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!