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| Prince's Spinal Problem |
Yesterday was a very difficult day. Prince has been having difficulty with his back legs recently, so he spent the day at Fitzpatrick's -the Supervets - where he had an MRI scan. The devastating result is he has five slipped discs! There is no way of knowing how long this has been going on or what has caused it. He has been such a brave boy not displaying any signs of discomfort.
We had hoped that it was a single disc, in which case he would probably have had an operation there and then. However the road ahead is now very tricky. An operation is still possible, although it is high risk in that the best case scenario is to stabalise the condition, and give him a quality of life, although he will be a different dog in terms of what he could do post op. However there is also a real possibility that the operation might not be successful, and the condition is made worst. Also due to the state of his spine there is a high chance that he could still have problems with the other discs in the future. The other option is not to have the operation, and for him to have complete rest, a course of steroids, and physiotherapy. This would hopefully stabilize things for a while, but over time his condition will deteriorate. The bottom line is that neither option will be a total cure. The vets are waiting for some test results to see if there is any infection around the discs, so we have maybe a week to decide what to do. I might well have not got all this information quite right, but it was a lot to take on board at the end of a very traumatic day.
So things like going up and down stairs are now out. He is on complete rest, and has to be lifted in and out of the car. The crate is his new resting place, and this will be a challenge as he has never been crated in his nine years. Going to try and get him used to it over the coming days. And although not in this photo, the living room is also my new bedroom as I will be sleeping on a mattress next to him for the foreseeable future. He was a very good boy last night sleeping with me on the mattress, but he did spend a little bit of time in the crate.
So uncertain times ahead, and lots of change. There will no doubt be huge impact on life over the coming days, weeks and months. Some things in the diary might not now happen, but for the time being it's a day at a time, and above all putting Prince first...
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