Update

It has been much too long since I last wrote.  As you may have guessed, things have been very VERY busy lately.  Daily events have included continuing the move (my fiance and I just moved into an apartment a couple days before we got Sydney), the normal routine with Sydney and my dog Shiloh, attending obligatory social events, and a whirlwind trip to the emergency room (and two days and nights in the hospital) with a family member last week.  On top of that, we have been suffering in the oppressive Rochester heat and had many nights of interrupted sleep due to potty accidents.

But on to the important things - Sydney is doing well!  As I hinted above, we have had some difficulty with Sydney's potty accidents.  Usually she has bowel movements inside if she does anything inside, but lately she has also started urinating.  I think some of it is the fact that she is drinking more water because it is hot out, and I think she also sometimes urinates a bit when she is having a bowel movement.  Maybe she is trying to push things along and accidently urinates as well.  Most of the accidents are during the night or early in the morning, but there are also some during the day.  We also experienced the first potty accident on the stairs (we live in a second floor apartment).  I figured this was bound to happen at some point, and indeed, that point came last week.  We got her all strapped into her hip harness and as soon as we started down the stairs, she started going.  Pee and poop all the way down the stairs!  My saint-of-a-fiance cleaned up the mess while I stayed outside with Sydney.  Since then there have been a few accidents on the stairs - not a full out urination like that one, but sometimes she leaks on the way down the stairs and sometimes she poops.  She has also started asking to go inside after peeing outside, and then as soon as we get upstairs, she poops.  We can't quite figure that one out.  But we are doing our best to set her up for success - we take her out regularly and often.  Hopefully the potty situation will get better again.

On a more positive note, Sydney is getting stronger!  The techs as Theravet said she appears to be back where she was when she was sent home in April (if you remember, she has been boarded at Theravet to receive extensive rehab treatment, and then she was sent home when she was deemed strong enough, but her owners were unable to do enough therapy with her at home to keep her progressing due to their busy schedules - they have two young children too!).  This was wonderful news!  I was so happy to hear that she was able to gain that much strength back that quickly.  You can see her legs look less atrophied and when I massage her legs, they feel meatier, more muscley.  She is trying more and more often to stand up, and she has had more and more success holding herself up on her back legs when we lift her up and place her in the position.  That being said, there is still quite a ways to go.  The techs at Theravet do "sit-stands" with her, and we are doing them here at home too.  This requires two people and entails coaxing her forward with treats while encouraging/guiding her to stand up.  We are still trying to master it here at home, but at Theravet they know how to get her to do it, and yesterday she was really doing a great job standing up from a sitting position and then sitting back down.  She also got a good rhythm going when walking on the underwater treadmill yesterday as well, and didn't need as much stimulation (they squeeze different places on her tail - this stimulates her walking somehow).

Syd also got a new wheelchair/cart!  I will post a picture of it in the next couple days.  It is lighter, the wheels are not as wide, her hips sit better, and it allows her to move her back legs in a walking motion in a way that she could not in her old chair.  It's so great to see!  On Sunday we playing around with gently squeezing her tail to mimic what the techs were doing and stimulate the use of her back legs, and boy did it work!  It was amazing!  We mostly focused on the far end of her tail, and the difference was amazing.  She was lifting her feet up and placing them down on the ground in definitive walking movements.  The placing the pads of her feet on the ground was fantastic to see - this deliberate movement is great.  She often times has dragged her feet behind her in the chair, especially the right one, even if her knees and hips were moving.  My fiance, my parents, and I all watched and marveled at this development in my parents' backyard on Sunday.  I also showed my dad how Sydney can support herself on her back legs (she mostly just needs help with balance).  His reaction was great!  He was impressed and seemed very excited about the improvement.  My mom has taken to giving Sydney full body massages. Sydney LOVES this.  She lifts her little nose in the air, looks at my mom and around the room with this heavenly look on her face.  Her front legs are so strong and do so much work - she seems to really enjoy getting them massaged.

Shiloh and Sydney have also started to really play with each other.  It is ADORABLE.  They pull at stuffed toys together and mouth and paw at each other.  It's very cute and great to see!  Sydney seems to really like having a dog to play with.  We are also hoping it provides some motivation to keep trying to stand.

I am planning to get Sydney a life jacket and take her swimming at a local pond (don't worry, very clean water) on some of the days that she does not have therapy.  I need to check on her flea/tick medicine status first.  Not sure what her history is with that and heartworm stuff either.  Must get on that.  All in all, things are going well!  It is not easy - especially the accidents and disturbed sleep - but Sydney is worth it.  We are going to keep working hard and pray for more progress.   

Stay tuned for some pictures!

Therapy Day with Sydney

Sydney had her first therapy session yesterday since coming home to us last week.  I got to sit in on the whole thing, and it was amazing!  I loved being able to be part of it.

As I have mentioned previously, Sydney does her therapy at TheraVet in Webster, NY.  What an amazing facility!  It's like a little piece of heaven here on earth.  It's not too far from where we live downtown - it takes about 25 minutes to get there, and the closer you get to the place, the more and more open fields you see.  I LOVE open fields and farm land, so for me, this drive is so nice.  TheraVet's full title is TheraVet Acres: Rehabilitation and Fitness. (http://www.thera-vet.com/) They have a few buidings and several fenced-in paddocks where horses roam and other patients (like Sydney) get to run around sometimes.  Unfortunately I haven't gotten to meet any of the horses yet (I LOVE horses!), but just being on the premises is refreshing.

TheraVet reception and hydrotherapy building.  There are fields to the left, right, and behind.

Sydney at TheraVet!

Sydney was so excited when we got to TheraVet.  She loves it there!  One of the staff members, Theresa, said it's because Sydney associates it with cookies (it's the cookie place!), but it's clear she loves it for much more than the cookies, as I'm sure Theresa knows. :)  The staff there is absolutely wonderful, as I have mentioned before.  They take such great care of their patients.  They all seemed happy to see Sydney, and Sydney was ecstatic to see them!

We were a little early, so Sydney and I walked around the grounds a little bit before her appointment started.  Once they were ready for her, we went into a back room in what appears to be their main building, where they had some pads down for their patients to sit on while they did some therapy.  The technicians started with a laser treatment (I have no idea what this is or how it works, but they said it was a laser thing), for her back knees.  They said she has some arthritis in her knees and that the laser treatment helps decrease inflamation.  They then did a similar treatment (at least it looked similar) to her feet.  I think it was still a laser thing...I'll check on that.  This was to stimulate the nerves in her feet.  They said could tell how much Sydney could feel by her reaction to the laser thing on her feet.

Laser treatments for her back knees.  You can see the white cord is hooked up to a little machine on the ground.

Stimulating the nerves in her feet.

I am sure I am forgetting some things they did - I was talking to them a lot and taking pictures - but I think they did some massaging or some manipulations with her legs and feet after the laser treatments, and then it was time for the coolest part - water therapy!  They strapped a life jacket on her and led her into a tank with a treadmill built into the floor - such cool equipment!  The tank had a door on it that Sydney and one of the techs walked through, and then they closed and sealed it.  The tank then fills with water from the bottom up.  The techs filled it just enough so that the buoyancy of the water and Sydney's life jacket lifted a good amount of weight off her back legs.  With this weight off, Sydney can stand and even walk!  The tech that was in the tank with her provided some stimulation to encourage Sydney to walk on the treadmill by squeezing her tail a little.  And Sydney's little back legs were walking!  I'm going to have to get a video of her walking on the treadmill to post on here - the pictures just don't do it justice.  The tech explained that Sydney naturally tries to do what is easiest, so on the underwater treadmill she'll sometimes do a little bunny-hop with both legs instead of walking with one leg at a time.  The tech has to try to prevent her from taking the easy way out and keep her walking, one leg at a time.  Sydney was so darn cute in that tank!

Getting strapped in.

All ready!

The tank and built-in treadmill.

Close up.  The water is getting high!

Time to walk!

Walking!  With some encouragement from the tech.  This picture is dark, but you can see her back left foot is on the ground and she is taking a step with her back right.

In this picture you can see she is walking without as much physical encouragement!

I think they did about 10 minutes of walking on the treadmill....I'm not sure.  Next time I'll keep better track.  After walking, they filled the tank up with more water until her feet couldn't touch the bottom, and had her swim a bit.  Her back legs didn't move as much when swimming, from what I could tell.  I would guess that is because the treadmill makes her little feet actually move, so if she doesn't walk, she's just going to go backwards. 

Swimming!

She's so cute.

After water therapy, the techs dried Sydney off and took her back to the other room for some standing and balance exercises.  They had her stand on an upside-down dome (best way I know how to describe it - you can see it in the picture), and had her put weight on both back legs.  This helps with balance I think, and with general strengthening.  On the floor, they also had her stand on each back leg separately, putting weight on each one.  It was great to see her actually support herself a bit on each back leg.

Wet dog!  Getting dried off.

"Ok ok, that's enough!"

Standing and balancing on the upside-down dome.  It probably has an actual name, I just don't know it. 

Practicing putting weight on her back legs.

Putting weight on one leg at a time.

Tired out and ready to go home.

Buckled in for the ride home.

By the end of the session, she was tired and hungry.  She got a few treats from the techs (undoubtedly her favorite part!), and then we loaded into the car for the ride home.  She started bugging me for her dinner as soon as we got home, but it was only 3:30 and she does not eat until 5, so I made her wait.  But boy was she cute!  She came over to the kitchen door and looked up at me with those big puppy eyes, her ears perked up, and made noises and huffed at me.  I said sorry lady, no dinner for you yet!  :)


Overall, her therapy session was a great experience.  She was an old-hand at it, but it was all new for me!  The techs gave me a few more things to do with her - namely working on having her periodically put weight on her back legs - and Peter and I are making sure to do all of her exercises multiple times a day.  She does still get annoyed with me when I make her stay in her wheelchair and just stand there so I can do her stretches, passive movements, and massages on both backlegs, but oh well!!

We have two more therapy sessions scheduled so far - tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon, and Monday afternoon.  So Sydney is going to therapy every other day at this point.  I swear her legs seem a little stronger than when she first came home last Friday (today is one week!).  The therapist and the techs said they are very hopeful that she will walk again, and we are too.

In other news, Shiloh finally came home from my parents' house last night!  Sydney and Shiloh are still getting used to each other, but they seem to like each other.  Shiloh picked up one of Sydney's fluffy squeaky toys and started trotting away with it, I think hoping Sydney would come with her, but poor Syd couldn't!  I called Shiloh to come back, so she came and laid down near Sydney with the toy so they could play with it together.  :) :)  Then Shi deferred to Sydney (Sydney is the elder in this house), and let her have the toy all for herself.  Sydney has had a couple accidents the last couple days - she doesn't seem to have as much control over her bowels as she does her bladder, the techs confirmed this - and Shiloh gets a little confused when these accidents happen.  She gets this concerned look on her face and looks questioningly at Peter and I, as if saying, "Mom, Dad, she's not supposed to do that!"  Right now Shi and Syd are passed out on the floor in our office.  Not quite lying together, but not too far away from each other.  I think Shiloh is still getting used to the ways in which Sydney is different than other dogs, but she definitely wants to play with her.  I'm sure they will be great friends. :)

A Great Potty Day!

Today has been a great potty day for Sydney - so far (and it's currently 8:30 pm), we haven't had any accidents!  Sydney did soak her right leg, foot bootie, and wheelchair straps when she did her business around dinner time, but it was outside, and that's all that really matters! 

I spoke to one of Sydney's therapists today about her prognosis, and made appointments for some therapy sessions, starting this Thursday (I can't wait!).  Her therapist explained that there is a chance Sydney won't walk again, but that they are hopeful.  The fact that she had her surgery in January and still isn't walking may be cause for concern.  As I explained before, she hasn't had therapy consistently since January, so we are hoping now that she is having consistent therapy both at TheraVet and at home, she will make more progress.  My goal is to have her walking by the end of the summer.  It was a little hard getting that reality check about her prognosis, but it is important to know the truth about her situation, of course.  We are going to use it as motivation.  It just breaks my heart to think she might never walk again. 

Peter and I have been positioning Sydney's little back feet on the ground when she is in her wheelchair or if we are holding her up in her sling, to remind her what it feels like to have her feet in the standing position and what the ground feels like under her paws.  I think she wants to stand - sometimes it looks like she is trying to - so we will just keep doing everything we can to encourage it, safely, of course.

Syd continues to make new friends on every walk we take.  Everyone is amazed by her and comment on how sweet she is when they meet her.  Only once has someone not had a kind reaction.  Take a guess about this person's demographic - yup, an immature college boy.  Looked like freshman or sophomore age.  But it also takes a certain kind of person, whatever age or gender they may be, to react unkindly to a handicapped dog.  This boy was with one of his buddies - the buddy saw Sydney and I walking down the street, quickly went inside, and when he came back out, his friend was with him.  The buddy did a decent job not reacting to us at all, but the other boy started laughing.  He acted like he was trying to hide it a little bit, but not much.  It is hard to explain how I knew it wasn't a kind laugh, but I bet most of you who are reading this blog can imagine what it was like.  Needless to say, I was annoyed and saddened by his behavior.

I picked up a few toys for Sydney today - fluffy, squeaky toys.  I gave her one this evening - it was a duck that made a noise that sounded more like a quack than a squeak, and she LOVED it.  I accidentally made it quack when I was taking the tags off in the kitchen, and Sydney, who was comfortably sprawled out on her bed on the far side of the living room, was up and zooming over as fast as possible when she heard that quack.  She de-squeaked the duck faster than the last toy!  :)

Stay tuned for an account of our first visit to TheraVet together this Thursday afternoon! 

Sydney and Shiloh Meet

Sydney and Shiloh finally met yesterday!

The day started early for us - Peter and I got up at about 6:30 to take Sydney out.  She was not particularly acting like she needed to go out yet, but we were hoping to preempt any chance for an accident.  This did not work out so well! We got outside without incident, but then we stood there for about 20 to 25 minutes.  I could not get Sydney to go to the bathroom at all!  She also was not interested in walking one bit, so we literally just stood on the grass while I tried to coax her back and forth across the little lawn in the hope that she would realize she needed to go to the bathroom.  Peter sat on the porch all bleary-eyed, God bless him.  I told him he could go back upstairs but he insisted on staying with us.  Sydney and I are so grateful for his patience and for all his help.  Without him, this would be much much harder.

So after standing there for 20 to 25 minutes with no results, we gave up and brought Sydney back upstairs.  The MINUTE we got inside our apartment she started pooping!  I think maybe she doesn't have that much control over her bowels...I'm going to have to ask the therapists about that.  Maybe she does have a decent amount of control and it was just an accident.  It wasn't a big deal, of course.  We don't mind cleaning up her accidents at all, but like I said in an earlier post, she doesn't like having accidents.  She knows what is happening.  So we will keep working on having successful outdoor potty sessions. :)

After feeding her and getting her to go to the bathroom outside after breakfast, we loaded Sydney in the car for a trip to my parents' house, where Shiloh has been staying.  Like most dogs, Sydney seems to really enjoy riding in the car.  It's not as easy for her to stick her nose out the window without being able to use her hind legs, but she manages.

Our visit at my parents' house was really nice - Sydney got to run free around the front and back yard in her wheelchair.  Both of my parents were there, and they loved Sydney and were so impressed by her.  Shiloh, on the other hand, was a bit nervous!  She was very excited to meet Sydney - Shiloh loves other dogs - but she was definitely curious about Sydney's wheelchair.  She followed Sydney around a bit, cautiously stretching her nose out toward Sydney's wheelchair to check it out.  Shiloh became even more cautious after her feet got run over a couple times by Sydney's wheels.  Sydney seemed excited to meet Shiloh too - Syd sniffed her a different points throughout the visit.  At one point Sydney was trying to sniff Shiloh's rear end and Shi was so nervous she kept jogging around in a small circle as if to get away from Sydney, but Sydney just kept following her around in a circle.  It was very cute!  Shiloh wasn't really trying to get away - she wanted to play with Sydney, she just couldn't figure out the wheelchair.


When Sydney got up on the deck to sniff around, Shiloh and my parents' dog, Daisy, followed.  Sydney tends to run into things with her wheels, and Shiloh and Daisy were terrified when Sydney's wheels caught some of the deck furniture and started dragging the furniture across the deck.  Daisy is a little cockapoo, and at one point she got caught underneath Sydney's wheelchair, between Sydney's back legs and the wheels.  Poor Daisy was seriously alarmed!  But she got out just fine.

Exploring my parents' back yard.

Checking everything out.

Getting a treat from Granny with Shiloh and Daisy.

Shi sniffing Sydney's chair in the front yard.

Shi asking Sydney to play with the tennis ball.  Shiloh LOVES to play with a ball.  To Shiloh's disappointment, Sydney remains uninterested in balls.  But then again, that just means more ball-time for her!

Sniff Sniff!  Shiloh made sure to stand very still so Sydney could check her out.

Playtime! (That's me)

Playing and cuddling.

More sniffs.

And more.

Rooting around in the garden together.  Sydney's wheelchair is not the best thing for plants. Sorry Mom!

Happy Sydney!

Playing with the frisbee inside while Shiloh looks on from a safe distance from Sydney's wheels.

Sydney's back legs moved around a lot as she ran around my parents' yard.  :)  I can't wait to talk to her therapists about what it all means.  All this movement must mean really good things!  We do her stretches, passive movement exercises, and massage 2 or 3 times a day, though she doesn't seem too keen on the whole thing.  It's easiest to do them when she is in her wheelchair, but then she often wants to lay down while we are doing the exercises and gets impatient.   We make her wait, of course - these exercises are important!

Sydney is passed out on her bed in the living room right now.  She's a happy girl.  I'm going to pick up another soft squeaky toy for her today.  Looking forward to her reaction!  I'm also hoping to get some video at some point of her legs and tail moving when we are out for a walk, so I can post it on here and everyone can see what I mean when I talk about her movement.  There will also be many more stories and pictures of Sydney and Shiloh together once Shi comes home later this week.  So stay tuned!

Walking with Sydney

Some pictures from our walk this afternoon.  Her legs moved in circular walking motions quite a bit!

Taking a break in the shade.  Sydney loves to stop, look around, and sniff the air.

Close up

A side-view of the wheelchair.  Sydney is sniffing out the stairs to a neighbor's porch.  She loves to check out each yard.

Better view of how the wheelchair works. 

Walking with Sydney on a sunny afternoon.