Just a wee post to show you how happy Bracken seems to be with the decision not to remove her leg just now.
A Happy Dog
Sunday 26th August 2007
Just a wee post to show you how happy Bracken seems to be with the decision not to remove her leg just now.
Just a wee post to show you how happy Bracken seems to be with the decision not to remove her leg just now.
??? I'm on a Roller Coaster right now
Wednesday 22nd August 2007
We were at the Vet's last night and it was not good news. The Vet advised that he was of the opinion that the leg was beyond recovery. Gutted.....empty sinking feeling inside, whole lot of emotions going on, back to beating myself up for ever letting it happen, if only I had put that god damn lead on. Myself and Lesley spoke a lot last night about what we should do. By this morning we had almost convinced ourselves that we should bite the bullet and remove the leg.
Is it doing any good being there, not working?
What if she gets it caught out on a walk and does even more damage?
We almost called the insurance company this morning to request authorisation for the operation, but I thought no, I have an appointment tonight with Tom at ARC for Hydro, I need to discuss it all with him.
At the Hydro tonight I spoke to Tom, I explained to him what the vet had said about the ligaments etc. and he just nodded and carried on with the treatment. Then he asked me a few questions to get the whole situation into perspective.
Back in February when the Vet advised waiting 4 weeks and if there was no improvement remove the leg, did you take that advise?
No I replied.
Is Bracken in any pain or discomfort when she is out on here walks?
No I replied.
Has Bracken been rummaging through the undergrowth and woods jumping over fences and running like the clappers for the last 3 Months?
Yes I replied.
Then why the hell are you considering removing her leg?
Ooh I thought, not sure, a bit confused now, because your making sense here.
Tom then went on to say, Craig, a while back you said to me you were a bit concerned about the leg getting stiff and that you were worried the muscle lose was causing the leg to wither slightly, I told you then not to worry about it, Did I not? Tom then said, I'll show you and began to work on her leg again. Her appointment was to be for 30 mins but it over ran to 40.
I can't believe what's happened tonight, Bracken was raised on the hoist to get her out of the pool and Tom said "Look", Bracken's leg was hanging a good inch to 2 inches lower. Excuse my language folks, but I thought, Shit! Tom has shown me some new exercises for Bracken to try and get the leg to straighten out. I took Bracken to the field for a walk after we got home, I can visibly see the leg's position a lot lower than when we went to the hydro.
God, this bloody roller coaster seems like its going to go on for ever, I'm so confused. I think maybe I'm loosing a bit faith and need a bit of a kick up the arse.
Anyway, The decision has been made, she's not in any pain and the leg has never got caught in the past 3 months so were going to leave it where it is and carry on with the treatments and physio.
here we go..........the roller coaster seems to be on the way back up again.
;-)
We were at the Vet's last night and it was not good news. The Vet advised that he was of the opinion that the leg was beyond recovery. Gutted.....empty sinking feeling inside, whole lot of emotions going on, back to beating myself up for ever letting it happen, if only I had put that god damn lead on. Myself and Lesley spoke a lot last night about what we should do. By this morning we had almost convinced ourselves that we should bite the bullet and remove the leg.
Is it doing any good being there, not working?
What if she gets it caught out on a walk and does even more damage?
We almost called the insurance company this morning to request authorisation for the operation, but I thought no, I have an appointment tonight with Tom at ARC for Hydro, I need to discuss it all with him.
At the Hydro tonight I spoke to Tom, I explained to him what the vet had said about the ligaments etc. and he just nodded and carried on with the treatment. Then he asked me a few questions to get the whole situation into perspective.
Back in February when the Vet advised waiting 4 weeks and if there was no improvement remove the leg, did you take that advise?
No I replied.
Is Bracken in any pain or discomfort when she is out on here walks?
No I replied.
Has Bracken been rummaging through the undergrowth and woods jumping over fences and running like the clappers for the last 3 Months?
Yes I replied.
Then why the hell are you considering removing her leg?
Ooh I thought, not sure, a bit confused now, because your making sense here.
Tom then went on to say, Craig, a while back you said to me you were a bit concerned about the leg getting stiff and that you were worried the muscle lose was causing the leg to wither slightly, I told you then not to worry about it, Did I not? Tom then said, I'll show you and began to work on her leg again. Her appointment was to be for 30 mins but it over ran to 40.
I can't believe what's happened tonight, Bracken was raised on the hoist to get her out of the pool and Tom said "Look", Bracken's leg was hanging a good inch to 2 inches lower. Excuse my language folks, but I thought, Shit! Tom has shown me some new exercises for Bracken to try and get the leg to straighten out. I took Bracken to the field for a walk after we got home, I can visibly see the leg's position a lot lower than when we went to the hydro.
God, this bloody roller coaster seems like its going to go on for ever, I'm so confused. I think maybe I'm loosing a bit faith and need a bit of a kick up the arse.
Anyway, The decision has been made, she's not in any pain and the leg has never got caught in the past 3 months so were going to leave it where it is and carry on with the treatments and physio.
here we go..........the roller coaster seems to be on the way back up again.
;-)
Vet Appointment
Friday 17th August 2007
Had another session of hydrotherapy on Wednesday, all went well, no visible changes to note.
Our appointment with the vet is on Tuesday next week. I have been stretching the leg daily as often as I can. I can feel a difference in the leg, it seems to be easing each time I stretch it. but I'm not sure if its of any use.
Anyway, the key is to see what the vet has to say about it all, I will keep you posted as soon as we have been to see him on Tuesday.
Had another session of hydrotherapy on Wednesday, all went well, no visible changes to note.
Our appointment with the vet is on Tuesday next week. I have been stretching the leg daily as often as I can. I can feel a difference in the leg, it seems to be easing each time I stretch it. but I'm not sure if its of any use.
Anyway, the key is to see what the vet has to say about it all, I will keep you posted as soon as we have been to see him on Tuesday.
Were Home
Wednesday 8th August 2007
Well were back again, all refreshed and tanned! We had a great holiday, so much so were desperate to go back. Bracken enjoyed her holiday too, she settled in well with frank and Margaret and I think she may have been spoiled a little. We got home a week past Friday and I picked her up on the Saturday morning. I was so nervous about collecting her, I was excited and apprehensive at the same time.
Would I see a difference?
Bracken came bounding over to me, on 3 legs! She looked great, she had been given a bath and her coat was gleaming, I think she had lost some weight too! She was staying close by to a farm and she had 3 walks a day, in the fields. Frank thinks she ran about 10 miles per day.
I have taken my time to post my latest blog as I have been looking for signs of improvement, unfortunately, I'm still looking. Bracken had Hydro both weeks we were away and I took her last Wednesday and Lesley took her tonight.
Lesley had a good discussion with Tom about where we are at with the treatment. We have taken bracken to a local river a couple of times since we got back and can see her trying to use her shoulder, it moves in sync with her left one in the doggy paddle motion. The problem we have though is I think her ligaments have contracted between her shoulder and elbow, her elbow joint seems locked, it has been slowly creeping up on us, we thought we could keep it at bay with regular physio, but I fear I have lost the battle. She has feeling in almost 90% of the leg and given that before we started the treatments there was none, I feel gutted, we were almost there.
We have decided tonight that we need a visit to our vet, the same veterinary company only not the one the wanted to remove the leg back in March. I'm taking her to see the vet who carried out the acupuncture, he seemed more open to her treatment and was keen for her to recover. Maybe there is some kind of operation they could perform on the ligaments, I'm almost certain she would start to put more weight on it if she could put it down.
Sorry this post is not as encouraging as I would have liked, I will keep you posted on the vets visit, in the meantime we carry on as usual, hydro and Physio.
You can see the contraction in her right leg in the picture below.
Fingers crossed. How's it going slim? hope your well pup pal.
;0)
Well were back again, all refreshed and tanned! We had a great holiday, so much so were desperate to go back. Bracken enjoyed her holiday too, she settled in well with frank and Margaret and I think she may have been spoiled a little. We got home a week past Friday and I picked her up on the Saturday morning. I was so nervous about collecting her, I was excited and apprehensive at the same time.
Would I see a difference?
Bracken came bounding over to me, on 3 legs! She looked great, she had been given a bath and her coat was gleaming, I think she had lost some weight too! She was staying close by to a farm and she had 3 walks a day, in the fields. Frank thinks she ran about 10 miles per day.
I have taken my time to post my latest blog as I have been looking for signs of improvement, unfortunately, I'm still looking. Bracken had Hydro both weeks we were away and I took her last Wednesday and Lesley took her tonight.
Lesley had a good discussion with Tom about where we are at with the treatment. We have taken bracken to a local river a couple of times since we got back and can see her trying to use her shoulder, it moves in sync with her left one in the doggy paddle motion. The problem we have though is I think her ligaments have contracted between her shoulder and elbow, her elbow joint seems locked, it has been slowly creeping up on us, we thought we could keep it at bay with regular physio, but I fear I have lost the battle. She has feeling in almost 90% of the leg and given that before we started the treatments there was none, I feel gutted, we were almost there.
We have decided tonight that we need a visit to our vet, the same veterinary company only not the one the wanted to remove the leg back in March. I'm taking her to see the vet who carried out the acupuncture, he seemed more open to her treatment and was keen for her to recover. Maybe there is some kind of operation they could perform on the ligaments, I'm almost certain she would start to put more weight on it if she could put it down.
Sorry this post is not as encouraging as I would have liked, I will keep you posted on the vets visit, in the meantime we carry on as usual, hydro and Physio.
You can see the contraction in her right leg in the picture below.
Fingers crossed. How's it going slim? hope your well pup pal.
;0)
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