{10june2010: needles}

Good news!

So Darwin's neurologist called last week with basically the same results.  He got Darwin's xrays from our vet and looked over them with the radiologist and two other surgeons and they all couldn't determine her pain or rear end weakness.  Dr Sanders thinks Darwin is a "rare example of hyperproliferative soft tissue".  He thinks she "may be subject to a limited activity lifestyle" if we cannot control the pain.  I asked again about what he thinks about taking her to see Dr. Kelleher and he thought it would be the best thing.  

Ok, that's not the good news.

Here's the good news.  So I emailed her last Tuesday to get on her waiting list and figured it would be a while till we could go in and see her.  She emailed early Saturday morning saying she had a cancellation for Monday and we could have that appointment!  Woo hoo!  

So Monday afternoon Darwin and I jumped in the car for a 30 minute drive north to see Dr. Kelleher.  I brought along all of Darwin's records and we went over how all of this started with her staying with her doggy mom and dad.  She was very excited about Darwin's case as we had done everything we could with traditional medicine (xrays, neurologist, MRI, Meningitis treatment, more xrays, etc) and after checking Darwin out she felt like chiropractic and acupuncture would totally help.  She said in checking out Darwin's spine she confirmed my suspicion that she was probably t-boned from the right side by her dad.  She found Darwin's right shoulder was really stiff, many disks were out of alignment going down her back, her pelvis was a little crooked, and her left side was super sensitive.  She did a few adjustments along Darwin's spine and then started with the acupuncture.  

Darwin did really well with the acupuncture, which surprised me, the only time she seemed to be uncomfortable with it was when Dr. Kelleher tried to insert a needle in her lower left side (her sensitive side) and Darwin jumped up.  

Dr. Kellelher noticed that Darwin is a tad overweight due to being on the Prednisone, so Darwin's now on a diet!  We're looking for her to lose around 7lbs to get her back to her 115lb range.  Now Darwin will only get 3 cups of kibble (she was at 5, and up to 7 with the Prednisone) and 2 cups of homemade food.  She gets to eat more raw meat and hard boiled eggs, and a mix of ground veggies.  Dr. Kelleher says vegetables like broccoli, kale, parsley, carrots and cauliflower are good "back building" veggies.  She also said Darwin could get raw chicken necks.

Sorry, iphone picture.... but doesn't that look appetizing?! 

Darwin seems to like her new diet, but is not a fan of chicken necks.  Monday night she ate them, but she won't go near them now.  If they are in her bowl, she won't eat.  Last night I took them out of the bowl and she ate just fine.  I tried to give her a chicken neck on its own and she totally rejected it.  She sniffed it, gave it a lick and turned her head away!  Thank goodness they are cheap ($0.99/lb) because I threw them out! 
Darwin also getting new supplements.  A Chinese herb mixture, doggy daily vitamins, Vitamin E, fish oil (she was getting this salmon oil but Dr. Kelleher recommends getting a human grade fish oil high in DHA), cod liver oil, Choline, and Lions Mane mushroom.  These are supposed to help her brain and nervous system.  It's a lot to get used to in terms of how much and how often, but I'm sure we'll get the hang of it soon.

The only slightly bad thing is that our insurance doesn't cover holistic medicine so all the visits we make to Dr. Kelleher will add up.  Eeek!  We'll see how it goes!  We have another appointment next Monday and then another one in early July.   I'm feeling pretty confident that she'll be able to help Darwin and get her back to her normal self!

{26may2010: slacker}

Man. I've been slacking on the blog.  I was hoping to blog once we got the consultation report from the neurologist (he was going to do more research and email me), but it still hasn't come so for now I'll just say this, GRRR.
We had our appointment on Monday and on the drive there it hit me.  I FORGOT TO PICK UP HER XRAYS.  OI.  Instead of having the vet courier it to the neurologist I thought, I can pick it up no problem.  No problem if I remembered.   Problem when I totally blank on doing it.  We called to see if we should postpone our appointment since I didn't have the xrays, and they said they can exam her without the xrays.  
We get there and take a seat on a couch while we wait in the lobby and Darwin decides to make herself comfy too.

Having just her butt on the couch wasn't comfy enough, so she hopped right up and found a good position.

See that lady in the backround?  She couldn't help but laugh at Darwin making herself at home on the couch.

So we go in the exam room and Dr. Sanders checks Darwin out.   We told him about her gimpy butt and her incontinence and what the new xrays showed.  From what he could tell from his exam and the MRI's they did in March he still doesn't think it's a neurological issue, but it could be an orthopedic issue due to excessive bone growth in her lower back.  He was going to send for her new xrays and look them over with the ortho guy and do some research.  We also got sent home with Gabapentin which Darwin has to take for two weeks.

So she started the Gabapentin Monday night, two pills every 12 hours.  She got two more Tuesday with her breakfast before we went to work.  We come home from work and that familiar unwelcoming smell was floating in the lobby area.  UGH. 
The hallway was covered in poop.  COVERED.  Jason took her out for a walk while I cleaned.  There was even diarrhea on her bed.... poor girl.  I Googled Gabapentin to see its side effects and I couldn't find diarrhea as one, so I called SVS to see if we should stop giving her the drugs.  They said the diarrhea is probably unrelated to the Gapapentin and to keep giving it to her, but to give her a bland diet for a few days (rice and chicken).  So while I felt bad for her stomach issues (and me having to clean it again) she was quite the happy camper having rice and chicken for dinner.
Darwin LOVES rice. If she hears one of us in the kitchen making rice she is right there. If she hears the rice cooker button pop up when done she is right there. I think she is faking the stomach ache just so she can get rice more often. 

If you look carefully you can see rice on her nose and stuck on her lip.

So our adventures with Darwin's ailment continues.  I did ask Dr. Sanders about accupuncture and chiropractic care, and he said he wouldn't recommend chiropractic treatment for her as it may stress her out, but accupuncture may be a way to go.  He said there is a vet, Dr. Donna Kelleher , who is a nutritionist and holistic vet that he may recommend us to, but she has a long wait list and there are other vets.  He said if Darwin were his dog though he'd wait to see her.  
It's funny because shortly after we started Darwin's blog I had won a book from Stella for her third birthday called The Last Chance Dog and it's written by Dr. Kelleher.

I've put off reading it in favor of other books, but now I feel motivated to read it and see if a more holistic approach would be beneficial to Darwin.