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Surgery today for Wed. and ? on SM! Help!!

Friday's Mommy

Well-known member
Well I just dropped my little baby, Wednesday, off in Denver this morning for her surgery on her knees. They'll be doing both knees today! I started crying when I dropped her off. Since I'm sure she hasn't had the best life in the past, I felt so sorry for her having to go through this. I didn't feed too dumb because as another couple was dropping off their doggy they were crying too. I'll be picking her up on Saturday.

We had such a hard night. Friday, my blen with SM, spent most of the night yelping in pain. She's on a pretty big dose of tramadol now and doing better. She has diarrhea (Wednesday was sick last week) and I'm wondering if that set off the pain in her neck. I know pooping and that pain is connected. Does anybody with SM dogs had this happen? My husband is staying home today from work to be with her. I think I'm going to call the vet. Any info would be greatly appreciated. If she continues in severe pain I was actually considering putting her down. I'm so heartbroken today. Now I have to gather myself and get to work.....boy this is a bad day!!
 
Oh my god, you poor thing, and poor puppies, I dont have any advice just wanted to say my thoughts are with you :flwr:
 
yikes :( Can't give you advice as I don't know what I would do in your situation but you are in my thoughts. I am so sorry you're going through this. :( Wednesday will be just fine and you know what? She will forgive you straight away I am sure - especially from all of that special attention she'll be getting. :) She's going to be much better after her surgery so keep your head up and a smile on your face. :)

I hope Friday feels better soon. :( Is SM surgery an option for her??

Hope you're having a better day :hug::hug:
 
Is she only on tramadol and not on gabapentin? I'd strongly advise moving her to gabapentin, it is much better for SM pain. Also try frusemide with gabapentin. This is generally a very succesful combination. Very few use tramadol or over the counter NSAIDS beyond very early stages and for very low level discomfort. Have a look at Clare Rusbridge's treatment diagram on www.smcavalier.com as that gives dosages and courses of treatment. Steroids would likely give her fast relief right now too.
 
Oh Terri....you poor thing. I'm so sorry you are going through all of this. What an emtional week for you. As far as Wednesday and her knee surgery .... don't fret. She will be okay. I bawled like a baby leaving Shelby and was even worse when I picked her up. But her spunky little personality had me smiling 24 hours later.

So glad Karlin is able to give you some guidance on treating Friday. I know she is breaking your heart.

Hope everyone is doing better in the next couple of days.
 
Karlin, she's taking 200mg gabapentin 3 times daily and lasix twice daily. She's on the max dose for everything. The tramadol is just for really bad days. I'm home for lunch break and she still has diarrhea but has seemed to calm down now. My husband, who was up with her all night, said she hasn't had an episode of yelping since abou 5 am. I left at that time to get Wednesday to her surgery.

We tried prednisone last year before her decompression surgery and it didn't seem to make a difference and made her gain several pounds. She scared me so much because in between the yelping she was panting very heavy. I'm sure she was in severe pain. We've exhausted probably every option except adding tagamet. She does well most days. Hopefully this was associated with the diarrhea and she'll be ok now.
 
I'm sorry to hear you and your doggies are having a hard time. I hope things improve for you:flwr:
 
You are a wonderful mummy to Friday...it must be so difficult to go through this. Our hopes that she is doing better again soon.:flwr:
 
Terri....I am so sorry to hear that Friday is in pain. I will be thinking of Friday and Wednesday, and sending hugs your way.:hug:
 
I don't have any good advice, Karlin is always very good with SM so I'll leave that to her but I'm thinking of you and please give kisses to Friday.

All I know about knee operations is that with humans, the 3 that I have known to have different work done on their knees have all felt great relief straight after. It has always been great. And given that vets are better trained than surgeons, it's looking promising!
 
Sorry Terri, I forgot she had already had the surgery. About 20%-30% of dogs need it repeated (humans regularly need for it to be repeated) but this isn't a choice that many people wish to make; most seem to opt for medical management for as long as they can.

Nicki may have some suggestions if you PM her or she sees this thread. How long ago was the surgery?
 
Karlin, the surgery was about 1 year ago. I'm not sure I would put her through that again. Actually, I talked to the doc about that recently and he feels another surgery wouldn't improve her situation because she's about the same since surgery as far as pain goes, except for last night, of course. Her symptoms haven't increased in the last year, if anything improved. Last night as her diarrhea got worse so did the pain symptoms. Pm'ing Nicki is a good idea...thank you for your advice.

Wednesday did really well, and so did the surgery according to the surgeon. I miss having her here. We'll pick her up on Saturday, where she'll get lots of attention.

Whew...what a day. I'm glad it's over. Thank you everybody for your support!!!
 
Terri, you and your husband really have your hands full both physically and emotionally. I really hope things get better real soon.
 
I don't have any sage words Terri but I just wanted to let you know that I really feel for you. It is a rough time you are your little ones are going through. I hope brighter days are heading your way really fast. :hug:
 
just wanted to add my thoughts, well wishes and hugs to all the ones going your way. its great news that wednesday is doing well after surgery. i hope friday feels better. there have been some informal studies done that shown the power of positive thoughts (and/or prayer) directed towards an individual can actually improve their condition and you've got tons of positive thoughts going your way from all over the world. hang in there and keep us posted.
 
If she has generally improved but just had this single session of pain, or rare sessions, I'd hang in there. They often go through some problems while overall doing pretty well. The sessions can be really upsetting. You might talk to your neurologist about the possibility of raising the painkiller level when she has this kind of event -- some dogs are even on Lyrica which is a very strong version of gabapentin. Two things that sometimes helps dogs having pain sesssions is something cold to their shou,ders, like a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a tea towel, or gently rolling them on their backs and rubbing tummies; maybe it changes the CSF flow.

I'm glad the paella surgery went well; you have a lot on your plate right now.
 
Friday's not doing very well. The severe pain session did stop and she hasn't had any since. Now she started the bloody diarrhea and I took the afternoon off work and she's on her way to the vet. She finally ate a little bit earlier (some rice and broth) but before that she hadn't eaten in a couple of days.

She had it all night long. Her coat is very long so everytime she went outside which was about every hour or two I had to give her a bath. I tried trimming her up but she even got blood on her feet. I took her off lasix because I didn't want her to dehydrate further.

Karlin, I'll check into that medication you talked out.

On the other hand, the doctor's office said Wednesday is doing very well and will be ready to come home tomorrow.

Thanks everybody for all the support and positive thoughts! I'm sure Friday will be ok. We went through that with Wednesday recently and we got her better. It'll just take some time. It's the yelping that's so distressing for me.
 
Hang in there

I also wanted to say my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family right now. How distressing this all must be, but Friday and Wednesday are so blessed to have you both as their parents - I'm sure this was by 'Design', and not accident.
Please keep us updated on their progress and we'll keep hoping for better days!
 
Lyrica is really expensive as there are no generic versions. I'd ask first if you can up her gabapentin but if she is doing OK right now, you are probably fine. You also might try tagamet rather than frusemide? Some people have better success with one over the other. Leo does get some extra relief with tagamet that I never noticed from frusemide and for other dogs it can be the other way around. I give him this in solution -- one 200mg tablet dissolved in three tbsp water then give 1/8th teaspoon. I give two actually as that dose is so low and that helps whereas one didn't seem to. It does the same thing as frusemide -- lowers CSF pressure -- and I want Leo to be taking something that does this even if the gabapentin is what is actually helping symptoms.
 
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