The Log Dog Blog: No Surgery...For Now!

The last time I wrote a post about our dogs was way back in March and it was not exactly an uplifting tale because we were looking at more surgery for Maddy. Now here we are in June and I'm writing about surgery for Ginny.

Here's the good news…neither pup has had to have surgery! At least not yet. I'll get to that.

I mean...this face!

With Maddy, we actually started her on some medications back in March in hopes of stabilizing some her of hormone levels to prepare her for surgery. Unfortunately, she had a terrible response to the meds. She became very lethargic, refusing to eat or drink, and was constantly shaking uncontrollably. It got so bad that we almost took her to our regular vet in the middle of the night one time (they have 24-hour emergency services – just another reason we love them so much). We stopped the meds and decided to give her poor little body a break. Since then, we've just been monitoring her behavior for signs she is not feeling well. I know other pet parents are with me when I say I wish Maddy could speak to us and express what is wrong when she feels lousy. She is almost 13 years old, so her age is also a factor in the decrease in her physical activity and we just don't want to put her through anything that isn't medically necessary for the quality of her life. As such, surgery for her has not been completely ruled out, but for now, we are proceeding with caution, given what a hard time she had with the medications.

As for Ginny, her troubles are much more recent. Well, at least the physical manifestations of her troubles are much more recent.

Ginny was being a super cute distraction while
I was trying to pack the night before our trip!

We left for vacation on Monday, June 11, with my awesome mom coming to stay at our house to care for Maddy and Ginny. The first few days were fine, but she noticed that Ginny was not quite herself, whining and limping, despite no particular incident (jumping or slipping) that could have triggered pain or discomfort. We were scheduled to leave on our cruise on Friday, and we considered not going so that we could come home to be with Ginny. Well, if you know me, or if you've read other posts I've written, you know how phenomenal my mom is, and there was no way our care would surpass her expertise, having been a nurse for 43+ years! She insisted we go on our cruise while she held down the fort and we knew Ginny was in the best situation possible – although I won't lie; I was nervous about something happening while we were not in a position to jump in the car and drive home.

Our cruise left on Friday, June 15 and we decided to take the "no news is good news" approach and wait to hear from my mom if anything happened. We didn't have to wait long because my mom texted us on Saturday that she was at the neurologist's office and that Ginny was having an MRI. She wasn't putting weight on her back right paw and it was obvious that she was in a lot of pain. The MRI revealed six "compromised" discs in her lower back.

Do you have any idea how helpless we felt, sitting on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean, with terrible internet service trying to text back and forth? It was awful. Waiting for updates was excruciating. My poor mom was answering questions from us and dealing with what was happening in the office and making decisions and trying to text us the details and oh my…what an ordeal. It was very difficult to send/receive messages in a timely manner and once all of the information was shared with my mom, she and the neurologist made the decision to postpone surgery because I was essentially begging in my texts for them to NOT proceed with surgery until we got home unless Ginny's life was in danger. My mom made an appointment on Friday morning for us to meet with the neurologist and for Ginny to have surgery, under the promise that she would bring Ginny back immediately if her condition worsened in any way.

My mom took Ginny home with five different medications, a multi-page report, and strict orders to keep Ginny as confined and still as possible. Thankfully, my brother was able to go to my house and help my mom set everything up, including the playpen that makes an appearance every time one of our dogs needs to recuperate from something!

In light of all this, we decided to cancel the remainder of our trip. Our cruise was ending on Wednesday morning and we had plans to return to WDW for three nights before coming home on Saturday (today, actually!). As I mentioned, we were not having much luck with internet service, so I was texting my mom directions for how to cancel our hotel and dining reservations, and then at some point my iMessages stopped working! C's phone had better luck for a few more hours, so we were able to get everything taken care of, but then his iMessages stopped working as well! Not the best day in terms of technology!

Fast forward to when we arrived home at about 3 am on Thursday morning. We were so thrilled to see Ginny, even though she was clearly under the influence of painkillers! She walked around a little for us and wagged her tail – two signs that she was feeling a bit better – and after being brought up to speed in terms of her eating / medication / sleeping schedule, we got her settled into the playpen for the night.

Thursday was a quiet day and frankly, there was a sense of dread in the house about the impending surgery. Ginny had to fast for 12 hours, so she was not allowed to eat anything after 8 pm, and it seemed like that alone made everything real. It goes without saying that we unequivocally trust the neurologist, but we've been through three back surgeries (the first was back in 2000 with our family Dachshund, Holly; the second was Ginny in 2014; and the third was Maddy this past November). As we know, Dachshunds are genetically prone to disc issues, so given the fact that we have had 12 Dachshunds in our family, perhaps only three of them needing back surgery is a good thing. But still super scary. We have been so fortunate in that both Maddy and Ginny recovered beautifully from their back surgeries, but our sweet little Holly was paralyzed for the remainder of her life, so we know all too well that that surgery isn't necessarily a cure-all for disc problems.

This was Thursday night...
Maddy keeping a watchful eye on Ginny
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Yesterday morning, we made our way to the neurologist's office and the dreary, rainy weather echoed our emotions. When we arrived, they took her in the back to do her vitals and observe her, and then they brought her back to us while we met with the doctor. She spoke the words we were not expecting…that she did not want to do surgery! She explained that Ginny had made so much progress in the six days since she'd seen her that she didn't think proceeding with surgery was a necessary step at this point. She credited my mom with how well Ginny was doing and said she felt the risks of surgery did not outweigh the potential benefits at this point. One of the telltale signs that Ginny's pain had all but disappeared was that while they had Ginny in the back, she curled up into a classic Dachshund pose – a tight little circle with her head and tail tucked in. The neurologist stressed that this did not mean that Ginny might not need surgery in three months or six months or a year, but that for now, it was a "win" because the rest and meds were clearly helping her heal. Ginny remains at risk because she still has bulging discs, but we are going to do all we can to avoid having to put her through surgery! She will continue sleeping in the playpen (not her favorite by any stretch of the imagination), all of her activity will be extremely limited, and she will continue to be on four different medications, but these are nothing more than small inconveniences we will happily endure for our girl.