I just wanted to say thank you for all of the thoughts, advice and good vibes you have been sending our way. It’s really helped reading all of the comments and we’ve learned a lot.
I’m actually away at this medical conference for work this weekend (can you believe it!! arggh stupid rest of life why couldn’t you just pause and let me just handle this one problem without the world still turning!) and Wonderful and Noble Earl is holding down the fort at home until I get back on Sunday night.
LINUS CAME HOME TONIGHT!! He has a littttttttle bit of movement in his right rear leg and sensation in both feet. So that’s great news. According to his surgeon, he could be walking in around 7-10 days, although it might take up to 21 days. In the meantime, we have to give him physical therapy every 6 hours and clean his catheter every eight hours.
Here he is in his “walker” … this is how you walk him you basically hold up his rear end and then let the front legs do the walkin
And here he is chillin out in bed, which is prettymuch ALL he’ll be doing for the next four weeks:
Thank you thank you again for all of the thoughts, advice, stories and vibes.
Ceej
Finally had the time and enough of a clear head to write out a full post detailing exactly what happened yesterday.
Yesterday at about 11:30am (my day off… thank GOD I was home/around), due to the rapid deterioration of what had previously been our dog’s slight limp, I rushed him to our Orthopedic surgeon vet. It came out of nowhere… it was almost like he was getting worse by the minute. By the time we were at that vet he was completely dragging his back right foot (not the leg he’d had ACL surgery on).
The orthopedic surgeon, who had repaired dogger’s ACL just five weeks ago, quickly assessed and determined this was neurological, spinal related issue and referred us to his colleague, the Neurologist Surgeon Vet at the Specialist/emergency pet hospital clear across town. He called his direct line and got us right in. We headed over. I did my very best to use every rapid but gentle code 3 low g-force driving maneuver I had in my arsenal because poor puppeh quivered and shook in pain with every single bump and turn.
After a very detailed assessment the surprisingly (!!) young and handsome Neurologist informed me that the dog needed to have surgery that night, asap, and he could hopefully repair him to full function. He gave us a 90% odds of a full recovery. “Recovery” in this case meaning the dog would be able to walk and urinate on his own. The alternative to the surgery is that the dog would be paralyzed, not able to walk, urinate or defecate on his own, and would most likely have to be put down.
By this time Linus couldn’t even walk with EITHER back leg, he would just drag them behind him… sadly all askew at odd angles and folded over onto each other all mangled up looking
It was getting late (3:30pm). The neurologist had scrubbed out from supervising ANOTHER surgery to see us. He would have to go finish that one 1st then call in his Emergency Night Surgery Team to work on our pooch- they would start at about 8pm through midnight or whenever they were done.
“I’m going to give you a few minutes to decide what you want to do.”
Fucking hell.
The projected cost was 6k. Have I mentioned that you have to pay the entire cost up front?
He’s 7 years old. We’ve only had him 2 years. He’s a HUGE part of our lives… a beloved member of our family. But 6k isn’t mere pocket change to us. It was really tough decision.
Particularly when your significant other is at his office, ducking out from a meeting to have this conversation over the phone, can’t look each other in the eye or give each other a hug, and you both feel totally blindsided because this decision just came out of absolutely no where.
Remember this cheesy but kinda nice 90′s song…?
Specifically, the part where it says,
“The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind: the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.”
…. seems pretty darn accurate right now.
We decided to do the surgery.
In a nutshell, our rationale was basically, “he’s been a good dog.” Linus has been nothing short of incredibly loyal to us. We would be loyal to him.
Could you say no to this face?
Sticker shock?
itemized breakdown:
Back on the homefront, kitten (sportin her OWN post-op cone of shame) swooped in to enjoy her newfound status as Sole Possessor of All Beds in The House:
Today we sat on tenterhooks for call from the surgeon about how it went, and if he’s walking yet. I was participating in (trapped in!) this all-day mandatory training session with these tough macho Paramedics and firefighter-type dudes. Didn’t know many of them that well. Was the only girl at the meeting. Every time my mind would drift off protocols and wander to Buddy, wondering how he was doing and if he was gonna pull through… my damn eyes would start tearing up. Not exactly the best environment to bring on the waterworks!!! Tried to play it off like allergies and my sniffles like a cold. Don’t know if I fooled ‘em. Freaking sucked.
Got off work, met up with nerdlove and beelined to the good meat market where we stocked up on thick cut, high quality bacon. Cooked it up and off we went to visiting hours at what is basically the doggy ICU.
He’s not walking yet, but he’s alive and his ears perked up when he saw us.
Rear legs still sadly draggin. They psuedo-carried him out to us in sort of a rear end hoist, with him walking on his front legs only.
ze coup de grâce:
If he doesn’t walk within 2-3 days, we’ll know the surgery was a failure. Can hardly bear to write that out, it’s deeply troubling just to contemplate.
I guess… if he doesn’t make it and after all this we still have to put him down… (not like in that case we would get reimbursed for the procedure!) I won’t regret it. Ultimately I guess it’s good to err on the side of your heart when making a decision like this, and not your wallet.
I went with wallowing in a Beer + Sad Expression —> Elicitation of free shot from the bartender:
Rough day.
ROUGH day.
Imagine if you have a window of 20 minutes to answer, “well, you either pay 6k up front right now for this emergency surgery for your dog, or else he’s permanently paralyzed and will have to be put down.”
…. ummm….
6k is a lot of money. Combined with the 3k we just spent on him for his ACL repair, plus the 1.5k we spent on the cat who decided to get two UTIs and infect and rupture her anal glands (yuck)… we’re approaching 10k just on ani-mules for the past 5 weeks. :::exhale:::
How much constitutes “too much?” At what point is the “contract” you have between you and this trusting, loving and loyal soul moot?
At what point are you putting your own dreams aside (Paramedic school, travel to see afar and much missed family) aside to possibly only extend a life by a little? When is a dog just “a dog” and not a member of your family?
How the HELL does anyone make these freaking decisions??!
We decided to do it. “He’s been a good dog.” *cry* But I’ll tell you, it was NOT an easy decision to make.
Linus is under the knife RIGHT NOW and could be in the emergency vet hospital for up to 3 days. We’re allowed to go see him during Visiting Hours tomorrow, from 8pm-10pm. We can bring some special treats and toys. He saw the “best of the best” Neurosurgeon and I’m sure they did a wonderful job. Did you even know dog neurosurgeons existed?
:sigh:
More details of the exact procedure to come… but in the meantime I needed to make a complain-y post to wallow. Grab a Stella and join me and Andrea (((thannnk you))) and I in this cozy booth. My misery right now could use some company.
I was asked to tell you that Courtney killed her computer and it is currently at HP being revived. So posting will be sporadic until her laptop returns.
Started off the morning with Ricky, doing “a symphony of deadlifts.” Basically, deadlifts to warm up, then low rep heavy sets of deadlifts, then dimel deadlifts, and finally we ended with a 90 second deadlift hold. OOF. Afterwards I had a dr. appointment for some pain in my hand, took Linus on walk to the polls (see below photo), conducted a SUPER SECRET ERRAND regarding my beloved’s Christmas present (start early!), went to a cafe and studied for an hour for an upcoming conference, had an acupuncture appointment for the pain in my hand, and finally, picked up and worked an open night half of a shift at work.
Busy, busy! But productive and overall very nice. Voting wasn’t easy; I had to go to a few different polling places because they still had our last address on file. But at least I got a sticker!
In other news, I am giving a lecture on Thursday night at the San Francisco Paramedic Association. I am so excited, however… they opened my seminar up to Paramedics as well! AHHH! Previously, my lectures have only been to the EMT-B students, which perhaps because I am an alumni of their EMT program, is not *all* that intimidating. Now… the fact that I’ll be presenting to Paramedics who could potentially be working alongside right now out in the field…. yikes! No pressure.
Here’s the blurb for my presentation, if you’re interested:
Hey Look, I’m Certified! Now What?
As an EMT or Paramedic student, you’ve taken the first step towards an
exciting and fulfilling career in EMS. In this workshop you will learn
everything you need to know to go out into the field and land a job! These
days the employment market is tough, however armed with these skills the
prepared, motivated and savvy student will be able to procure gainful
employment. Resume building, networking, job hunting strategies, and
interview prep will be covered. Learn where you can take your career with
your new certification, and how to get there.
Please join us for this informative and interactive session while networking
with others wishing to serve as EMS professionals!
DATE: Thursday November 4th
TIME: 5:00pm to 6:30pm
PLACE: SFPA 657 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA
We are off to the suburbs to go trick or treatins with my cousin’s kiddos. Linus is coming and will be riding around in a wagon! lol.
He’s recovering very well from his ACL surgery, and the vet upped his rehab status to “able to do SLOW 10 minute walks.” hurrah He also mentioned how in the 36 years he’s been doing cruciate repairs that Linus is having one of the best recoveries he’s ever seen.
Well I am off to clean the apartment a bit and then get showered and costumed up.
For our shift yesterday, my partner and I decorated our rig a little bit with some Giants paraphernalia:
It was great. We kept getting thumbs up and fist pumps when we drove around in the city People would smile and point, and yell out “YEAH GO GIANTS!”
The spirit here is INCREDIBLE. San Francisco is bubbling over in enthusiasm and joy. I don’t even like baseball all that much, but I’m totally caught up in it; Both of my partners for the next three months are dyed-in-the-wool OBSESSIVE BASEBALL FANS, so perhaps they’ve worn me down as we listen to 680am constantly It’s really cool, because they both played baseball (one of them was a collegiate level pitcher), so each day at work I have an expert on hand to explain stuff to me as we listen to the games.
Anyways, all this Giants spirit around here is very exciting. From our apartment in the Mission district Earl and I can hear people yelling “LET’S GO GIANTS!!” in three minute intervals all night. We also had a homeless guy in the abandoned lot across the street playing and singing a rousing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” for quite a while (it was a 40 minute version). People were setting off lots of orange-colored fireworks which Linus would growl and bark at! From Earl’s office at 3rd & Howard he could hear the screams and shouts as fans watched the game. Totally, totally fun…! I’m really looking forward to the next couple of games. GO GIANTS!
Here we are hanging around the house! Don’t we look cozy and comfortable
Actually, things aren’t *too* lazy around here. I’ve already done laundry, watered the plants on the patio (THEN it started raining… lol), cleaned both bathrooms, cleaned the literbox, dusted upstairs and downstairs, brushed and furrminated the dog and am about to clean the kitchen. Then, it’s MATZOH BALL SOUP time! Woot I’ve been so hungry for matzoh ball soup, but had been waiting for it to get cold enough around here to actually warrant some.
One of the cat, for good measure (who says the dog has to get all the attention around here?!):
Oh- in other exciting news, a really great bakery just opened up on our block. Wahoo! I walked over there and brought us back scones, a pecan roll, and coffees for breakfast. Delish.
I think I need to develop better form when man-handling the log around.
Look what’s ALREADY showing up on my skin! It’s only noon and this is from our 7am group this morning:
I tried to get a photo showing the bruises while making a sad, pouty face (demonstrative of pain and suffering!!) however Earl refused to take it without me smiling in pride.
If you’re curious, this is the log:
and this is what we were doing with it:
(this guy is kinda wobbly and all over the place tho):
We did a ladder… 1x, then 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, then 4x, 3x, 2x, 1x… and AGAIN. It was brutal. I couldn’t even press it after the first couple sets… only a clean, and even that was hard! I was the only girl in the group this morning, and I think honestly my boobs were in the way. In order to clean it, you have to lift it off the ground, kinda settle into your thighs, squat real low with it, then lift it while it rolls UP OVER YOUR CHEST. So the guys just roll it right up their bodies. With me, it was kinda smooshing my boobs rolling up. That’s 145lbs there…!! Oof. Bruises are from the edge of the steel log (around the handles) resting on my forearms while I cleaned it. :aye: … How do you avoid that? Just whip it around faster?
Anyways, log clean and presses weren’t the only thing we did, but they certainly left the most severe impression… I have a feeling these babies haven’t even begun to turn as dark as they’ll get. Bet I’ll be sporting them for a week or so… Yummy.
According to his orthopedic surgeon, not only did he have a completely torn ACL, but his medial meniscus was also torn and totally flipped over on itself. The torn cartilage was removed and apparently everything went really smoothly during surgery. He also recovered well, had morphine last night, ate dinner yesterday and breakfast this morning. We picked him up around 10am today.
Here he is at home, drugged out on simpliaf, tramadol, and metacam. He’s acting pretty goofy!
We have strict orders for LEASH TIME ONLY over the next two weeks, and pretty much only bathroom breaks, no “walks” … also he will have to be carried up and down all stairs. Since our apartment is two levels with stairs on the outside AND the inside, that’s not gonna be all that fun … but … :sigh: …. he aint heavy, he’s my corgi.
We almost needed emergency surgery ourselves when it came time to pay the bill: Earl astutely pointed out that a new corgi is onlyabout $700 So perhaps we made a bad economic decision to fix the old broken one ha ha ….
Joyful reunion at the vet! It was lonely around here last night with only ze kittah to entertain us:
Two weeks until he gets the staples out. Then 6 more weeks of leash only and limited activity.
So, so happy he’s doing okay now… and here’s to a successful and healing rehab!
Love you, Linus!!!
He also mentioned how in the 36 years he’s been doing cruciate repairs that Linus is having one of the best recoveries he’s ever seen. 
It’s really cool, because they both played baseball (one of them was a collegiate level pitcher), so each day at work I have an expert on hand to explain stuff to me as we listen to the games. 
Earl astutely pointed out that a new corgi is onlyabout $700 
So perhaps we made a bad economic decision to fix the old broken one 
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