Progress report - she's pretty in pink!

She is a walking fiend !!  I think her ability to move around by herself has really boosted her confidence.   She doesn't yelp (much) any more.  She doesn't feel helpless. She can get up and get a drink of water when she wants.  She can move freely from room to room now.

In a week, her progress has gone from 20 foot increments to today...she walked down the driveway,  down the sidewalk past my neighbor's houses,   estimated  200 feet without stopping.   She is getting stronger every day and it is wonderful and amazing to see the significant improvements she has made.

The seizures seem to be under control -  she's still on the .5 dose 8a/8p,  with a .25 dose 4p/4a.   I'd love at some point in time to not have to wake up at 4a every morning, but I'm afraid to mess with her doses now.

She still has the leg tremors...who knows if those will ever go away.  A side effect of that is her hind paws are constantly rubbing against each other and against what ever surface she is laying on.   She has rubbed most of her fur off.   She now wears socks to reduce the chafing and prevent the skin from being rubbed raw.

Pink is a pretty nice color on her !!

Frankie walked today !!!!!

 3 days ago I was worried that she wasn't making as much progress as I had hoped for.  We've been doing daily "walking" sessions....helping her up, supporting her back legs, encouraging her to take steps,   but until this morning,  I had to help her with every step.

This morning the routine started out the same.   Put the food bowl at the far end of the yard.  Help her up, and support her hips as she "walked" toward her bowl.  

After she ate,  I had to take the recycling and trash out.   When I came through the back fence gate,  there's Frankie.    ON ALL FOUR FEET !!   She walked, on her own, across the yard, the patio, out the gate, past the garage to the end of the driveway.   We're talking at least 50 feet of unassisted walking.

This is HUGE !!!!!

First Weekly update

Operation "walk Frankie walk" is in full swing.   

I've wrapped towels around 2 individual leashes...which gives me the ability to support her around the abdomen and chest without the leashes digging in to her...and also saving my back !!

Set up a "track" in the back yard,  with reward stations,  so I could measure how much she is "walking".

I say "walking" because without support,  all she can do right now is drag her body along using the little strength she has in her front legs.

The good news is that Frankie is food motivated.  It can be her breakfast/dinner time or a chunk of apple or a few bites of dog food....Frankie will walk for food !

Every day this week, we have "walked" a minimum of 400 feet.   She seems to be getting a little stronger,  but has yet to be able to push herself up on her hind legs.  

She is still not completely seizure free.   After the initial bad effects of the pheno,  I cut back on her dosage.  I am giving her .5 pill at 8am & 8pm,  and giving her a .25 pill at 4pm and 4am.     I am reluctant right now to up the dosage....it's the balancing act between her being seizure free and getting the strength in her legs.

Keep your prayers and good thoughts coming !!

Which brings us to today...

On Wednesday Oct 3, I made the decision to have Frankie put down.   We were between a rock and a hard place.  She needed the pheno to control the seizures,  but the pheno caused ataxia (hind leg weakness) and she could not walk.   I started saying my goodbyes to her.  The tears would not stop. I felt physically sick to my stomach.  I told her all about doggie heaven  - she would see her brother, Scooter.  She would meet her sister Kelly.  She'd be able to run and play and have dog bones, and not be in pain.  She'd be happy.  I would miss her so much.  She is my beautiful beautiful girl.
Thursday morning, I called the vet and scheduled her appointment for 4p.

But thank Al Gore for the internet!!   I did more research about pheno.  There are both temporary and potentially permanent side effects.   The ataxia and lethargy are temporary effects- lasting 2 to 3 weeks.  Surely I could hold out a few more weeks??  What would happen if I cut back on her dose a little, maybe her strength would come back.

I googled some "post distemper" video's on You-Tube.   There was one showing a dog running and playing with another dog.  Looked pretty normal. There was a video showing a dog walking, but  kind of moving sideways and hunched over.   Looked pretty horrible.

I did take Frankie to her 4p appointment.  The vet assistant picked her up and carried her into a room.  They had blankets waiting for her on the floor.  Tell the vet to put those bad drugs away,  I said, today was not Frankie's day.    The vet and I talked.  She did not express an opinion one way or another, but we did have the conversation again about quality of life and Frankie needing the ability to walk.

So that brings us to today,  Oct 8.   I've cut her dosage back  - .5 pill at 8a and 8p.  .25 pill at 4p and 4a.  I noticed that as the pill would wear off,  her seizures would start back up.  This second smaller dose, helps to even out the med.

Yesterday, with supporting Frankie under her chest and hips, she was able to walk 10 feet across the yard to get to her dog food.   Today Operation "walk Frankie walk" begins with my friend, M's help.

I hope my next blog includes a video of her moving on her own four feet....I'll keep you posted.

It's late September and we're back in school...

An update on Frankie's physical condition, 2 months into this.

As I mentioned,  she could barely walk.  No strength in her rear legs,  she would "bunny hop" to get the momentum to get up on all four feet.   From there,  she could go 20 feet or so before she would tire.
She did not walk in the house at all - she could not get traction on the wood floors.  She would lay on her dog bed, and I would pull her around as I went from room to room.
Obviously she could not jump, so I'd have to pick her up to put her on the couch or my bed.  At 50+ pounds, that became a good work out for me...just have to remember to use my legs, not my back!
She was a yipper.  I think out of frustration because she was not mobile, I think to get attention when I was not close by,  and still having these doggie dreams.  Neither of us had slept a whole night through in 6 weeks.
Her hard pads had completely peeled off.
Her fever did seem to start going down.  Can't pinpoint when that happened,  don't think it was a result of the herbs,  I think that was just coincidence....but really really encouraging.
Those leg tremors that appeared end of August were now full force.  Literally, her hind legs would twitch every second (I timed it).  Some times the tremors were so hard her whole body would shake.  Other times, they were pretty mild and that's when she slept the best. 

My next door neighbor,  who would hear her yipping,  thought she should be put down.  I thought about sending a note to my surrounding neighbors, apologizing,  but didn't.  The neighbor across the alley has 2 large dogs that bark every morning at 7am when they go outside.  And I mean every morning - I don't need an alarm clock anymore.  The neighbor on one side has a yappy dog that barks...when it plays, when it is outside to potty,  when it chases squirrels, etc.  A neighbor on the other side would let their dog out at 3am and it would bark 15 minutes before it was brought back inside.   For now,  they could put up with a little yipping.

My mom thought she should be put down.  I finally had to let her know that that topic was off limits.

Two things happened during that last week in September.

I realized those "doggie dreams" were really seizures.  I don't know why that didn't dawn on me sooner, I guess because they were different from what I had experienced with Young.

Frankie had to be able to walk.  I had a "quality of life" discussion with my vet.  We both agreed,  if Frankie could not walk outside to potty, if she could not move around the house, if she could not walk in the back yard,  then it would not be fair to her.

Another in the rescue organization was fostering a dog with seizures.  He was on phenobarbital and something else.  After researching the pheno, I was concerned about side effects.  I did not want a dopey, lethargic, spaced out dog.   She said that her foster did not show any of these signs, so I put a call in to my vet to get a prescription going.

My friend, M, was helping me to get Frankie walking.   We'd move 10 feet away from her...and entice her with treats,  praising her effusively as she would get up and come to us.  10 feet grew to 15 feet, 15 grew to 20, etc.  It didn't seem like she had to "bunny hop" to get up and she looked so much stronger in just 3 days.  We both were thrilled.

Friday night, Sept 28, I gave her the first pheno dose.  We slept almost the whole night through for the first time in a very long time.  It was great.  It rained all day Sat & Sun,  so no walking practice.   By Tuesday, 3 days on the pheno,  she could not walk at all.  She could not even get up via "bunny hop".  She could barely pull herself along with her front legs, dragging her whole body behind her.
Crap.

I started feeling like I was torturing her.  Was I selfish to keep her alive?  Was I selfish to put her down?  How much more could she and I take?

Dr. B

Most people who know me, know that I don't enjoy science fiction and am a "get to the facts" type of person.   For me to schedule an appointment with an vet that practices Chinese medicine was completely out of the box...but I was frustrated by the fact that my vet was saying there was nothing we could do and only time would tell.  I was desperate to find anything that could help Frankie.

My visit to Dr. B was interesting to say the least.   First off,  my appointment was right after lunch so that I could bring Frankie in without exposing her to other dogs.  That made complete sense...so, other than us and the receptionist,  the place was pretty empty.   For some reason,  Dr. B still came into the room 40 minutes after our scheduled appointment.   Whoa nelly there,   I told myself,  don't cop an attitude now...maybe she can help Frankie.
Why is it that some vets do not have a "bed side manner"?  Is it because they can't relate to humans that they turn to animal medicine??
I talked about what had been going on ...the disease...and Frankie's behaviour and her continued weakening of her hind legs   In order to get her some sort of workout,  I would put her food bowl at the back part of the yard,  forcing her to get up and walk in order to eat.    This may sound cruel...but I had to do something to get her up and walking.   She could do this...start off at a sort of "bunny hop"  but once she got momentum,  she was up and walking.
The other issue is what I called her "doggie dreams".   About 4am she would get very restless.  She'd get up,  move a few inches, lay down, get up, move a few inches, lay down,  and this could go on and on.   She'd also start yipping   - like she was having a bad doggie dream...only her eyes would be wide open and nothing I could do to console her would calm her down.
The one thing that Dr. B said that made me stop and think....she said "I can get her to walk, but she'll never be completely normal again.  Can you live with that?"     Fair question...and I still don't know the answer.

So,  Dr. B brought out this pendant of some sort....on a chain,   and started chanting the names of the herbs she was going to prescribe....that chanting somehow that determined what the dosage would be.

I quickly learned that speaking during this was not appreciated.

At the end our of hour session,  I walked out of there an assortment of 8 different bottles - herbs, drops, pills that would help bring Frankie back to the healthy world.   Cha-ching...when I searched on the net after the fact,  I was honestly horrified at the bill and the  markup  for these herbs that I had paid. 

September

It was interesting to be able to compare the progression of the disease between the 2 pups.  Frankie was about 9 days behind Young in the progression of the disease.

• Frankie's cough was quickly over in a day. Young did not develop a cough at all. 
• Frankie did not have diarrhea,  Young's never completely cleared up. 
• Honestly don't know about temperature....Frankie's was elevated, but I can only assume that Young's was as I never took his temps. 
• Frankie showed signs that one eye was getting infected.  With the antibiotics, it cleared up in about 2 days.   Young's infection started in one eye, went to the other, the nose, and were still infected when he was put down. 
• Young's hard pads came and were almost completely sloughed off when he died...took about month??   Frankie had hard pads as well...hers are almost completely gone now.

It had now been 30 days since I first noticed Frankie's elevated fever and time for a vet visit.  She was still running a fever, had not gone to the bathroom in a few days, and I was concerned. 
Still contagious, we went through side door at the clinic,  away from the other animal population. Temp: 103 degrees - still elevated. We did notice a slight tremor in her hind legs  - "starting to appreciate myoclonic spasms in rear limbs" were the words on her chart - the first sign that Frankie had neurological damage.
Continue with the antibiotics to combat secondary infections..nothing else that can be done...no way to predict if this is as bad as it gets or if it gets worse.

Once again hindsight...and to anyone else who goes through this...maybe a word of wisdom here.
When Frankie first developed her fever, I stopped taking her for walks.  It was typical 100 degree hot in August and I did not want to wear her out.   She spent almost 24 hours a day sleeping on either her dog bed, the couch, or my bed.
By Mid August,  she was getting weaker.   I did start taking her for short walks...we made it up to the school yard one day, but no running around for her.  She was also getting wobbly.  By the end of August,  she could walk down the driveway, down the sidewalk past a few houses and back, but that was the extent of it.  When you've been feverish and bed-ridden for as long as she had, it made sense that her muscles were weak.

By the first week in September, I realized that I had to do something...I needed her to get the strength back in her legs and was willing to try almost anything.

I considered an alternative treatment -even made an appointment to take Frankie to Austin, TX but decided it was too risky and did not increase her odds.   Lots about that on the web...google "Ed Bonds, NDV serum", and you'll see what I was talking about.

I tracked down a vet who didn't practice traditional medicine but specialized in physical therapy  - they wouldn't see Frankie because she was possibly still contagious.  They did, however, refer me to a vet that practiced traditional and Chinese medicine. 

I thought I hit the lottery when I was able to get an appointment on September 21st to see Dr. B.  By this time, Frankie could barely walk...I had to support her from underneath so that she would not face plant on the sidewalk.