Last stages of SM????

[Shay]

It almost sounds like something is damaging her vestibular system - or maybe a syrinx is putting pressure on it. Riley's SM damaged her vestibular system and a lot of symptoms are similar to Lily's. Prednisone is the only drug that worked for her and it has been a miracle drug for her. She had to start on a pretty high dose - 10 mg for a time before we could cut her down to 5 mg a day and we have just cut her back to 2.5 mg a day, but she has been on it for over 4 years now. She still has days in which her balance is terrible - she has to lean against walls to walk, she has seizure like activity in which he head whips backward and her whole body goes into a backward C and she has nystagmus of the eyes, she can't jump, sometimes one step up into the house is hard, her back legs are weak and she sometimes falls over, Sometimes she can't sit up, etc

Bev, this sounds encouraging. She is on 5 mil pred 2 x per day for 7 days, and then one per day until gone. The neuro said we will take it from there when the medication is complete. Thanks for the info!

[DZee]

Awe Sharon...reading this make my heart hurt for you..and for your Lilly. Please know..> like I said above<...will surely be praying. Those are powerful drugs ...so be assured some of what you are seeing is from that.

[sunshinekisses]

I am so sorry for you and Lily....must be a terrible thing to watch your beautiful pet suffer and not be able to help. I hope your neuro knows how to help and Lily bounces back.

[Charlifarley]

So sorry to read this and I hope that Lily starts to feel better soon. XX

[Shay]

Thank you for the kind words

I have been on line today trying to find some things to make her life easier. I ordered some little socks that have no skid surfaces on the bottom for the hardwoods. She does much better on the rugs, but the hardwoods is where she is having the most difficulty. I also orderd a harness for invaldid dogs which has a handle so I can help her down the stairs. Carrying her is a nightmare, becasue she doesn't want to be carried and wiggles and tries to jump out of my arms. I have 18 steps down from the deck into the back yard, and last night I thought we were both going down head first. I wish she would use pee pads, but she refuses to use them, and she would burst before using a pee pad. Today, I put her puppia on, and attached a leash to it and I held the length very short as we are going down and that has helped tremendously until I get the other harness in. Poor baby, when I got out her leash she thought we were going walkie, and she went crazy like she always does for her walks. It brought me to tears. But everything she is trying to do is bringing me to tears, becasue she has not yet realized she can't do the same things right now, and it breaks my heart. She is about the same today, I haven't seen any improvement, but I don't know how long it takes for the prednisone to work, if it's going to, but I am still hoping for improvement.

[ashleighelizabeth]

I'm so sorry. This makes my heart hurt. Keeping you guys in my prayers.

[lovecavaliers]

Heartbreaking to read this. I can only imagine how you feel watching your baby go through all of this. Please know we are all praying for Lily to get through this difficult time. Please keep us posted on how Lily is doing.

Lots of hugs being sent your way

[mommytoClaire]

I just wanted you to know I'm holding you very close in prayer.....let us know how things progress. I do wonder if you could ask to be put on a high dose of the pred for now, and see if it makes the difference.

[Shay]

I just wanted you to know I'm holding you very close in prayer.....let us know how things progress. I do wonder if you could ask to be put on a high dose of the pred for now, and see if it makes the difference.

Thanks so much for the prayers, I appreciate all the prayers we can get, and everyone who is praying for her. She is on a high dose of pred, 10mg per day, at least I think it is a high dose, but this is the first time she has ever been on it, so I'm not sure. Actually, today, she is a tad bit better, so I am cautiously optimistic. Her mood was better, and she didn't seem to be as depressed, and a little happier, and a little bit more like her old self. She is a barker, and today was the first day she barked since this happened. And I got a hug this morning for the first time since it happened too. I can't tell you how happy that made me. She is still wobbly, and her legs are still slipping, but it doesn't seem to be as bad. Today, is the first day I have seen a slight improvement, so maybe the prednisone is starting to kick in. I still hear her back leg toe nails clicking on the floor when she is walking on the hardwoods, so she is still dragging that leg, but it is not completely turned in it like it was.

I did notice that when she eats her treats now, some of the food comes out of the side of her mouth, which has never happened before, and when the pieces drop on the floor, she seems to have a little difficulty finding the dropped pieces. Also, I usually drop her treats from holding them above her head, and she snaps them in mid air, just a little game we play, and she has never let one hit the floor before. She now misses them when trying to grab them. I don't know if her eye sight is affected, or it's facial paralysis, or both, but this just happened when the limb weakness started. It's odd though, that the food is falling out of the opposite side of her mouth, from the weak limbs. It is all very confusing. It is almost like she had a stroke, but I know it is very rare for dogs to have strokes. But her symptoms mimic that of a human who has had a stroke. If I didn't know she has SM, I would have thought she had a stroke.

I hate this disease. I felt so blessed that she was diagnosed with a mild case, and had been so well for so long. It just goes to show, a mild case can have, or progress to severe symptoms, and dogs with a more severe diagnoses can show very few symptoms. It is a very perplexing disease. I guess I was lulled into a false sense of security because she was so well for so long, and I honestly thought she was always just going to have the light scratching and face rubbing episodes. I never dreamed I would wake up one moring to this, with no warning.

[Hopeful4now]

Oh Sharon, I'm so sorry for what you and your girl are going through. Reading your posts brought tears to my eyes because I'm scared for my own dog Dagny who was diagnosed with CM/SM at 4 months. Things are good now, but like you said, you had no warning and overnight things seemed to have deteriorated. I'm so, so sorry and I truly hope things will start looking up.

You said your vet looked in her ear and she yelped. Is there any way to figure out if the PSOM procedure might help her? I'm not too educated on the topic, but I know they do a procedure to clear out the plug. Would that even help?

I hope she's not in pain today and that she's just having mild weakness and that every day she gets better and better...
You're a good mom and she's so lucky to have you!
xo from France