back surgery 10 1/2 year old newf

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Sue D. - 24 Feb 2006 02:57 GMT

I am devestated...Please someone point me in the right direction...my
10 1/2
yr old baby girl newf walked into the vets tuesday morning...
for back surgery...as of today she has no use of her hind
legs and has no control of her bowel and bladder. I am
upset and appalled that we had to be there for three hours Tues to
get her some pain meds...her tongue was a red purple color
if that means anything...]
Doc told my husband last night that she had some feeling in her
feet. We did get her to eat a little chicken today (very little) and
she drank half a bowl of water that they had mixed some baby food
into. I am beyond terrified...she was supposed to come home today.

Has anyone any words of wisdom? We could really use some
hope about now...oh, her neuro has turned her case over to another
doc...
thanks in advance,
Sue D.

Reply to this Message

Gail - 24 Feb 2006 03:45 GMT

She may have a ruptured disk. My neighbors have a shitzu (spelling?) who had
this. They only gave her a 1% chance of walking again, but after a few
months, she is starting to walk much better. She also had no control over
her bladder and this, too, is coming back.
Gail

>I am devestated...Please someone point me in the right direction...my
> 10 1/2
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
> thanks in advance,
> Sue D.

Reply to this Message

Sue D. - 24 Feb 2006 06:27 GMT

>She may have a ruptured disk. My neighbors have a shitzu (spelling?) who had
>this. They only gave her a 1% chance of walking again, but after a few
>months, she is starting to walk much better. She also had no control over
>her bladder and this, too, is coming back.
>Gail

Thanks Gail, I am feeling more hopeful!!!

Reply to this Message

Sandy Christmus, DVM - 24 Feb 2006 03:48 GMT

> I am devestated...Please someone point me in the right direction...my
> 10 1/2
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
> thanks in advance,
> Sue D.

You don't say what surgery your "baby girl" was having, but I suspect,
if she were having spinal surgery for a disk problem, that the doctor
mentioned that she may be worse immediately after surgery. It's not
unusual for neuro signs to be worse for several days after surgery
around the spinal cord. I'm assuming she's otherwise healthy (no heart
disease, kidney disease, obesity, etc.), but please realize 10.5 years
old for a Newfoundland is considerably senior and as such her recovery
may not be a quick as a younger dog's. Hopefully, she'll continue to
improve and will be home soon.

Sandy Christmus, DVM

Reply to this Message

Sue D. - 24 Feb 2006 06:25 GMT

>> Has anyone any words of wisdom? We could really use some
>> hope about now...oh, her neuro has turned her case over to another
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>
>Sandy Christmus, DVM

Thank you for responding...yes she had surgery for a disk problem
in two areas...no, he didn't say that she would be worse immediately
after the surgery, in fact, he said we could probably bring her home
today (Thurs.)...I guess I will just figure that since he is a neuro,
his communication skills are not the greatest...not dissing him, but
our daughter has MS and all the nurses have said that good neuros
sometimes lack communication skills.

She is healthy and a quite lean Newf at 119 lbs...a few years ago her
initial target weight was 120 so I am pleased she has maintained so
well. No health problems we are aware of other than arthiritis.

Thank you so much for taking your time to respond. My dh went
to see her this evening and was thrilled to death when she did
the Molly signal (paw in air, rolling sligthly meaning get your butt
over here and rub me)! He thinks she needs to come home tomorrow
with a visiting nurse...(do they even have that???)

To me after reading what you wrote, I think she is where she needs to
be. Is it good or bad for us to visit her three or so times a
day...her doctor was afraid she was going to give up.

I will print out the response you wrote and make sure my dh sees it
in the morning.

Thank you so much for taking your time to respond...I know it wasn't
something you had to do and has done alot to restore my faith in the
goodness of humans.

I hope all your animal patients and their families know how lucky they
are to have such a caring vet.

Thanks again,
Sue D.

Reply to this Message

Pet Forum / Miscellaneous / Animal Health / February 2006

back surgery 10 1/2 year old newf