After my dachshund Dotti went quickly from back pain to not being able to use her legs to having surgery, I decided to write a blog about our experience and her road to recovery in hopes to better track her progress and to maybe help someone else who will go through this situation.
On Thursday September 22nd I noticed that my 4 year old Dachshund, Dotti, was not acting her normal self. She was acting shy which is a complete contrast to her outgoing self. She also started to yelp and whine in pain whenever someone would pick her up. As this continued through the day, I decided I would take her to the veterinarian first thing the next morning.
On Friday September 23rd, I woke up, got Dotti from her kennel, watched her go potty outside, and took her straight to the veterinarian. On the car ride to the vet, Dotti constantly yelped and whined in pain every time she moved. After speaking to the vet, we were informed that Dotti had hurt her back and we had two options: surgery or pain relief medicine. I asked the doctor what his opinion was because no matter what, I wanted what was best for Dotti. The doctor suggested trying the pain relief medicine first to see how she improved and a laser treatment for inflammation. Believing in the doctors recommendations, I left Dotti in their care and picked up her about 3 hours later. When I picked her up, the nurse placed her into her carrier and I scheduled an appointment for the next morning for her to have another laser treatment. Once we got home, I opened the door to the carrier but Dotti wouldn't come out. I let her be while I got ready to go to an event where I would be gone the rest of the day. After finishing getting ready, I took Dotti out of her carrier and placed her into her kennel.
Twelve hours later at approximately 11:00 pm I arrived home from my event and went to check on Dotti. I took her out of her cage and she wouldn't move her back legs. I would place her up on her legs and they would just go out from underneath her. I immediately took Dotti to the emergency vet where they explained to me that the vet that we had seen earlier in the day did not give Dotti a steroid injection like he should have. Dotti had received an oral non-steroid medication instead of the steroid injections which is 7x more powerful than the oral medication she was given. It was then that I realized that the vet that I had trusted since Dotti was a puppy, was no longer my trusted vet. The emergency vet told me to go ahead and take Dotti to her appointment the next morning but to go as soon as they open and they would run a few tests to see if she had improved.
I checked on Dotti through the night and she wasn't seeming to improve so as soon as the vet opened, I took her in. As I was speaking to one of the technician on what had happened, I said, "I don't know what happened, she was walking when I brought her in yesterday and by the time I got home she wasn't," and to my shock he said, "Well maybe when you got home she jumped off of a couch or something." UM HELLO, NO! I made sure to keep her still so that she could improve. As if I wasn't angry enough from the events that had lead up, I met with the vet and he told me that he had given me the options and I had chosen to not do the surgery then. If I recall, I asked for the best option for Dotti, and as a doctor, I expected to get the BEST recommendations for her. If he had told me, "She needs to have surgery," I would have done that. So, here we were, Dotti had not improved so we were then referred to a surgeon.
I couldn't believe that Dotti was declining so fast and was potentially going to have to have surgery. Shortly after arriving we were given the news that Dotti in fact did need surgery, and soon. After making sure I would be able to pay the very large bill, we discussed how the surgery would go and the different scenarios that could happen. The doctor began by explaining that 90% of Dachshunds are able to walk again after the surgery which sounded like great odds, however, she put Dotti through a "deep pain test" to determine if she could feel pain as they pressed on her back, and she has failed. This meant that her spinal cord could be damaged and that she may not be able to walk. If her spinal cord was too damaged and bruised, than she has an even larger chance to not being able to walk and would then be put into the 10% range. The only good news that I was given was that she could still feel her toes and that was a good sign. I was then told I would be called after the surgery which could take 2-3 hours unless something went wrong and they would call me during surgery....
I sat at home completely upset and not knowing what to do, I wanted the phone to ring so I would know how she did but I didn't want it to ring too soon because that meant something was wrong. Just before the 3 hour mark I received a phone call saying that Dotti had done great during the surgery, however; she did have a small bruise on her spinal cord. The doctor said that she had seen dogs with worse bruises get better and that she was cautiously optimistic of Dotti getting better and being able to walk. Later that night I was able to visit Dotti and she seemed to feel okay, but I wasn't able to move her.
On Sunday September 25th I heard back from the doctor on Dotti's neurological exams and she had passed!! Dotti has muscle tone in her right leg, a little muscle tone in her left leg which was normal since they went in on her left side, and she had urinated on her own. The doctor explained that she was very happy with Dotti's quick improvement because most dogs do not have much improvement form day 1 to day 2. She also let me know that I would be able to take Dotti home the following day. I was extactic that Dotti was improving so quickly and was more confident in her ability to fully recover. I was once again able to visit Dotti and she was even more herself when I saw her. She cried in excitement when she saw me, I was able to stay with her while she ate her dinner, and she even tried to get on my lap.
On Monday September 26 I received my daily phone call on Dotti's neurological exam and she had once again improved. I then scheduled to pick up Dotti shortly after ending the call. Once arriving at the vet, I was given Dotti's take home instructions and the details of how to take care of her. Four times a day Dotti goes through rehab for about 5 minutes each. She has medication she must take every 12 hours and also Pepcid so that the medication doesn't hurt her stomach. Dotti also has a sling that we must use under her belly each time we take her out to potty. This helps support her back and gives her the opportunity to potty normally.
Since it has only been the first day we have already faced a few struggles such as the dogs next door running to the fence and barking at Dotti while she is trying to potty to her whining while being in the kennel, however, each day will get a little easier. My hope is that by tracking Dotti's progress each day we will be able to notice her improvements even if they are small and that maybe we can help someone else who has to go through the same situation we are currently experiencing.
Dotti's sling.
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