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. :)