struggling to stay up.  He can stand on his back legs if you help to prop him up and he stays there for a few seconds before his legs start to give out and he sits down.  Dr. Bray told us that part of his PT is working getting him to stand for longer and longer each time that they work with him.

Boomer has a whole team of people working with him each day.  Dr. Bray also told us that Boomer seems to get annoyed with them when they help him to urinate, so they're hopeful that means that he will be able to do it on his own soon enough.  It may be that he is having feeling again around that area and that's why he's annoyed because he wants to be able to do it himself.  Hopefully that's the case!

Dr. Bray also showed me how to help him stand or walk around by supporting his back legs.  Boomer wanted to walk around the room once we were on the floor with him today, so he sniffed around and smelled the chairs in the room.  He also walked over to the door and I think he wanted to go outside, but we stayed in.

If you can see from the picture here, Boomer has lost his IV on his leg and you can see exactly how fluffy he is! But they took him off the IV pain meds today and are going to start working on giving him less and less of the oral pain meds as well.  They want to know where his pain level is and hopefully he can come off the pills soon.  Boomer also in these pictures is wet because he got a bath today! They washed off all of the pink that was on his fur from the surgery and the tech said that he loved when they rubbed his chest.  He kept his head up as to say "yes, that's the spot!".  They thought that it was so cute.

Nancy asked more questions about Boomer's recovery and what options we're going to have. Dr. Bray explained that Boomer will work to decide whats going to happen.  There isn't a prescribed time frame that things happen for dogs. It just happens when it does.  So hopefully he will start to walk again, but it really just is a matter of time.  So when Boomer comes home, it will still be a long recovery and he will have to get used to staying in a crate at home, but if that's what it takes, we'll get there.  He does seem to be walking around well with a sling and so he can still enjoy being outside.  We found out that Boomer wouldn't get a cart to walk with for about 2 months because they don't want him to become dependent on a cart instead of trying to walk on his own.  So my dad and Michael will have to put off the planning for the awesome carts for Boomer with racing stripes or flames.  And the construction of ramps for him will have to cease at least for a few more months.

This is my favorite picture from today.  Boomer was able to sit up (and I think comfortably) and in my lap.  I think he really enjoyed that we were on the floor with him and he was able to get comfortable with us.

We also found out that Boomer will have his staples will be in for at least two weeks, so when he comes back for one of his follow up visits they will take the staples out.  After Boomer did some of his exploring he got tuckered out and was able to get comfortable sleeping in my arms.  I think he was happy that he was able to be in a position that made him happy and he started snoring.  It was good to make him feel comfortable and know that he was happy that he was in my arms.

You can see in this picture that Boomer has a patch on his side and that's a port for him to get medicine in as well.  The other concern today was that he hasn't been drinking well, so they brought in a bowl of water and he drank twice for us, so that's good.  The tech thought that maybe he didn't like a stainless steel bowl.

We will wait for our morning update again tomorrow, but in the meantime I have Boomer's favorite toy, his hedgehog, packed and ready to take to him tomorrow.  Hopefully having a toy from home will help him feel more comfortable in his kennel.  (I was told today that his kennel is lined with blankets and pillows too!)

Morning update- Tuesday

Dr. Bray called this morning at 8:20 for Mr. Boomer's update.  Today he is still the same neurologically but his appetite is growing.  So that's a good sign.  He is going out for his morning walks on the sling and getting some fresh air.  He's continuing with his PT and they are still expressing his bladder.

Her goal for Boom today is to come off of the IV pain meds.  She said he seemed more alert today and more like what she thinks would be himself.  So we are maintaining and that's a great thing!

I will go to visit him this afternoon and get another update then.

Our first visit-- and exciting news!

I met Justin at his office so we could drive together to go get a check up on our Boomer.  We arrived at the NC State Veterinary Health Complex right at 3:30 and walked into the the Small Animal Emergency where we left Boomer yesterday.  The receptionist told us that he had been moved into the Neurology unit around the corner and we needed to check in there.

Justin and I got around the corner and checked in and only sat for just a moment when we saw and heard a familiar face and voice come out from an exam room and greet us.  Dr. Bray showed us into the room and told us she had some really exciting news for us and she wanted to be the one to tell us.  She did a drum on the exam table as we stool anxiously awaiting the exciting news: Boomer could feel his toes! This was the most exciting because he's getting feeling back in his back paws.  He still isn't able to stand on his own, but he knows his feet are there and can feel them.  It's a baby step, but it also means that we should not have to worry about his spinal cord dying.  That was the biggest relief to us.  Even though this is wonderful news we are still guarded because we don't have him home yet and we know we have many more baby steps to getting him back home.  But nonetheless it is wonderful news.

After we got the great news, Dr. Bray told us that Dr. Olby wanted us to be able to meet the team that will be taking care of Boomer during his 7 day stay.  So after just a few moments, Dr. Olby entered the room with 6 more people who were all taking care of our boy.  Each one of them had a different job to measure his neurological function: feeling in his paws using hot and cold sensors, bladder, and gait. They all checked in on him all day and were keeping track of his progress.  Each one of the women said that they loved working with our little guy.  Dr. Olby was so excited with the progress that Boomer had made in less than 24 hours and that made me feel really good. She's one of the best and if she is excited about what progress he's made then you know it's a good sign.

Justin and I don't want to get too over confident, but we know that all of these baby steps are in the right direction and we want to keep them going that way.  We are so thankful that we have had so many miracles.

After we met everyone it was finally time to see our guy! Dr. Bray brought him in with a blanket and we were able to see him.  I was so happy to see that little face! We could tell that he was drugged and wasn't quite himself but he knew who we were and was happy we were there.  At one point I took my purse off and walked behind Justin to put it on the chair and Boomer followed where I was going and wanted me to stay right in front of him.  It was just the best to be able to see him!

Dr. Bray helped Boomer to stand up and be able to see us.  He needed the help to be able to stand by keeping his pelvis up, but he knew how his feet needed to be in order to stand which was much much better than 24 hours prior.  We were so excited to see his little face and have puppy breath in our faces again. 

The surgery went well and he has staples all down his back.  

 

I think I counted 14 staples.  And we found that he has some freckles on his back too.  The black line was the last part that they could tickle him and if that started to move forward we would be concerned about his spinal cord dying, but now Dr. Bray told us we don't have to worry since he has feeling back in his paws! 

We didn't want to stay too long because we could tell that Boomer was tired. In fact, Dr. Bray told us that she had to wake Boomer when we came so he was a little loopy.  So we stayed for about 15 minutes total and we could have sat on the floor with him, but we didn't want to over stimulate him on the first day.  We will be back to visit our boy and look forward to many more baby steps to getting him home.  

Please keep sending your thoughts and prayers -- they have been working.  We can't believe how lucky we've been so far.  There are miracles happening here and we know it.  We are so pleased with the Drs and all the staff at NC State, we are so thankful that Boomer is in such great hands.  Thanks to everyone for all of their love and support for our little boy.  Keep thinking of him and sending him that love.  We all feel it and can see the effects of all the support.  

We'll keep updating after our calls and visits.  

Baby steps

Morning phone call came right about 8 AM to give us a status update.  Justin had already gone to work, so I was listening to the news by myself.  A surgery student gave the call this morning because she was working on his case, but wouldn't be working on his case after today.  She said that he was exactly where they would expect him to be the day after surgery. He was eating well and gives everyone who visits his cage a smile and wags his tail.  He hasn't made any neurological progress, but does still have muscle tone in his hind legs but not enough to stand on his own.  He was out in his morning sling and is doing well.  Visiting hours are from 3-5 PM and wanted to know what time we were going to be visiting today.

Justin and I made plans and were excited to go visit him today at 3:30.

The Beginning-- One Long Day

This blog is to document the journey of our little Boomer's journey and hopefully road to recovery.

Boomer was diagnosed with a disc herniation between L3-L4 on his left side.

Saturday, May 31, 2014 Justin picked me up from the airport with Boomer in-tow. Boomer wasn't his usual self: sticking his head out the window, or happily jumping into my lap when I got in the car.  He just seemed a little off, but we thought it was because he had a great day of play over at the Smith's house chasing a squirrel on the fence.  He put his head out the window once in my lap and we drove home.  When getting home, I lifted Boom out of the car and put him in the grass to go out.  He slowly walked through the grass and then down off the curb and to our mailbox across the street.  He wasn't keen on jumping up on the curb to get to the house, nor did he want to walk up the stairs.  We thought that he might have gotten squished by Angus-- the 1.5 year old Newfoundland that he played with earlier in the day and might be causing him pain.
So, we carried him up the three stairs into the house and got settled. We took him out into the backyard with the same results of him just slowly walking around and not wanting to come up the stairs.  Again, when we were back in the house ready for bed he did not want to climb the stairs to our bedroom.  Boomer was carried up the stairs and placed in our bed where I researched Dog Joint Pain Relief because his back legs we really tight.  Justin did a little massage on him and then we all went to sleep.

5AM came early on June 1st. I heard Boomer's tag on his collar jingling. He was moving around our bedroom.  I heard him on the other side of the bed, then he stopped, then he moved over to his little bed on the floor by my side of the bed.  I glanced over in the darkness and saw him sitting then, but a few moments later I heard his jingling again and he had backed himself into the corner of our bedroom and his hind legs were rigid. I immediately woke Justin, alerted him to Boomer's issue, and researched 24 hour Vets that were near us.  We grabbed Boom and raced to the Vet that was by our old townhouse in Durham.  They took Boomer in and examined him while we paced in the waiting room.  It was one of the hardest things to do is just wait for Boomer. Usually when he goes to the vet you get to go into the exam room with him, but not here. We were left to fill out paperwork and wait.

We waited and waited and waited. It seemed like forever until the young brunette doctor emerged from behind the key coded door by the reception desk.  Even though we were the only people in the waiting room at 6:30 AM she took us into an exam room and explained what she thought was wrong with Boomer.  They had given him a shot of a pain killer and said that they were concerned about his functioning.  She said she would bend his back paws over and he was slow to return them to the usual positioning and this concerned her.  At this point he was semi-ambulatory. We asked how dire the situation was and she wasn't too concerned.  They wanted to do X-Rays to look for a fracture in his back and then keep him to monitor him for the day.

Justin and I discussed and Justin wanted to take Boomer home and monitor him on our own time.  We figured that we could see if he was having difficulties and that Boom would be more comfortable being monitored at home.  So, we got 3 different kinds of medications with his discharge papers: Gabapentin, Meloxicam, and Tramidol. When Boomer was brought out from the key carded back room, they told us the best way to hold him was like a log.  One arm under his chest and the other under his pelvis.  So off we went in the car, me holding Boomer like a log and getting one heck of an arm work out all the way home.  Boomer came home and we tried to stand him in the grass to use the restroom and he did not put any weight on his back paws and would just fall over.  I was concerned at this point and we brought Boomer in the house.

Boomer was all set up on his big bed on the floor and we were taking turns laying with him. He just didn't look okay laying in his bed.  His head was in such an odd position and he was looking woozy.  We thought it might be from the meds that the first vet gave him but we didn't know. I hated how much pain he looked like he was in and I knew it wasn't something that we could just monitor on our own.

At this point we had consulted Justin's dad about what to do with Boomer.  Justin's mom said that we should contact a family friend who was a vet and get his opinion.  Luckily, we were able to get in touch with him at around 8 AM and the way that I was feeling about Boomer's health I knew we needed some advice and quick.  We were advised to take Boomer to Animal Emergency Clinic in Cary.  Justin plugged the address into his phone and we scooped Boomer up in his bed and moved him to the car.

I laid in the backseat of the car with Boomer in his bed as Justin listened to the directions on his phone.  We tried talking with Boomer and making sure that he was okay and he knew that we were there with him.  He was mostly alert but I think still feeling the medication that had been put in him.  We made so many turns and they weren't good for his little body.  It was hard trying to stabilize him in the backseat.  But we made it to the clinic in Cary and carried him in like a log.

A Senior Vet Tech quickly let us enter into the building and then into an exam room.  He took Boomer from us and started doing a check-up.  Luckily this time we were allowed to be in the exam room with Boomer and got to watch as his deteriorated right before our eyes. The tech took Boomer out of the room and into the back hall where he tried to get him to walk.  After only a few minutes without Boomer, the tech returned and so did the doctor.  She told us that he had no functionality of his back legs. And when she flipped his paw under he wouldn't turn it back over.  He had no feeling left in his rear paws.  She told us it wasn't good.  She mentioned the word euthanasia and I lost it right then and there.  Waterworks were in full force.  I wasn't consolable. I believe I started hyperventilating.    Justin and I started taking pictures with Boomer as our last pictures with him.

We didn't know what to expect.  A lot of what was happening just became a blur to me.  She started poking at Boomer and pinching his paws with forceps and he wasn't doing anything.  She said that if she pinched he should look back at her and he wasn't doing anything. It wasn't good.

She did give us one option. We could got get an MRI over at NC State Veterinary School and they could see if there would be anything that they would be able to do for him.  Justin and I agreed and didn't care at this point what it was going to take.  We were open for any option that wasn't euthanasia.  Boomer is only 7 years old and it is not the time for him to leave this planet.  He's got a lot more living to do and we need to keep him here so he can do those things.  Justin and I sat in the exam room with Boomer as the vet went and called NC State to let them know that we were coming.  Justin and I talked through so many things at that point just holding our sweet Boomer.  He was still smiling and happy.  He had no idea what was happening to him.   

After what seemed like an hour she came back in and told us that they were doing MRIs on a Sunday and that Boomer could be seen today.  We got all of the paperwork done with them, got Boomer in the car and then off we were to NC State.  Again, I was laying in the backseat of the car holding onto our dog.  I couldn't believe how quickly everything changed with him.  I called my dad.  I'm sure he couldn't understand any words that were coming out of me.  As a matter of fact, I couldn't talk to anyone without just bursting into tears, so Justin had to do most of the talking and explaining to both sets of parents. Justin was a champ following the paper directions to the Vet School while I cried in the backseat holding onto Boomer as we rounded corners.  

We got to the Vet School, carried Boomer in like a log again and filled out the third set of paperwork about him as he got his third check-up for the day.  We were now about 6 hours into our day. We met William, the vet school student who greeted us and took a bit of a history about what had happened to Boomer. We sat in a small exam room and gave all the information that we could.  We still didn't know what was causing this to happen to Boomer or if there was one trauma that could have cause this quick onset of paralysis of his hind legs.  

After William got all of his information we waited.  Country music videos were playing on the screen in the waiting room and Ginger, the receptionist quickly answered phone calls as they came in.  We waited for our turn and any information on Boomer.  Finally William came out and brought us into an exam room where they had a white board.  The doctor on call started to explain what she thought was wrong with Boomer and told us that we couldn't tell for sure until we got an MRI what exactly was going wrong in there.  She knew at this point that it was a spinal cord injury but we needed to figure out what had caused the injury.  She explained to us (Justin's mom had joined us at the Vet School) that the spinal cord was like an onion with layers.  At this point, Boomer's functioning had gone through all of the layers to where he cannot feel deep pain.  This was the worst thing that we could hear.  He was in the worst possible situation.  We were explained the different options between an X-Ray, a CT Scan or an MRI.  Obviously the most expensive but best picture of what was going on is the MRI.  We decided that we were already here and that's what we were here for so go ahead with the MRI.  We signed all of the paper work that said we understood all of the risks involved and signed all the paperwork.  We were informed at this time that there might be a study that would be applicable to Boomer, but we didn't get much about the study.  We knew we were moving forward with the MRI.  There were a number of options at this point that could be causing this issue with Boomer: disc herniation, Tumor, disease. The worst case scenario would be a tumor.  We asked if we could see Boomer before he was taken back for his MRI. We were granted the wish and we took a few pictures with our boy. 

We were called again into another exam room by Dr. Olby.  Dr. Olby was running the study that was mentioned earlier.  She is a Neurology Specialist. The Phase 1 Clinical Trial of GGF2 in Dogs with Disc-Induced Acute Spinal Cord Injuries was what was presented to us. Dr. Olby said that if Boomer has a disc injury as what they except that he has would allow him to qualify for this study.  We went through all that the study would entail and what they are looking to do.  Nancy asked if there was any reason that we shouldn't be involved in the study and she said no.  So we took all of the paperwork out into the lobby and read what it meant.  We signed the paperwork and turned it in.  Soon after Dr. Bray who was working with Dr. Olby called us into the room and told us that we had another option. She told us that they might be able to just do an X-Ray for $100 and then do the CT Scan and it might get just what they need to see instead of just going for the MRI.  We decided to take that option and the X-Ray only took 15 minutes to hear back the results.  So we stayed and waited to hear what happened. 

After about a half an hour we were told that the X-Ray results were not conclusive enough and that the MRI would still be our best bet to find out what was going on.  We did find from the X-Ray that Boomer had many calcified discs and that they were able to do a process called Fenstration that will help to alleviate the other discs and hopefully stop this from happening again. So, we moved forward with the MRI and knew that Boomer would immediately be going into surgery if they found something on the MRI.  The MRI was going to start in an hour and then it would take an hour to read the MRI.  At this point it was 1:15 and we hadn't eaten anything so we left Boomer in the best hands and knew that we needed to pray that he would be okay.  

We went back to the Smith's house in Raleigh so that we could be close if anything were to happen.  So we waited.  It got to be around 3:15 and I was nervous that we hadn't heard anything.  Around 3:30 the phone rang and we all nervously listened to what was said.  Boomer had a herniated disc between T3&T4  on his left side.  The doctors would be able to operate on it and he would be part of the study.  They were going to take him directly into surgery because he was already under anesthesia.  They moved forward and told us that the surgery and everything wouldn't be over until around 8PM. So again, we sat and waited. We nervously watched TV and couldn't sleep even though we were exhausted. At 7:30 the phone rang and we all sat up.  Dr. Olby called and let us know that she had just scrubbed out of surgery.  They were able to remove the disc and do the frenstration as they had hoped.  She was concerned that his spinal cord was very swollen and bruised. There is a 15% chance that because of where his spinal cord was injured that the rest of the cord would begin to deteriorate and eventually die. Dr. Olby let us know that once he made it to the 5 day mark that the spinal cord dying would be less of an issue but we need to know that it is a possibility.

Dr. Bray called us after 8PM as we were on our way home and let us know that Boomer was done with surgery and that he was out of anesthesia.   He did fine and that we could come tomorrow to visit him in the afternoon.  Visiting hours were between 3-5 and we were welcome whenever.  The surgery went as best as we could hope for and now we just had to wait to hear how he was in the morning.