what a week... or two..?

Well, monday , the 12th, we took Kaydee for her first acupuncture treatment.
The new vet looked at the x-rays the other vet took and said "Where's the x-rays of her lower lumbar?" he couldnt believe they didnt take pictures of that area.... they x-rayed her neck, shoulders and back, but not her rear.... the problem area. If i had had the extra money i would have paid the extra $109.00 for the x-rays of her hips but the doctor actually found what LOOKED to be the herniated disk. a little section of the spine that looked like a wedge of cheese as opposed to looking like all the other disks. its amazing how that one little insignificant looking....thing.... can knock an 80 lb dog off her feet....

she behaved well enough for the whole treatment.... at first she was making friends with everyone, including the doctor, that is until he started poking those little pins in her back..... he left the room at one point and when he came back she was giving him the evil eye. i have to admit that he's a very knowledgeable man when it comes to reading dog body language. as soon as he came back in the room he took one look at the expression on her face and then reached for the jar of dog cookies on the counter...... naturally Kaydee forgave him and we finished the treatment without any issues. I was glad he did that too. i had help from my cousin's husband in holding her (she kept trying to turn around to bite at the needles in her back) but even with help from my cousin, and even though she cant use her legs, she's still very strong, and her attitude is still perfectly healthy.....

Anyway, after all that was done i got advice from the staff on how to do the physical therapy and keep her tendons from seizing up. they said swimming would be ideal if we have access to a pool.... which we dont. We do however have a creek not far from where we live. the water is about hip deep in the deepest part. and the current isnt swift at all. i would PREFER a swimming pool, but alas..... that wont happen.
So.... that week passed by without any excitement. The same day Kaydee had her appointment i had my own doctors appointment. the midwife saw me and said "Why arent you in labor?!" of course.. my due date wasnt until the 15th anyway..... Well, wouldnt you know.... wednesday i started having mild contractions an hour apart, give or take.... so my cousin comes up with the idea to lets all take the kids swimming. Fine with me.... Tallahassee has a nice new-ish public pool. it felt good to get in the water and just kinda float around and not have the weight of the baby on my back and knees.... of course when it was time to go i realised just how heavy he REALLY was. it reminded me of when i was in highschool carrying around a 40lb backpack... only this one was strapped to my front lol
So...... we went home around evening.... i was really hoping the baby would hurry up and arrive while i was in town. i had this fear of going into labor at home and not getting to the hospital in time because we live so far away..... the next day the contractions were closer, but not close enough to make the midwife happy... so i had to wait to be admitted..... so my husband and i walked all around the parking lot (the nurse had the nerve to suggest we go get some lunch or visit the mall!) by that point every time i had a contraction i got sick...... that was when they FINALLY admitted me then gave me something for the pain... took their dear sweet time doing it too.....
So to cut the story short, around 12:19am on the 16th my son, Shane Alexander, finally arrived..... via C-section...... once again just like with my last son i had to have surgery because i wasnt progressing. Fortunately this time i had a different doctor who had some foresight. she saw things taking the same path as last time and didnt make me and the baby suffer a few extra hours. she decided it was time for surgery, and it went surprisingly well! i actually stayed awake during this one..... last time i felt too much of what was happening and lemme tell ya, it hurt!
But this time around it was different for some reason..... i even recovered a little faster than last time. One of the nurses kept saying everytime she saw me that i didnt look like i had just had surgery. i even got to go home a day early

So, here i am with the newest addiction to the family, my oldest son isnt at all jealous like everyone has been worried about. the worst thing that happened was he got a stomach virus and then promptly gave it to everyone else (except my husband.... lucky jerk) i even got sick.... i thought i was going to have to go BACK to the hospital because i was afraid i tore my stitches while throwing up... i didnt.... but it FELT like i did!

Anyways everyones better now, its been wild..... i spent a week with my inlaws so i wouldnt have to lift anything heavy and have some help with both kids, but i was really ready to go home.. i wanted to see how Kaydee was doing. the whole time i was worried about her not getting her therapy because everyone was so busy.
Of course since i've been back home she's started showing more improvement. she's actually able to move her legs slightly. when she first gets up, like when she sees you for the first time that day, she will pull her legs up under her and attempt to stand up. not just one leg, but both!
So during naptimes i've been outside this past week working with her as much as i can. Tomorrow we're going to attempt to take her swimming. my husband is starting a new job thursday so tomorrow is his last day to be at home for a while so we're going to do as much as we can in regards to getting our dog's legs back........
wow... i just wrote a book lol all that happened in just two weeks! it feels like a month to me!

I'm glad Kaydee is making improvements! I hope she makes a ful recovery!!

I was wondering when you were going to go in labor! It's about time! lol
Congrats on your new baby boy!!

I hope she does too. Acupuncture huh. Interesting

I really hope this works for her. She's been a real trooper, and with a family like yours taking care of her, I believe she is gonna pull thru just fine!

Congrats on the baby boy!!

thanks everyone i'm glad to be back home, but i've noticed that getting on the computer is more hassle than its worth sometimes lol unless my husband is home to help look after our oldest son OR both kids are asleep, its just aggravating to come into the office for anything One kid wants to eat constantly or be held all the time, and the other wants to climb on the desks and bang on the keyboards otherwise i would have been back online much sooner lol

We did take her swimming today, both of my cousins and all the kids (about seven of them now) and my husband included (he gets to do the heavy lifting right now lol) we all went to the creek and put her in the deepest part.. which wasnt but a few inches above my knees, she didnt have any problem at all with standing. When we first got her in the water those hind legs automatically started moving and working like normal! my husband let go of her harness and she waded through the water, all four legs moving.... but as soon as she was out of the water she was right back to dragging her hind legs....... so i dont get it. I'm even more hopeful about her progress though!
if i had my way we would be spending every day at the creek, getting her to swim and build those muscles back up.

And yeah the acupuncture was a new concept to me too. i had heard of people doing that on animals, mostly on Animal Planet, those same people also did Yoga classes with their dogs too, so of course i just scoffed at it.. thinking it was some silly new age "Snake Oil" hokey make believe treatment.... Of course.... Acupuncture has been around a lot longer than most popular forms of surgery, or so i'm told..... so maybe there is something to it.. she showed slight improvements a week after the first treatment, but then again, maybe she was going to improve anyway. who can say? Bottom line is she is getting better slowly and i'm more than happy about it

First off Congrats on the baby boy!!!!! I would love to have another son.

I do so hope that the acupuncture works. I have heard great things about this type of proceedure. It sounds like she is doing better.

thanks i'm trying to remember everything i forgot about newborns lol
its a good thing they give you books at the doctor's office these days.... i am ashamed of my memory though.... i mean it was only 18 months ago... roughly... i think... (*counts fingers*) ......... yeah! 18 months ago i was doing all this stuff and now i cant remember a thing except well... the important things, like no honey, avoid baby wipes with alcohol or perfume, have to boil all the bottles etc.... and all the tricks i learned to keep them from screaming their heads off between meals...... yeah. my brain is fried lol
Fortunately its warming up here. When my first son was born it was in October, but the due date was supposed to be September.. so all the clothes people gave me were for summer, because thats all that was available in the stores. he had a ton of cute little summer outfits that he never really got to wear, and i had to go buy winter stuff.... fortunately it will be the opposite this time around. I still have all the cute outfits, AND the winter stuff..... So Shane wont be a problem at all when it comes to clothing him lol
Hopefully he wont mind wearing his big brother's hand-me-downs when he gets older. right now he could care less

As for Kaydee.... i was looking at a wal mart sales catelog and day-dreaming about buying one of those four foot deep pools..... thats probably way too deep for her, someone would HAVE to be in there with her to hold her up.... would also have to put little boots or something on her feet to keep her from ripping it apart.. but .. i really wish i had something like that in my back yard. the vet was optimistic about her walking again, but said it could take anywhere from three to six months... and that was being positive. for some dogs its six months or more.. or never.
I wish i knew more about this kind of thing. i just dont understand how all four legs can work perfectly normal in the water, but on dry land the back legs and tail are as useless as tits on a bull. I've done internet searches for this stuff but so far i havent come up with anything useful.