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yay! barnaby came home yesterday afternoon! ... and with the diagnosis of a herniated disc in his neck. absolutely nothing irregular showed up as far as his brain was concerned, no tumor, no inflammation!
man, i love this dog!
coming off the anesthesia was tough for him, which meant we had to make a run back to vet specialist to the afterhours emergency because he was having some odd, odd symptoms. sort of a full-fledged panic attack in which he was... well, how do i describe it?
in a person, it would have sounded like he was hyperventilating and then screaming at the end... so imagine him taking these short, shallow, high-pitched breaths and then trying to howl-bark, but not really being able to bark b/c he was still so sedated. it was nuts!
and impossible to tell whether he was just upset or in some kind of pain. so we went back to the clinic (which, btw, he looked at me like i was crazy when i opened the car door and he realized where we were!), and the emergency vet checked all his vitals and checked him for signs of pain, and he checked out ok, just restless.
so, home again.
then he coughed relentlessly for the rest of the night... normal reaction to the breathing tube, i am told.
and, today, he's just resting... and i am so happy he is home.
now i just have to make the decision how to proceed:
1. surgery to remove the disk. permanent solution, 95 percent reported success rate, less than 1 percent complication rate, 1-2 percent complication rate from anethesia, 4 week recovery time, 2000 dollar price tag.
2. acupuncture. manages pain, but isn't a permanent solution. no chances of complication. no recovery time. 2-3 sessions upfront to assess whether it working. 75 dollars per session.
3. do nothing. wait and see if condition continues/worsens. then go with plan 1 or 2.
the neurologist said he has no definite recommendation, any course of action would be appropriate at this point. so now research is the name of the game, although, i have to say, i am no fan of more anesthesia or surgery for my 70-year old sweetheart. but i do want him to have the very best quality of life possible.
thank you so much, all of you, for your concern and well wishes! you made the waiting so much easier!
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh.....Barndog...I am so sorry for what you & Barnaby are going thru.
If it were me...I would wait a couple days, let him rest up good. and if he's the same as he's been...I would go with #2. You can always do #1 if #2 doesn't help. If that's your decision.
It's so hard to see our babies age & poor Barnaby has had the most problems, but he's had the BEST MOM IN THE WORLD TO TAKE SUCH WONDERFUL CARE OF HIM.
Hang in there & spoil that boy & let him rest.
Just keep us updated.
glad he's home and doing better...... i can't imagine how tough the waiting was and then for him to have that reaction coming off of the anesthesia...... wow....
and i agree with sillypups about his treatment...... try the less invasive first......
wow - that's funny, we are mostly all in agreement, that might be a first on the board!
barnaby has his first acupunture treatment tomorrow morning. i will report back after he has the first 2 or 3 about whether they seem to be working... maybe this will help someone else out there facing the same situation...
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