India - On the road again - part 1

My trips to India are always eye opening regarding traffic and roads. 

On this trip, I had the opportunity to walk to work one day.  My hotel was only a couple of blocks away from one of our office buildings, so I figured why have my driver come around when I could walk?

I shared this idea with The Husband and he was not so happy.  Something about wanting me to make it home in one piece.  So picky.

I had already asked the driver to pick me up in the afternoon, so I was committed to my course of action.  I decided to take it as a trust exercise.  Forget about that silly "fall back into me"  trust exercise used at way too many team building events.  Walking in India is a trust exercise in humanity.  The roads may be crazy, but I trust that people will avoid me.

And so I walked. 

Here's a picture of my commute:

Note many other people are walking on the road, too. 

On this short stretch of the road there actually are sidewalks,

but they had construction material,

piles of dirt, and various food vendors blocking the way.

The good news is that I made it to work!  And (shh - don't tell The Husband) I walked back to the hotel, too, as one of my meetings was postponed.  Humanity earned my trust two times in one day. 

India again - a Lost in Translation moment

Those of you who've been reading my blog for a while know that I get to make a-just-about-twice-yearly trip to India.  Though I don't enjoy the long flights, I do generally enjoy my visits - though my digestive tract may beg to differ from time to time. 

I firmly believe that you've got to have a good sense of humor to travel internationally - particularly during those "lost in translation" moments.  Either that or you'll drive yourself and those around you crazy.

My lost in translation moment on this trip came after I spilled nearly all of my mouthwash.  For me, mouthwash is key in India.  Spicy food + not being able to use tap water for toothbrushing means I use a lot of mouthwash.  Unfortunately on my first night here I managed to spill most of the mouthwash I brought with me. 

After briefly pondering how I'd get by without it, and if I could ask my driver to take me to buy some (where does one buy mouthwash in India - and how to tell the driver to go there?), I remembered that I'm staying in a fancy hotel.  Fancy hotels have things like this on hand to help haphazard guests like myself.  So I looked in the hotel guide, and sure enough "mouthwash" was listed in the "forgotten items we can provide you" section.

When I was headed out the next morning, I stopped by the front desk and asked for some mouthwash.  The woman at the front desk looked puzzled by my request.  So I repeated it (though not more slowly and loudly):  "mouthwash, you know to rinse your mouth and help keep your breath fresh."  I told her I needed it either tonight or tomorrow - I still had some of my own left that hadn't spilled.  She nodded knowingly.

Back in my room later in the evening, the requested item arrived - proudly presented by one of the hotel staff.  "Your breath freshener, mam."  (and by the way, it's always "mam" - it sounds ok in an Indian accent)

Here's what he brought for me:

The world's smallest box of tic tacs!

 

I've included my normal-sized nail polish to provide some scale.

There are seriously on ly about 7-8 tic tacs in this thing.  And they're tropical cherry flavored - not what I'd consider the best breath freshener.  It really made me laugh - particularly when I thought about the conversations that must have taken place, and all of the work they went through to bring these to me.

But still, I had no mouthwash, and now my supplies were dwindling dangerously low (not to make it too dramatic, or anything).

When I went to work the next day, I unintentionally left my pathetically empty bottle of mouthwash out on the bathroom counter.  And what did I find when I arrived back?

Real mouthwash!

Thank goodness housekeeping understood.

Cardi Claus arrived!

Cardi Claus and I must have passed each other in the air, as I have received news from The Husband that he showed up the day that I left.

The Cardis and I are very excited with what Cardi Claus left.  Many thanks to The Chronicles of Cardigan crew for the package.


Maggie, Ziggy, and Rip are looking forward to their treats - a crayon was even included as a bonus treat for Ziggy! 

The Humans are thankful for the very cute ornament!

Thanks, Cardi Claus and The Chronicles of Cardigan crew!!

Ziggy is home!

I'm happy to report that Ziggy was given the all-clear to come home yesterday evening.  We are all happy to have him here!

He seems to be inching his way in the right direction.  The vet says it will be weeks, not days, before we see some real improvement.  Today, though, Ziggy is mostly peeing on his own, is lifting his tail to poop, and seems to be trying to stand a bit in his physical therapy.

The picture is a little blurry, 

but you can see how HAPPY Ziggy is to be home!

Last night we brought him up on the sofa with us to hang out.

I started rubbing his ears and scratching his face.

Bliss.

It's got to be a pain, though, for Z not to be able to scratch.

Here's The Husband doing one of Z's physical therapy exercises.

Pete calls it the bicycle - he moves Z's hind legs in a cycling

motion while keeping the back & front end still.

He's supposed to do this at least 3x/day.

Here Z is getting set up to practice standing.

Basically, we stack him, and help him hold up his hind end.

Another part of his physical therapy.

The Child is VERY happy to have Ziggy home, too.

Today he told me, "Ziggy loves me mom."  

Yes, Ziggy does.  Just look at his face!

While rubbing Z's face again, he showed his appreciation by giving me a nice kiss.

All the folks at the vet loved Ziggy.

They said he was sweet, friendly, and licked them a lot.

Good boy.

The other dogs are doing pretty well with Ziggy.  They sniffed him well, and seem to be pleased that he's back with the pack.

Rip, of course, figured out a way to push in the ex-pen and pull on Ziggy's bedding to get Ziggy's toys out.  Even though I gave Rip one of the exact same nylabones, he persisted.  Rip must have all the resources.  I have since reinforced the right hand side of the ex-pen with some pieces of a heavy-duty plastic pen.  This seems to have solved the problem.  But we still won't leave Rip out of his crate unattended around Ziggy.  Naughty, naugty boy.

Rip is looking for the right approach to get the toys.

Ziggy is looking unimpressed.

Ziggy the Cardigan Corgi - IVDD - Day 4: The Husband learns a new skill!

Thanks to all of you who have sent your thoughts, comments, and support for Ziggy.  It means a lot and I really appreciate it!

While I don't intend to turn my blog into only a Ziggy IVDD blog, I thought I'd share a quick update...

The Husband and I moved Ziggy from the emergency vet to his regular vet clinic today (where he had the surgery).  We weren't really hoping for any news, as it's still so early, but we did learn a bit.

The vet surgeon who is working with Ziggy did pinch/pain tests on his hind legs again, and there is already marked improvement compared to pre-surgery on Friday.  (whew!)

And, when his hind legs are placed under him, he is exerting some downward pressure - though not holding himself up or anything yet.  The vet says both of these are good signs - though we won't really know for a while how things will turn out.  But we'll take any progress we can get (it makes the humans feel better)!

Ziggy is still not urinating on his own (which we'd like him to do before he comes home) so The Husband got to learn a new skill today.  He went in this afternoon while I was at work and learned how to express urine from a dog's bladder!  He's a very good husband and deserves many Good Husband Bonus Points for this one.

We're hoping things will continue to head in the right direction, and that Ziggy will be home by the end of the week.

Ziggy the Cardigan Corgi - IVDD Days 1-3

Now that I've had time to process a bit, I wanted to provide a little more info on Ziggy.

Day 1:  Thursday night - Friday

This was a very harrowing time for me and Ziggy.  It was really hard for me not knowing what was going on with Ziggy.  The Husband was also out of town on a business trip, which meant all of this landed on my shoulders.  Due to the late night/early morning timing of it all, The Husband didn't know anything until Z was already headed into surgery.  Better that than me on a business trip and The Husband dealing with it on his own, I guess...

Since Ziggy passed the neuro tests at the emergency vet we started to look for other things. Ziggy was standing in a way that could be interpreted as having stomach pain or trouble going to the bathroom, (and we all know that Cardis are prone to eat non-food items) so we decided to do an x-ray to rule out obstruction in the stomach.  Nothing showed up on the x-rays.  The vet didn't know what was happening, but thought maybe it was a severe soft tissue injury.

I can't tell you another time I'd wished more that a dog could talk.  Ziggy was obviously in pain, but we had no idea where it was coming from.

When he started to lose use of his hind end at 3am - I called our regular vet clinic to see what time they opened.  I knew the vet who would do the surgery is at our clinic, so I decided not to take Z back to the emergency vet, but keep him quiet at home instead.

It was just awful seeing Ziggy's expression.  I've mentioned before that he has a very expressive face, and seeing that face express that much confusion and pain was just gutting.

Day 1:  Surgery and afternoon

The decision to do surgery was made much easier for me after having attended the IVDD seminar at the National Specialty in April (thanks again to those who planned it!).  Even thought I didn't remember verbatim what was said at the seminar, what I did remember helped me greatly, as my vet was saying the same things.  I was quite upset and having context for the conversation made it all much easier to understand.

When the vet inspected Ziggy he had response to moderate pain on his left side, and some response to deep pain on this right side.  Given his reactions, the vet is hopeful that we got to him in time.  If the dog can feel deep pain, they regain use of their hind end approximately 85% of the time.

The vet found the site of the ruptured disc before surgery.  While doing the surgery, he found that 4 other vertebrae needed to be "cleaned up" as well, since blood clots had formed.  This means that Ziggy has giant incision on his back.

The incision is about 10" long.

He also has a pain patch on his back (bottom right).

Days 2-3:  Saturday and Sunday

On Friday night we transported Ziggy to the Emergency Vet, where he is spending the weekend.  We put all the seats down in the mini-van, and put crate pads + a large blanket in the back.  The surgical vet helped us load Z in the back, and The Husband sat with him in the back of the van so Ziggy wouldn't move around.

Saturday we were quite keen to visit Ziggy, so The Husband, The Child, and I all went to the emergency clinic.  I brought Z's regular food, some of his favorite soft treats, and a greenie.  Ziggy ate them ALL.  Good boy.

When The Child saw Ziggy's back, his eyes got very wide and he said "OUCH!"  Indeed.

Do you think The Husband was happy to see Ziggy?

Ziggy is doing as well as can be expected.  He is eating a lot apparently - probably happy to have more than his usual "keep the Cardi lean" rations that I give him.  Today they put him on antibiotics due to blood in his urine.

Ziggy has a somewhat crazed expression thanks to the pain meds.

It's a little weird to see...

Yesterday evening I took 2 days worth of Z's regular food down to the clinic, and gave him some "goodnight" pets.  We didn't go see Ziggy today, as he got really agitated when we left yesterday evening.  Since a big goal right now is to keep him as quiet and still as possible, we thought it might not be a good idea.

Tomorrow morning we pick Ziggy up from the emergency vet, and take him back to our regular clinic.  He'll stay there a few more days, or until he's able to urinate on his own.  I plan to ask the vet all of the questions I forgot to ask on Friday.

F-ing IVDD

It's a bit of a sad day in our house.

Last night on his trip out before bedtime, Ziggy was moving slowly, with a hunched back, and his tail erect.  I carried him outside go to the bathroom, then immediately called the emergency vet and took him in.

The vet did a series of neurological tests, and took some x-rays.  Neither showed anything.  The vet was unsure what was going on and sent me home with instructions to watch Ziggy and give him some pain meds - as he was obviously still in pain.  Things worsened over the night, and this morning he could not move his hind end.

I was waiting at the door when our vet's office opened, and was seen by the surgeon who is the local expert for back surgeries, etc.  This vet clinic knows us well, as it's our regular vet, and this particular vet helped us through the back trouble with Denzil.

We were seen within 15 minutes, and it is what I suspected when I saw Z this morning.  His back went down and the diagnosis is IVDD (Intervertebral Disc Disease).

Ziggy was in surgery by around 10am.  The surgery went well, and we're hoping for the best.

Tonight we moved him to the emergency vet clinic where he'll spend the weekend.

I'll share a little more when I feel more up to it.