IVDD Diagnoses

Cody Before Surgery

I am not a patient person so waiting to hear the results from Cody's CT scan was agonizing to say the least. The call came at 10:30 pm. They did not see anything in the CT scan that would indicate a disk rupture but his symptoms were not adding up so they would like to do an MRI in the morning.

Since we were  told that the CT scan would tell them if surgery was necessary I took this news as a somewhat positive sign. BIG MISTAKE!


Thursday December 6th

10:00 AM we get a call with the results of the MRI. Guess what? Disk Rupture and Surgery ASAP. (Mind you we brought him in at the 9 hour from symptoms mark and it was now a full 24 hours) The first thing that came to mind was did this additional time decrease Cody's chance of walking again?? I couldn't help but wonder why the most advanced surgical center for animals in Minnesota did not have the ability to do an MRI after hours, we were in the ER where time sensitive surgical procedures happen all the time. But now is not the time to dwell on that.

Cody underwent his surgery today and did great according to the doctor. We opted for the additionally stem cell injections (studies have shown stem cell injections increase the chances of mobility) so tomorrow he will go under for a second time to receive his injection. Last we heard we are going to be picking him up sometime tomorrow evening. I cannot wait to see my little guy!

Now we are busy preparing everything we'll need to help him successfully recover. I am trying to prepare myself for what I will see (shaved back and huge incision) but somehow I have a feeling even though I know what to expect, it will still be very emotional seeing him in that state.

More to come...stay tuned!