Hello All,
Just thought I would take some time out to update the blog a little now that I never seem to have time. Bracken is doing great on her 3 legs. There's not stopping her at all, Lesley dad has now retired and is walking Bracken nearly every day for us and when I say Walking I mean Walking, a 3 hour hike seem nothing to him and Bracken is loving every minute of it. She hates it if I work from home as Lesley's Dad sees that as his day off and doesn't go for a walk with Bracken, Bracken then ignores me for the whole day and takes a strop. If I take her out for a walk, its never far enough for her.
We still take Bracken to Arthurshiels Rescue Centre every fortnight for her Hydrotherapy Treatment, She loves that and its good for her, quite often I hear Tom popping her good shoulder back into place, she's never in pain with it, but we feel she needs to go every fortnight and it keeps her supple and fit.
Nearly Christmas again, which means come February it will be 2 years since her accident, how time fly's. I am just glad she's still with us and she is as happy as can be.
Merry Christmas to you all and a Happy New Year.
Craig.
More Than A year Since......
Saturday 6th Sep 2008
Oh my, does time fly!
Sorry folks, it's been a day and an age since I was last logged on here and actually has the time to sit and update my blog. As I said previously, my new job is taking me from one end of the UK to the other and finding the time to stop and take time to update the blog is getting harder every week, month.....
"Bracken" I hear you all say, Bracken is doing fine, she, sad to say, is still no further forward as to using her paralysed leg albeit confirmed that the feeling is back and that she can independently move it. Looks like she will never use the leg again, but, as you all now from the dilemma I previously had, she still has it, tucked up under her chest, just in case as I say!
We still take her swimming every 2 weeks, she needs the swim in the hydrotherapy pool to relax the stress being put on her good leg, She tends to keep popping her shoulder out which Tom at the pool relentlessly keeps popping back in for her.
I received an email this week from Betsy's mom, Hi Betsy's mom, I am so glad this blog has given you hope since Betsy's accident and is I suppose one of the main reasons I am sat her tonight updating it. It gives me great pleasure in writing this blog when I know it is reaching people in the same boat as I. Day by Day, this is ho0w it has been, the ups and the downs, sadly I as said earlier, it looks like Bracken will never regain the use of her leg, in the end the muscle wasted so bad in the shoulder etc. that it was going to be impossible to get it back.
Time is what is required, and god knows, had I had buckets of it, I would have worked on that leg every hour of every day, to keep the muscle from wasting away. It would have been worth it too knowing now that the nerves and feeling have regenerated, but, hey ho so the story goes.
If you find yourself in the unfortunate position that myself and Bracken were in, please like myself, never give up, keep all hope, we were just unfortunate that the nerve regeneration took a long long time, and by the time it had, the muscle had gone.
"Radial Nerve Paralysis" Now we know what it is and I sure hope this blog can help anyway out there with advice and treatment suggetions.
I'll be back with more updates as and when I can, take care all and good luck to anyone unfortuante enough to have to take my advise!
Craig
Oh my, does time fly!
Sorry folks, it's been a day and an age since I was last logged on here and actually has the time to sit and update my blog. As I said previously, my new job is taking me from one end of the UK to the other and finding the time to stop and take time to update the blog is getting harder every week, month.....
"Bracken" I hear you all say, Bracken is doing fine, she, sad to say, is still no further forward as to using her paralysed leg albeit confirmed that the feeling is back and that she can independently move it. Looks like she will never use the leg again, but, as you all now from the dilemma I previously had, she still has it, tucked up under her chest, just in case as I say!
We still take her swimming every 2 weeks, she needs the swim in the hydrotherapy pool to relax the stress being put on her good leg, She tends to keep popping her shoulder out which Tom at the pool relentlessly keeps popping back in for her.
I received an email this week from Betsy's mom, Hi Betsy's mom, I am so glad this blog has given you hope since Betsy's accident and is I suppose one of the main reasons I am sat her tonight updating it. It gives me great pleasure in writing this blog when I know it is reaching people in the same boat as I. Day by Day, this is ho0w it has been, the ups and the downs, sadly I as said earlier, it looks like Bracken will never regain the use of her leg, in the end the muscle wasted so bad in the shoulder etc. that it was going to be impossible to get it back.
Time is what is required, and god knows, had I had buckets of it, I would have worked on that leg every hour of every day, to keep the muscle from wasting away. It would have been worth it too knowing now that the nerves and feeling have regenerated, but, hey ho so the story goes.
If you find yourself in the unfortunate position that myself and Bracken were in, please like myself, never give up, keep all hope, we were just unfortunate that the nerve regeneration took a long long time, and by the time it had, the muscle had gone.
"Radial Nerve Paralysis" Now we know what it is and I sure hope this blog can help anyway out there with advice and treatment suggetions.
I'll be back with more updates as and when I can, take care all and good luck to anyone unfortuante enough to have to take my advise!
Craig
Nearly a year Since.....
Thursday 7th Feb 2008 Wow,
I have 2 days off, a short break from work, and I suddenly realised the date. It’s almost a year since Brackens 'Bump' with our neighbour’s car. I didn't realise that so many people have been following our story, Thank you all for your kind emails and comment posts; I now know I have achieved what I set out to do and help others in the same predicament as us with advice and experiences.
I have been hanging off from posting our latest news, been hoping to try and getting some short video of it, but, Bracken can move her leg....! Yes, she can actually move her leg. I am however stemming my excitement as I am still not convinced she will begin to use it again fully.
Here's how it goes........
About 3 weeks ago I was sat on my couch watching TV relaxing after a hectic day, Bracken was lying on the floor in front of me, we had just been for a walk and she was tired and sound asleep. She started to dream as dogs do and was obviously running around in her dream chasing rabbits or pheasants.
All her legs and muscles were twitching back and forth and to my amazement, so was the paw of her paralysed leg. It lasted all of 30 seconds. I never at that point told anyone except Tom and Shona at ARC where we go for hydrotherapy.
I, like them was sceptic about it, there could be all sorts of reasons for it, muscle spasms etc......BUT. Just last Friday and for the first time ever, Bracken again was lying on the rug in front of me, Awake....! And was moving her paralysed paw back and forth quite freely and at her own will. I saw it, Lesley Saw it and my neighbour saw it.
It definitely was moving and it was no twitch, she was moving it. Were still keeping our excitement at bay though, I'm concerned, she may be able to move it a little, but I'm not sure she'll ever use it again. The muscle atrophy has been too great I fear and we will struggle to get it back to a condition that could sustain her weight.
The ligaments are all still in working order as you can see in my earlier posts where Tom got the leg movement back again. It’s just gone on too long, had she started to get slight movement 6 months ago, yes, she probably would have been able to get use of it again. There’s also the old Learnt behaviour, Bracken has learned to run, Walk and chase anything that moves on 3 legs and is happy with that. I think we would have trouble getting her to use the leg again.
Anyway, I do hope to get some video shots of the leg moving soon and will post it as soon as. I am still optimistic and ever hopeful that we may still see, well, what would be nothing short of a miracle and have Bracken back on all fours, but, my aim was, what may come, I hope this dairy has gone some way to helping others with the same problem or similar and can be used as a reference. I only wish I had been able to find similar information back in Feb 07, I know now if I had, I would have gave 1000% to keeping that muscle mass live.
Please remeber to read the comments left by others, there is also some real helpfull information contained in there comments.
Anyway, good luck to all, further posts too come soon, I promise.
Craig.
P.S. Good luck to Mark and Dillon in Colorado, Dillon is in the same boat as Bracken with radial nerve damage after a bump with a car. Also good luck to Susan and her 10 month old Lab, her pup had a bump just last Thursday and has nerve damage too. Please keep in touch and let me know how you get on.
I have 2 days off, a short break from work, and I suddenly realised the date. It’s almost a year since Brackens 'Bump' with our neighbour’s car. I didn't realise that so many people have been following our story, Thank you all for your kind emails and comment posts; I now know I have achieved what I set out to do and help others in the same predicament as us with advice and experiences.
I have been hanging off from posting our latest news, been hoping to try and getting some short video of it, but, Bracken can move her leg....! Yes, she can actually move her leg. I am however stemming my excitement as I am still not convinced she will begin to use it again fully.
Here's how it goes........
About 3 weeks ago I was sat on my couch watching TV relaxing after a hectic day, Bracken was lying on the floor in front of me, we had just been for a walk and she was tired and sound asleep. She started to dream as dogs do and was obviously running around in her dream chasing rabbits or pheasants.
All her legs and muscles were twitching back and forth and to my amazement, so was the paw of her paralysed leg. It lasted all of 30 seconds. I never at that point told anyone except Tom and Shona at ARC where we go for hydrotherapy.
I, like them was sceptic about it, there could be all sorts of reasons for it, muscle spasms etc......BUT. Just last Friday and for the first time ever, Bracken again was lying on the rug in front of me, Awake....! And was moving her paralysed paw back and forth quite freely and at her own will. I saw it, Lesley Saw it and my neighbour saw it.
It definitely was moving and it was no twitch, she was moving it. Were still keeping our excitement at bay though, I'm concerned, she may be able to move it a little, but I'm not sure she'll ever use it again. The muscle atrophy has been too great I fear and we will struggle to get it back to a condition that could sustain her weight.
The ligaments are all still in working order as you can see in my earlier posts where Tom got the leg movement back again. It’s just gone on too long, had she started to get slight movement 6 months ago, yes, she probably would have been able to get use of it again. There’s also the old Learnt behaviour, Bracken has learned to run, Walk and chase anything that moves on 3 legs and is happy with that. I think we would have trouble getting her to use the leg again.
Anyway, I do hope to get some video shots of the leg moving soon and will post it as soon as. I am still optimistic and ever hopeful that we may still see, well, what would be nothing short of a miracle and have Bracken back on all fours, but, my aim was, what may come, I hope this dairy has gone some way to helping others with the same problem or similar and can be used as a reference. I only wish I had been able to find similar information back in Feb 07, I know now if I had, I would have gave 1000% to keeping that muscle mass live.
Please remeber to read the comments left by others, there is also some real helpfull information contained in there comments.
Anyway, good luck to all, further posts too come soon, I promise.
Craig.
P.S. Good luck to Mark and Dillon in Colorado, Dillon is in the same boat as Bracken with radial nerve damage after a bump with a car. Also good luck to Susan and her 10 month old Lab, her pup had a bump just last Thursday and has nerve damage too. Please keep in touch and let me know how you get on.
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