Dr. Nichol called later this afternoon to say Hoagie took a turn for the worse. He stopped responding to deep pain. At that time she said he may need surgery. She said the longer we wait, the less possiblity we have of getting him walking again. She said that in spinal cord injuries, the “bruising” continues even after the initial “insult”. She compared it to cooking in the microwave, even after the timer goes off, the food still cooks. She stated clearly that without surgery, he most likely will not walk again. She said that right now, he’s not in pain…because he can’t feel anything in his hindquarters. She said she cannot remember seeing a dachshund in his condition ever getting anything back. She contacted the Animal Neurology & MRI Center in Canton, MI (the best according to her and another woman I know who has a Bichon Frise with back issues–also the MSU Vet Clinic does not have a neurologist at this time). The neurologist she spoke with said given Hoag’s current condition, if he was evaluated by them and deemed appropriate for surgery, they could only give him a 50/50 chance. I got off the phone to cry some more and try to think about what to do. Called my parents and my Dad says “get him in for the surgery!” Mind you, the estimate I was given was $6000!!! My parents are bar none, the best and most caring people ever. I thought and thought and thought…called my best friend…called Franni (the one with the Bichon) and got several responses including: “if you don’t get him the surgery are you gonna be able to live with yourself wondering what if” to “you have to think about possibly putting him down”. Not the wide range of responses I was looking for. I thought about it some more, and spoke with Dr. Nichol again, at length. I told her that I didn’t think it was in Hoagie’s best interest to take him all the way to Canton, with the chance that after he’s evaluated they may say the surgery will do no good. Or worse yet, have him go through the painful recovery of the surgery only to find it did nothing. Dr. Nichol said that if the neurologist had even given him a 65% chance of success she’d urge me to do it. But with the 50/50 odds…I just can’t do it. Money is no object (of course it’s not..it’s my parent’s money) but Hoagie’s pain and suffering and fear is my biggest concern. I called Dr. Nichol back to talk more, and said that surgery is not an option. She agreed with my decision. I asked her what, then, are our options? She offered to take him home with her tonight. I said “so what are your plans for Thanksgiving?” She chuckled and said she was cooking dinner for her family. I told her the offer was MORE than generous, but…and she cut me off and said “let me give you names and numbers of other client’s pets I’ve taken home with me over the holidays”. That made me feel a lot better. She then stopped and said: “how do you feel about taking him home?” I said I’d love to but how do you feel about it? She said she was totally OK with me taking him home tonight. She said she wouldn’t leave me hanging…that i’d become her best friend over the next day or so and she would be in constant contact. She said wouldn’t have suggested it if she didn’t feel good about it, and she’d be sure he had all the meds he needed now, and send me home with any other meds he’ll need. She did give me one tiny glimmer of hope, however. She said she’s curious to see what happens when all the pain drugs (opiates) he’s on wears off. She said he was on rather large doses of morphine from the Urgent Care vet plus they had given him other opiates…….so she wonders if that is what made him not respond to the deep pain. So…I’m picking Hoag up at 6pm and bringing him home…and I guess we’ll wait and see. I’m trying like hell to think through his eyes…what his quality of life would be if he never does walk again. I told Dr. Nichol that the last thing I wanted to do was put him down, but I also want what’s best for him. She said that right now, putting him down is not an option. I thanked her wholeheartedly for that. Keep on praying, kids….we’re not out of the woods yet.

Sloppy doxie kisses….

Hoagie and Hoagie’s Mom

Bookmark to:

RSS feed for comments on this post.