Brackens Progress

Thursday 31st May 2007

Last day of May.......nearly June and its still P*ssing down with rain and only 12 degrees on a normal day.

Anyway enough about the crap Scottish weather. Sheena contacted me from Canada this week about Slim the whippet. Slim if you remember has the same injury as Bracken, paralysis due to a bump with a car. Anyway Slim has had some good progress lately, he has now started to put weight on his paralysed leg. This is great news for me and gives me hope. Slim was knocked over in Dec last year and is a couple of months in front of Bracken as progress goes, so here's hoping.

Were not putting the splint or boot onto bracken anymore, well not unless we are doing a lot of road work with her. Bracken is holding her leg up to the extent it is hardly dragging at all. Its not all Bracken though, due to lack of use in the leg the muscle is causing some of the lift, I asked Tom at the pool if it was anything to worry about, but he says no. The elbow joint is also getting a little more stiffer due to lack of use, but Tom did a lot of work tonight on her leg at the pool.

We were at the pool tonight for her weekly Physio and Hydro session, Tom is happy with the progress. She has more feeling in the leg and paw as well, She knows when your are tickling it when she can't see you, she feels it. All we need to do know is get the movement back. Muscle atrophy is our biggest worry, even if the leg recovers and feeling is completely restored, if the muscle has gone then the leg will still be more or less useless. The Key as Sheena said in her email is to keep working it, 5 or 10 minutes Physio each day should help to keep it at bay.

She's a bit restless tonight since the session at the pool, she gave out one almighty yelp earlier, I thought someone has trod on her good leg, but everyone swears they were no where near her. Since I started to type this post she's been up and down from her bean bag like a yo yo.........yelping on the odd occasion, not sure what to make of it, I'll just have to keep an eye on her, She did have a lot of work on her leg tonight, maybe she's feeling it all the more now.

Well That's it for this week, I hope the weather gets better in June.

Another Update

Thursday 24th May 2007

Boy has this been one energetic week for us....
On Sunday past we did a sponsored walk, only 5 miles, but far enough when your on 3 leg's.
Me and Dad did it in 57 mins......yes 57 mins, Clark did it in 50 mins and Mum in 2 hours....no only joking, she did it in 1 hour and 15 mins. Boy were we tired on Sunday night.

Then on Tuesday night, mum has another brilliant idea, lets go for another hike, only this time she assures me its not far, Ha Ha Ha, If only she new where she was going, Our little walk, our not far little walk took us 1 hour and 45 mins,
boy oh boy was I tired on Tuesday Night, I slept all night and all day Wednesday but felt great for it, I really do enjoy my walks with my family.

Anyway, on to my progress, Just been to ARC for a session with Tom in the pool, and I sure did enjoy it after all my Walks this week. No problems with my shoulder, Tom thinks my shape and the way I hold my leg up is great. Tom says I'm getting stronger as well, I was pulling against him tonight just to see how strong he is.
Just going off to have another lie down as I'm a bit tired after the pool, and dad took me for a walk round the field on the way back, Have a look at the video below, you may not notice too much of a difference from the last video's, But I'm slowly getting there, were just taking each week as it comes now.

Bracken wins an award!

Hi All,
Just thought I'd let you know, Bracken won an award yesterday! She was nominated as dog of the week by the admin team of group UK woofers at the website Dogster (Click to view).

I thought it was pretty cool myself, she was nominated for being "game little chap. Eager to play and bark and make the group a happy place for doggies to bark together".........they even made her an award picture -



Well after what she's been through, I thought she deserved it. It's made my day anyway.

;o)

This Week's Update

Tuesday 15th May 2007

Hi All,
Not a lot to report this week, Bracken has just been for another session at the pool and is out for the count just now on her bean bag.

Her leg is slowly building strength, still feeding her the protein powder twice a day and we use the modified abs belt every other night. She's definitely holding her leg up more, I can tell from her boot, she was wearing a boot out every 2 weeks, this latest boot has lasted 3 1/2 and hardly has any wear on it. She walks more on the toe of the boot, like a ballet dancer! rather than drag it.

;o)

Bracken at the Pool....

Tuesday 8th May 2007
Tom's home......!
I took Bracken back to Arthurshiel tonight, Tom's back and we had an appointment for a session in the Hydrotherapy pool. I wasn't sure, but I had an incling that there was something not quite right with Bracken, my incling was confirmed, her shoulder was out! Tom set to work with her Physio and soon had the shoulder back to rights, have a look............




At first I though her shoulder looked a weird shape, then I noticed her right pupil was a different size from the left. If you remember back in my older posts, different sized pupils was used by the Vet to confirm the damage to the nerve was in the neck, I remembered this which lead me to believe her shoulder was out and trapping the nerves in the neck. She never seemed to be in a lot of pain, but I had her over to the centre and in the Magnotherapy box twice last week to reduce any swelling or pain.

Back home now and she's full of beans, onwards and upwards as they say.

;0)

A Fluke? I Hope not

Thursday 3rd May 2007

Just noticed today.....Bracken seems to have the feeling back in her toes and foot.
I tickled her hair between her toes and she seems to flinch, She nudges me with her noes and other leg, She knows I'm doing it. When I squeeze her toes she tries to nudge me away with her head. I'll try it all again tomorrow, hopefully its not a fluke!



Jaida's Blog

Wednesday 2nd May 2007

Hi All,
Just a wee post to let you know Bracken has a new buddy.....Jaida a little pup with a club foot.
Check out Jaida's Story here

Jaida's Journey

The past week

Wednesday 2nd May 2007

May already!

Not much to tell today, Tom is in Germany just now doing SAR training therefore bracken has not been for hydrotherapy since my last post. I did however take her over to the centre last night for a session in the Magnatherapy box. Bracken likes the box, it must be so relaxing. When Bracken gets back from a session in the box she could sleep for Scotland, not last night though, I dragged her for a walk round the field, she was not best pleased with me neither.

She is still going well, the muscle is steadily building with the protein supplement and the abs belt....oh.....had to get a new belt on eBay last week, my one packed in, cheap as chips too £5.49!


Were getting there, slowly but surely.

Cheers for now..... :o)

P.S Please sign the guest book.....it would be nice to know who you were and what you thought.

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