Max Update

UPDATED MONDAY 1/21 BELOW...

Well, it looks like there is no ruptured disc in Max's spine, so the vet is over 90% confident Max suffered from a Fibro Cartilaginous Emboli (if you click on the link you will go to a story about a woman who's dog had the exact same issue and whose story is identical to ours).

Essentially, an FCE is a stroke in the spinal column. For whatever unknown reason a piece of material lodges into the blood vessels which lead to the spinal column. When this happens the blood supply is suddenly cut off and the dog goes into immediate, although short term, extreme pain and loses motor function in one or both hind legs. It almost always happens in the lower spinal region in dogs.

The good news is the vet says most of the dogs with these issues recover fully or almost fully the use of their affected legs. The research I have done places the recovery rate at 75 - 90%. Their also tends to be a higher recovery rate in dogs, like Max, who suffer the paralysis in just one leg.

Basically, what happens is the body begins to repair itself by absorbing the blockage material or growing new blood vessels around the affected area to begin pumping blood back to the spinal cord. Most dogs begin to show signs of recovery in the first few days and recover really well in three - four weeks. There is, of course, the possibility he will not recover.

Either way, he is our Max, and his lively spirit and personality have not been affected. Even if we have to get him a supportive dog wheelchair, we will do what it takes to care for him for the rest of his long, happy life!

So, he is at the clinic right now, under observation. They say he is alert, eating and drinking and sitting up - I even see the sitting up as progress because when it first happened he couldn't even sit without falling over!

So, over the next 24 hours we will be carefully watching his progress to see if he begins to regain motor function in his right rear leg. Then, we will bring him home on Monday and maybe even start him in doggie physical therapy!

Like I said, we are hoping for a full recovery and would appreciate your positive energy over the next 24 hours and several weeks!

We are very thankful to the veterinary emergency clinic staff who treated Max quickly and with much care on Friday night and who helped us find the surgical specialist on Saturday morning. And, we are very thankful to the surgeon and his staff who came in from on call and opened the clinic just to take care of Max. We are lucky and blessed we have been able to get Max such quality treatment!

UPDATE - Monday, 1/21 - Max is home!

Let me tell you, Mokie is happy!

Max and I just got back from the vet and physical therapy. I found this great canine physical therapist, http://www.caninerehab.com/. The physical therapist, Jeff, works out of his home where he has a heated pool for swimming therapy and a water treadmill (its a large square tank of water with a treadmill in it for the dogs to rehab their legs without having to bear their full weight). He is very nice, very knowledgeable, helpful and easy to talk to.

Max is very weak in his hind legs. He can't walk on his own. This may sound weird but the best way to walk him is by holding him up by his tail. They provided us a sling, but the PT said Max didn't need the full assist of the sling - in fact by holding his tail up will help him regain balance. Not that he is doing much walking; we are only supposed to walk him for five minutes, three to four times a day.

Max has full mobility, but limited strength in his left rear leg. He can bear some weight on it and moves it pretty well. His right rear leg has almost no mobility, but thankfully has sensory pain perception as measured by his pain reflex. Having the pain perception is one of the top indicators that he will recover...it means he isn't fully paralyzed. However, it could be a long road.

That said, we saw some progress already today. He is trying to push himself up out of seated position using both legs and trying to move his right leg when he walks. He can't bear any weight at all on his right leg, it just mainly drags when he walks and his foot knuckles under as he goes along. But, he is trying.

Jeff worked with Max on land, then got him in the pool and swam him around. On land we did start to see some of the movement I mentioned. Jeff was hoping when we got him in the pool he would start to paddle with his right rear leg, but he didn't do it as much as Jeff thought he might. While it seems like a bad sign, it could just be Max is such a good swimmer he can get around fine without using his right rear leg. Next time Jeff will consider using the underwater treadmill.

He gave me some exercises to do with Max and some nerve stimulation techniques. We have to get his leg moving when we can and do some balance exercises to get him to begin to bear weight on his rear legs. However, the main prescription is a lot of rest.

Jeff is giving Max a good, to very good chance of recovery and both he and the vet say most dogs do recover from this. The vet also mentioned these issues don't reoccur, they are one time events.

Right now Max is asleep on the couch. He is frustrated, stressed and tense. I can tell he wants to do more and he isn't at all enamored with the idea of me having to walk him around everywhere by his tail! Especially when it comes to doing his business!

He could recover quickly, within a week or two, or it could be longer. At this point we just don't know, but we continue to be hopeful! I will keep you all posted!