Dee Dee,
how is miss Hallie doing on her recovery? The lil girl means a lot to us. I want to know if she is getting around better. How are you dealing with it after all she is your little girl. I am hoping after reading your last thread that she is doing well. Please give us a update.
Yes! Please check in. :heart:
Hallie is doing great. I am about 85% total wreck compared to 110% total wreck a few days ago so it's a big improvement. :) She seems to feel normal, and since we were always on the go and used to getting exercised every day she is a bit bored. But I've been doing all I can to keep her entertained, we sit in the front yard in a tiny X Pen while I paint (people walking by can't see her in there so it looks like I'm sitting in there all by myself) and I try to only have her in the crate inside when she naps (and I work furiously on the computer while she does). We've had company visit and I have taken her on very slow and careful car rides around the park with the windows down (her crate is where she can see out). So other than some boredom and thinks she starving to death (I've cut back on her food) she is doing great and appears normal. I am so grateful and I will keep her crated for another 2-4 weeks then slowly allow her to do more, and take her for walks in her stroller and am trying to find a place for hydrotherapy to help build her muscles back up after she is off the crate rest. Thanks for asking about her!
Dee Dee,
Your post brought tears to my eyes. As has your unfailing devotion to the gorgeous and magnificant Miss Hallie! 85% is certainly an improvemnet! Hang in there sweety. Your doing a fantastic job! When Toby was sick and I was up for far to many nights and emotional beyond belief, Roberta sent me a post that I will never forget. She said, "Baby steps are all that are required for now." I cannot begin to tell you how many nights I repeated that like a mantra. Baby steps are all that are required of Hallie as well. God bless you for being you. Your devotion and love for Hallie will get her through this rough time...and in turn her devotion and love for you will give her the strength that she needs to get strong and healthy again!
Keep the posts coming! You are both in my prayers. Oh and one last thing....the visual of you sitting in the pen in the yard painting is great! Gotta love the things we do! :)
She's bored? Have you given her a jigsaw puzzle? Or maybe she would like some Mad Libs and Colorforms? My momma always gave 'em to me to play with when I was home sick.
Sounds like she will make a complete recovery. YOU may not, ha ha. Try to take it one day at a time and don't think too hard about your past experiences with the other pets-- ok????
XXXXOOOOOOXXXX for you both :heart:
I'm sure every vet in this country would love to have pet owners like you. I'm also sure that if they did, they wouldn't see nearly the neglect they do now. I'm glad that both you and Hallie are improving!
I agree that the visual of you sitting in the x-pen painting is a great one. I'm sure some people are really wondering why you have to fence yourself in like that!!
Is the road too bumpy for Hallie to ride in the stroller now? I was just thinking that it might help with the boredom, but then I realized that the bumps in the road could be a problem.
Thank you so much Terri, you lifted my spirits! I love the quote from Roberta (she is a wise woman). I can so feel for you, staying up nights with Toby (nights can be so long at times like that). I like the baby step mantra.
Les does the fact that I know what MadLibs and Colorforms are, date me? :) As far as Hallie is concerned, she IS healed and doesn't see my logic in staying still. She is such a good patient but I have a feeling she is going to expect some of the nicer aspects of this treatment to continue long after she's back to speed (like carrying her everywhere, sitting in the yard for hours rubbing her belly, etc). I will be happy to comply as much as I can!
Thanks Teresa, I thought I might put a "help the homeless" sign on the x pen and set up on an off ramp and make a few bucks. Yesterday a woman walked down my street and when I looked up at her after she passed, she was looking over her shoulder staring at me with a frown. You know, I am really tempted to take her in a stroller now but not sure if I should? I have always taken her shopping with me so I plan to start inside stores, where there would be no chance of another dog or critter to be seen. She has shopped with me for so long, she is always very still and very quiet, she loves to just lay there with her chin on her big chin pillow and look around. She has never got excited in the least in a store and it wouldn't be bumpy at all. Still...I wonder if I should yet? I plan from there to take her on our walks with my aunt. We walk with her once a week, she is about 5 minutes from me and lives in a gated retirement community. It is wonderful, no big dogs allowed and no dogs allowed to run loose. Very little traffic and the roads and sidewalks are all very smooth. The walk we take there is 45 minutes, I had sort of planned to take her in her stroller, and after her rest time is up I could still take the stroller and have her walk a little ways then ride, and make the walks longer as time goes on. There would be a chance we could come across someone walking their dog and although she probably wouldn't go over the top nuts, I wouldn't want her to go even a little nuts right now so we'll wait. But I may do the store thing, I also was thinking I could roll up a towel and set on either side of her so she doesn't roll at all but she really does seem to feel like a million bucks. I know how important it is to keep her rested though and let things really heal.
I thank God every day that I work from home so I can cater to her all day long, and never have to leave her side. And also that this was mild and she is doing SO good. I really pray we never go through this again and it is a one time thing. Once is one time too many!
Dee Dee,
I will be out of town for a day or so, when I get back I will call on you again so I know what is going on. I would encourage you to allow her to go and have "some" excercise as this could (1) help with her boredom, (2) in mild amounts speed up the healing process. Keep in mind Hallie is a living creature, "living" creatures heal from the stress and then rebuild process, think when you were a little girl you weighed maybe 50 lbs. as you grew your bones compensated for the additional weight, when we send people to space the zero gravity eleviates pressure on the bones and the bones actually become more brital. Let her do some exercise but do not allow her to jump and keep an eye on her.
Hang in there DD! I'm still sending lots of rays to you and HBB. I've been there with you, and we do have to remember, that most of the time, these IVDD flare ups are treatable with proper rest, medication and/or alternative therapies. Surgery is only needed for a small percent. It's hard to think that way with the run of luck our board members have had these last few years.
((((((((((hugs)))))))))))))))))
Go Hallie grlllll.....sounds like you are on the mend......more R&R though until you are healed. I would think a quiet ride in the stroller would be fine - as long as it limited to an area where she can't get excited. This is the worst time - trying to keep them down. Glad the anxiety % has gone down for you - HA !!! 85% is probably what we all run on normally :wink:
Take care of you and our Miss Hallie BB......I love Roberta's mantra - perfect for all of us when dealing with anything stressful !!!!
DeeDee, it sounds like things are really looking up. You are SUCH a GOOD Mom! :apls: :heart: When Maddie is in her crate and is bored, I put a broccoli stalk in a kong for her. It keeps her busy. Hallie, keep makin' your mom smile, y'hear?
Thanks you guys, gosh it seems at least one doxie on this board is going through this at any one time, if not several!! :confused:
I have been taking her places near home and put her on a down stay on the grass in front of me, her in her harness of course and me with a death grip on it and my arms encircling her but it gives her something to do and she doesn't get worked up or excited or try to run around so I'm guessing it is fine to do that. I think it really helps her psyche. Today we went to the community college which is about 4 blocks away and sat on the lawn under a big tree.
You are right Krista. I keep telling myself those exact things. They will be OK! How is Rudy?? I have heard so many stories of doxies that have one or two episodes and no more. (I love those stories!). I know chances are it will crop up again once they get it but not always so we can hang on to that thought. A lady from the schutzhund club today told me 23 years ago their doxie had surgery and went on to live a long and happy life with no more problems. As great as the internet is with all the info and support, etc, it is also scary becasue you read the worst cases...the good cases which I'm sure is the majority, you don't read about on the back problem forums because they don't keep checking in. It does seem the majority of the doxies on our board get hit with this at one point or another though doesn't it. They recover!
Barb I think I will do that...we will celebrate our 2 week mark this Thursday by taking a stroller ride in home depot! She is just not one to get excited in there, she's been to so many dog shows in her stroller too and has never gotten worked up in the least when seeing the other dogs. It can be a different story though if we are just out and about and suddenly she sees one dog when she isn't expecting to see one. Even then she doesn't get wild or anything she'd probably just sit up and bark a bit and maybe lurch forward a little but even that is too much for my nerves right now. :) So we'll be very careful.
What a great idea Sandi! I have yet to get a kong for Hallie, I have been afraid to take her more than 4 blocks from home, the pet store here that has them is about 5 minutes away. I will try that though. Thanks for the idea! I made her up some veggie ice, I slightly steamed some baby organic carrots and put those, no salt green beans, a bit of banana, a tiny bit of canned food, and a little canned pumpkin (so it's mostly carrots and beans) in a food processor then I added a lot of filtered water and froze them into cylindircal ice cubes. She loves those, they are big and she can really crunch them but low cal and healthy. I also give her no salt brown rice cakes and raw carrot sticks, and a pupcorn now and then. For her meals I make them 2/3 green beans and the rest her food, where usually it is 1/4 green beans and the rest her food. Even with all that though she does act like she's ravenous all the time, much more than usual. :( How is Maddie's appetite?
Hi!
I'm Dawn, AKA Frankys Mom. We send our prayers to you and sweet Hallie. It sounds like you are doing everything right. It is much better to be safe than sorry, so rest is crucial for her if it is disc disease. We've been through this with Frank, so I know exactly how stressful and traumatizing it can be. We spent many sleepless nights and several middle of the night trips to the emergency vet. Frank could not be crated because he "goes crazy" when crated and jams his nose through the wires and digs until he's bloody. Probably a result of his previous owner, but that's another story. Our solution was to buy a children's play pen and he loved it. I think it was less claustrophobic for him but it still allowed us to limit his activity. Also since it has wheels we were able to move it to any room we were in, with ease.
We used Kongs and "Egg Babies" to keep him busy. Egg babies are the stuffed toys with squeaky eggs inside that they have to figure out how to remove. For treats we give our kids frozen green beans and frozen carrots. Believe it or not, they actually prefer them to other treats, although they will eat anything. They both get nighty-night treats, one frozen carrot or green bean and 1/2 wellness biscuit and they always eat the veggies first.
Hope things are going well!
Hi Dawn. SO sorry to hear you have gone thorugh this with Frankie. Awful, awful disease isn't it. Has he had more than one episode and is he doing fine now? I have tried to find any real studies on how many recur after the first episode, etc but haven't had any luck finding that. Dodgers List has a good data base but people don't tend to come back after time it doesn't appear so it would be nice to know how the dogs there fared after several years. I have to quit reading up on the net about IVDD, I'm scaring myself to death LOL. I hope Frankie is fine now! Thanks for the other tips as well, I welcome any suggestions, it is awfully boring to be in a crate like that for weeks. Poor little boy....that had to be hard on you to have him hate the crate so much. The playpen sounds like the perfect solution!
DeeDee...you have got to be one of the best dog moms I've ever known! You take such very good care of Miss Hallie BB!
I had to chuckle at the thought of you sitting in the xpen and that woman turning around to look at you! I would've made some kind of wierd comment! "My Mom doesn't trust me in the yard alone!!!" lol
You two hang in there...sending hugs from Port Orchard!!