It's been 2 weeks now since we last posted, Bracken has still been getting tingles in her leg. We have been for 2 sessions at ARC hydro pool the last one on Wednesday past. The previous week, Tom was squeezing Bracken's wrist joint and it turns out that the feeling has returned to the joint. When he squeezed the joint she was whimpering and giving him dirty looks, she is definitely feeling some sensations in the lower part of the leg. It does seem to be on and off though, I have tried daily to replicate what Tom did and have only managed to get a reaction a couple of times, twice is better than none I tell myself.
We were at my mum's on Sunday and Bracken and her sister Bramble decided they were fed up playing in the garden and needed to go for a longer walk......by themselves! Off they went like a couple of greyhounds up the garden and over, yes over my mums 4 foot garden fence. I never in a month of Sunday's thought Bracken would make it, but she did.
The search was on, Bowhill is a rather large estate where my mum and dad live, its all woods and hills. Mum found them at the back of the house after about 10 mins, they came back to her shouts like they used to as pup's when she had them both, I sometimes wish I had left Bracken at mum's, she would still have 4 legs if I had, but we wouldn't be without her now, she's a big part of our wee family.
When mum brought them back, boy was she puffed, they must have been chasing rabbits, they love that. She just lay in the garden panting. We decided not to put Bramble away in her kennel as we thought, well, they have their wee run, they'll not go off again....! Ha....
45 mins later and off they went, out the gate this time. We shouted and we shouted and we shouted some more, no sign. I got onto my motorbike and took off to the hills. Through the woods and up the tracks, stopping to shout every couple of minutes, no sign or sound. I went back to the house to see if they had returned, no sign. Off I went again, this time even further into the woods and stopped. I shouted and whistled for about 10 mins, then I heard them, crashing through the under growth on there way to me. They both arrive at my feet and collapse into puffing, panting heaps.
The moral is, 3 legs or not, she's still a fit and healthy dog, nothing stopping her.
Monday, and Tuesday she was a bit stiff, I took her to the pool on Wednesday and Tom worked his magic on her, her shoulder was out slightly from her adventures at Bowhill, I heard it crack in whilst Tom gave her physio in the pool.
What worries me now is, Muscle atrophy and learnt behaviour. We pull and stretch her legs daily and still feed her the protein powder. Tom sees small improvements every week, but some of her joints in her paralysed leg are now getting stiff through not using them. She has been holding up her leg for so long she is starting to think this is how it should be. See the picture below, I think you'll see what i mean when you look at her right leg. We need the nerve to repair quickly and start sending signals to her brain that she needs to start using it, I still see little movements in the leg mainly the shoulder area when she is moving round the house, so something is going on. She's not had her boot or splint on for about 3 weeks now, I think this is helping as she can now feel that the leg is still there if you know what I mean, hopefully she will start to realise its there and it can be used if she puts her mind to it.
I hope all you regular readers are well, especially slim, any update on your progress pup pal?
"Its all good, its all a waiting game"
;0)
