Ziggy the Cardigan Corgi IVDD: Ziggy's MRI

I published a couple of posts last week regarding an MRI.  We decided to go ahead with MRI, so we would be better educated about how to proceed with the Z.

Last Wednesday morning I left early, stopped by Starbucks, and hit the road for a 9am appointment in Ames at the ISU vet school.

The Day

When we arrived at the school, Ziggy happily marched is way into the building (walking in his sling), and started to head back to the rehab center.  This made me feel better about the time he spends at rehab, as he didn't seem upset about where we were going.  He was confused, though, when we went to the waiting room instead of heading right back to rehab.

We saw the neurologist and vet student around 9:30.  They did a neuro exam, then explained the MRI to me, confirming that we still wanted to have it done.  We then discussed what to do if they found something that required surgical intervention.  The options were to go right from MRI to surgery, or consult with me first.  I opted for the "consult with me first" option, as I really wanted to understand what was going on.

With that, they took Z back to wait for anesthesia and the MRI.  This was shortly before 10am.  They figured they would have some news in 2 hours.  I found out where the nearest Starbucks was, and went to have a coffee and read a book (not such a bad way to spend a day off).  I stayed at Starby's for an hour or so, then decided to go have some lunch.  I found a Panera, and ate lunch and read my book my book for another hour or so. Still no call from ISU.  So I went to Best Buy and wandered around.

Still no word, so I went back to the vet school.  The vet student came out and explained that things were backed up because of emergencies, but it should be any time.  It was a nice spring day, so I decided to go for a walk.  I walked for an hour or so.  Still no word.  So I sat in my car for a while and did some work email.  I went back inside when they finally called to tell me Z was headed into his MRI (around 3:30pm).

The MRI plus analysis took about an hour and half (I read more of my book).

Finally, they called me back to discuss results.

The Results

The MRI found nothing that would indicate surgical intervention.  No new disc material was found in the spinal cord, and they didn't find anything else that would be causing compression on the spinal cord.

What they found, basically, was a healing spinal cord.  They did not see any signs of permanent spinal cord damage.  Well, there's always some damage when a disc ruptures, but nothing out of the ordinary was found.  They did find that many areas of the spinal cord were still healing.  The neurologist explained that some dogs just heal more slowly than others, and Ziggy is definitely on the slow end.  Nothing was found, though, that would change the prognosis for him walking eventually.

I was relieved that things seem to be normal, but slow.  I would really prefer normal but fast, or normal and normal, but there you go.

It's funny, though, because the neurologist expressed his regrets (almost apologized, really) a few times that Ziggy didn't need surgery.  I can see where he's coming from in that no surgery means no "easy" fix, but I'm ok with that.

So What Now?

The neurologist's recommendation was that we continue with acupuncture and physical therapy.  He did suggest upping the amount of PT Ziggy gets.  The longer a dog isn't walking, the more chance that their body won't stay in good enough condition (strength and flexibility) to walk.  He's seen cases where the spinal cord and nerves finally heal enough to allow the dog to walk, but the dog is physically no longer able to walk.  He also suggested we get Ziggy out in the cart more often, and allow him to move quickly enough that he starts to pump with is hind legs.

So now The Husband and are I trying to make the "more PT" thing happen.  Ziggy is a funny dog, and after 5-10 minutes of physical therapy, he just quits.  Sits down and (if he's on the floor) scoots himself away.  How do you push a dog to give you just a few more reps??

Ziggy the Cardigan Corgi IVDD: Back to ISU tomorrow

We have decided to go ahead with the MRI of Ziggy's back, as we really want to know if there is anything else going on, if there's any nerve damage we didn't know about, etc.  So I'm using one of my last vacation days and taking Ziggy back to ISU tomorrow.  Our appointment is in the morning, so we'll be leaving here at 6am.  Starbucks opens at 5:30, though, so I'll be ok :)

Since my posts have been less-than-perky lately, I thought I'd share a fun video of Rip and Ziggy frapping. Ziggy wants his Cardi friends to know that, with a wild and willing partner, a Cardi who can't walk can still frap!

Enjoy!

Ziggy the Cardigan Corgi IVDD: Weeks 18-20 - Up, then down

I just realized tonight that I've been labeling my weeks wrong.  Tomorrow is 21 weeks since Z's surgery.

Weeks 18-20 have been interesting.  I mentioned in an earlier post that on Ziggy's last trip to the Iowa State University vet school rehab program, they felt his progress was a little lackluster.  There WAS progress, though, so we figured he was just continuing on his slow progress trend.  We hadn't seen any major breakthroughs, but he was standing a bit better, was moving his right hind more, etc.

Last week we felt he had an uptick in his progress.  He seemed much stronger when standing, and he even stood on his own when The Husband took his picture!  Our local rehab vet, who does his acupuncture and helps us stay on track with physical therapy, felt Z had the biggest week-on-week improvement in recent months.  We were feeling pretty good about our boy.

Ziggy finally got wheels!

We're all still getting used to them, 

but hope it gives him a bit of freedom each day.

Photographic proof!  

Ziggy is able to hold himself up on his own 

-- for a short while (a couple of mins) at least.

This week Ziggy was back at ISU for four days of rehab.  I got calls on Mon & Tues, and they felt he had made more progress this time then they had seen last time.  Then yesterday on the call (I was in a meeting, so they left a message) - they said he was doing well, but there was something they needed to talk to me about.  (Maybe that's what prompted me to publish yesterday's blog post - which I had written a while ago but hadn't posted?)

Today I called them during my lunch hour.  The rehab specialist said that she still had a feeling that, though Ziggy continued to make progress, she wasn't seeing what she'd really like to see this far past the surgery.  Since experts are close to hand at a University vet school, she decided to call in a neurologist to check Ziggy out.  

The neurologist had the same feeling the rehab specialist did - that we'd really expect to see more progress by now. 

The neurologist recommends that we have an MRI done on Ziggy.  This will help us  understand if more disc material might be on the spinal cord, or if there is some scarring, or if another disc has ruptured, etc.  It will also help us understand if there is damage to the spinal cord that we don't know about.  If there is more disc material, another surgery is recommended.

I called the vet who did our surgery and talked with him today.  He sees Ziggy every couple of weeks when Ziggy goes in for "daycare" and said that he got the same impression lately - progress, but not great.  He is in agreement than an MRI is a good next step, as it will give us a lot of information about what's going on in there.  He also liked the idea of having it done at ISU, as a neurologist, radiologist, and surgeon are all at hand to evaluate the MRI and provide guidance.

Since an MRI is really not cheap (think montly-mortgage-payment), and surgery is even more expensive, we now have a lot to think about.

Me, Cardigan Corgis, IVDD & the Lottery

I am not a particularly lucky person.  I consider myself fortunate to have a very nice life, but lucky I am not.

I don't win raffles, silent auctions, or drawings.  I have never won any amount of money with a lottery ticket.  Come to think of it, the only thing I've ever won in my life is a TV when I was in college, and the only reason I won this is that the person who held the winning ticket got too drunk and had to go back to her dorm room to pass out, and my ticket was drawn next.

What does this have to do with Cardigans?  And IVDD?  

My piss-poor luck continues here, I'm afraid.  I got my first Cardigan, Maggie, in 2000.  Overall, I've had four Cardigans.  3 of my four Cardigans have reached "IVDD age" (my term)  -- between 3 - 6/7 years old.  According to Dodger's List (a GREAT IVDD resource) and others, this is the age when the first IVDD episode is likely to occur.  

Of these 3 Cardigans, 2 of them have had IVDD episodes.  That's a 67% occurrence of IVDD within my pack.  That sucks.  Since we there are currently no figures I can find regarding what percentage of Cardigans have an IVDD episode, I can't find out statistically just how unlucky I am.  Of course, figuring that out would also require me to dig up notes from my stats classes, so it's probably for the best.  

In Dachshund's, however, it's estimated that between 20-30% of all dogs will have an IVDD episode.  So I'd be unlucky even if I were a Dachshund owner.  

My first dog to have problems with IVDD was Denzil.  His first episode happened around 4 years of age.  The second episode occurred about a year and a half after the first.  Thankfully, he never went fully down in the back, and we were able to treat him with steroids, pain killers, and crate rest.  

Denzil recovered from both episodes, and he was able to resume normal activity (e.g., daily walks).  His performance career, however, was pretty much curtailed.  I did not want him jumping and twisting, so agility was out.  And so was obedience -- he already had his CD, and too much jumping was required to train for Open or Utility.  We did do a bit of Rally, but Denzil then started to have secondary problems with arthritis in his stifles, so he got to retire to a slower life with my parents.

Denzil LOVED agility -- running!  jumping!  barking!  Hooray!!

My second dog with IVDD, of course, is Ziggy, and we're still on the journey.

All of this has caused me to do a lot of thinking about my chosen breed - is it still the breed for me?

For better or worse, IVDD has really disrupted my whole world and way of thinking as it relates to my dogs, performance sports with the dogs, and how I care for the pack.  

This is a large part of the reason I've not been blogging much lately.  What to say about all of this, and how to say it?  I have a few posts in mind that I'll share in the coming weeks.  Bear with me.

Ziggy the Cardigan Corgi IVDD: Week 16 - The Great Scootini

Ziggy has a new nickname at house - The Great Scootini - or Scootini - or Scoots.

No, Ziggy isn't walking yet.  We're well into week 16 after surgery, and he's still scooting himself around.  He's getting quite good at scooting, and can move surprisingly quickly.  Thus, the nickname...  (I apologize to Pat Conroy for co-opting his book title.  I love his books, and calling Ziggy the Great Scootini makes me smile.)

So what's been happening w/ Z since I posted a month ago?

• He spent another week at ISU.  They were not as happy with his progress as they had been on previous visits.  Sigh.
• He continues to get acupuncture nearly every week.  This really seems to help him, and we notice a good deal of progress after the sessions.
• He has been getting a bit of chiro work, too.  NOT anywhere near the area that was injured - but on the pelvis and neck.  These are out of whack thanks to all of the scooting.
• We continue with daily physical therapy (same exercises) and weekly swimming in the tub downstairs.

Progress:

• It has been slower going, but progress continues along.
• He is now trying to push himself up on his hind legs - and even succeeds from time to time!  He doesn't have the strength or balance to stand, but at least he's trying!
• He is able to take some steps with his hind legs in his weekly sessions w/ the rehab vet who does his acupuncture.  These are very careful steps - controlled in the front by me and supported gently behind by the vet.

Wheels!

We have ordered Ziggy a set of wheels.  Initially we were advised not to do this by the vets (surgical & rehab).  While at ISU, however, they put him in a cart from time to time to just cruise around the vet school.  This helps with his attitude by giving him some freedom.

On the last visit the noticed something interesting.  While he started to go fast in the cart, he started to drive with his hind legs - using them like he uses them in the treadmill.  Here's a video they took:

This led the ISU rehab woman to recommend we get a cart for Ziggy and use it 10-15 minutes a day as part of his rehab.  Ideally this will help him remember how to use his legs properly, and will help him build muscle.  She also suggests we take him on walks with the other dogs (Maggie only, I think to minimize the mayhem) to give him some "competition" and encourage him to walk.  

I'll let you know how it goes...

Site prep begins

After the house was gone, the excavation contractor wasted no time in getting started.  Two days after the fire, they demolished the remaining structure.

They also did me a favor (for a few bucks extra) - and took out my nemesis the juniper bushes.  You might remember from a previous post that I spent hours trying to hack my way through overgrown junipers in front of the house.  I finally gave up, and the bushes got the better of me.  Since the contractor had an excavator on site, he tore up the bushes (as well as a spinney of small locust trees), threw them into rubble of the house, and burned them along with the still-unburned decks.

The junipers.  Goodbye bushes.

'

They're gone!  Still a bit of brush and debris to clear, but no junipers!

Note the large rhododendron in the distance -- the junipers were trying to choke it out.

But now it's free!

This picture makes me feel good.  Burn, junipers, burn!

And then they demolished the foundation and the chimney.

And finally all of the debris was hauled away.

Next it was on to permitting so work can start in earnest.

Bye Bye House Part 2: Burnin' Down the House

In my last post, I shared the beginning of the house burn day.  After all of the fire departments went through their practice stations, the order was given to let the fire go.  This is when things got really exciting! 

 The fire first overtook the front room.  Easy to see why they wanted the windows boarded up.

  

Then the front window (which wasn't boarded) blew out, and the boards started to come down on the other windows.

Then the fire started to spread down the hall to other rooms. 

Note the fire coming out of the roof vents...

A picture of the front of the house - fire fighters looking on. 

Within a frighteningly short time the front room was gone.

This cracked me up. 

Many of the fire fighters posed for pictures in front of the house.

I guess it's the only time they can be proud that a house is burning to the ground on their watch!

One of the fire fighters rescued the smoke detector for us. Funny.

The last to go was the carport. 

All of the pallets came in handy to build enough of a fire to take it down.

Once the carport was down, all of the fire fighters left.

The house was still burning, but due to the wet ground they weren't worried.

They promised to come by every hour or two to make sure everything was ok.

Since they weren't worried enough to stay, we decided to follow their lead and go to lunch.

 

Here's a view from the front of the property.

Looking at the smoking pile of rubble where the house used to be.

 

When we returned from lunch the house was still burning.

Note the blasted, melted grass stuck into the ground.

A testament to the power of the fire.

After watching the fire for a while longer, we decided to call it a day.

When we returned the next day, the fire was out, but one of the decks was still smoldering.

This deck was attached to the house, but was so wet from all of the rain that it never really burned.

Gotta love the Pacific NW.

Here's how the rest of the house looked the day after.

This is the same side/room that was in the first picture.

Only the chimney remained.