Mandarin'sMom
Member Since 2014
Last condo
What a crazy couple of days! Nothing really worked out the way I had planned - but we are finally back home. Here's the recap: I got up at 4 am on Thursday to take Lenny to Ann Arbor for his appointment with the neurologist. The original plan was to do the consult in the morning and an MRI in the afternoon. However, everything took much longer than expected and Lenny ended up spending the night.
Since neither my friend Kristen (who came with me) nor I had planned to stay over night and needed to take care of our animals, we ended up driving back home on Thursday. I went back by myself on Friday. Taken together, I spent over 14 hours in the car in those two days.
I am very glad though that we went. The MRI showed that Lenny ruptured a disc in his neck. I only have great things to say about this clinic and the doctor that we saw. He was fantastic with Lenny (who is not usually too fond of men... or strangers in general) and spent a lot of time examining him and explaining everything. The thing that is still amazing is that Lenny is walking and didn't show any signs of being in pain (even though this is a very painful injury).
In light of the fact that the vet was also concerned about a tumor (that was either pressing on his spine or in his brain) or a series of "vascular events," a ruptured disc is better news. They also did extensive bloodwork (which looked fantastic), did an EKG (which was also completely normal) and took chest x-rays. So, overall, Lenny is a very healthy 6-year-old dog with a ruptured disc. For right now, we are doing a course of Presdnisone (40 mg a day), Gabapentin and complete rest. We will reassess in a week.
Surgery is of course an option.... but it's an option that comes with its own set of risks. I will be forever thankful that I got health insurance for Lenny when he was younger - so at least I don't have to worry about the costs of all of this (which are, of course, considerable).
On the agenda for today: I have to rearrange my house and somehow block off the couch/put it in the basement for now. Lenny has to be on strict crate rest when I am not home, but he can be out with me as long as there is no possibility that he will jump on anything (and he LOVES to be on the couch).
Walter's Insulin and food schedule has been a complete mess. We skipped two shots this week and yesterday's PM shot was over an hour late. And then I slept from 11 pm (+2) until 7 am this morning without ever waking up or feeding a snack. I guess I was officially exhausted.
What a crazy couple of days! Nothing really worked out the way I had planned - but we are finally back home. Here's the recap: I got up at 4 am on Thursday to take Lenny to Ann Arbor for his appointment with the neurologist. The original plan was to do the consult in the morning and an MRI in the afternoon. However, everything took much longer than expected and Lenny ended up spending the night.
Since neither my friend Kristen (who came with me) nor I had planned to stay over night and needed to take care of our animals, we ended up driving back home on Thursday. I went back by myself on Friday. Taken together, I spent over 14 hours in the car in those two days.
I am very glad though that we went. The MRI showed that Lenny ruptured a disc in his neck. I only have great things to say about this clinic and the doctor that we saw. He was fantastic with Lenny (who is not usually too fond of men... or strangers in general) and spent a lot of time examining him and explaining everything. The thing that is still amazing is that Lenny is walking and didn't show any signs of being in pain (even though this is a very painful injury).
In light of the fact that the vet was also concerned about a tumor (that was either pressing on his spine or in his brain) or a series of "vascular events," a ruptured disc is better news. They also did extensive bloodwork (which looked fantastic), did an EKG (which was also completely normal) and took chest x-rays. So, overall, Lenny is a very healthy 6-year-old dog with a ruptured disc. For right now, we are doing a course of Presdnisone (40 mg a day), Gabapentin and complete rest. We will reassess in a week.
Surgery is of course an option.... but it's an option that comes with its own set of risks. I will be forever thankful that I got health insurance for Lenny when he was younger - so at least I don't have to worry about the costs of all of this (which are, of course, considerable).
On the agenda for today: I have to rearrange my house and somehow block off the couch/put it in the basement for now. Lenny has to be on strict crate rest when I am not home, but he can be out with me as long as there is no possibility that he will jump on anything (and he LOVES to be on the couch).
Walter's Insulin and food schedule has been a complete mess. We skipped two shots this week and yesterday's PM shot was over an hour late. And then I slept from 11 pm (+2) until 7 am this morning without ever waking up or feeding a snack. I guess I was officially exhausted.
