Ellie Update #35: Some good, some bad, I guess it all evens out in the end. On Monday, we headed up to Med Vet to get a medication refill and so Ellie could attend her rehab session where she got the laser therapy to her spine (shoulders and neck) which she reportedly loved. Ellie also did the underwater treadmill for 5 minutes (up from 3 minutes) at 0.8 mph. YAY!! Jessica, the technician, said that she put Ellie in the treadmill, then filled with water up to her chest. At that point, Ellie put her legs up and was sort of floating on the water and wouldnt put her feet down!!! So, Jessica had to drop the water level by an inch or so for Ellie to put her feet down to walk. Now this is the part that concerned Lee and me. When Jessica brought Ellie out to us, she said that Ellie did great and that she really enjoyed the laser therapy to the point where she was laying down with her eyes closed. She said that they would try to increase the time she spent in the treadmill by a minute or so each session and would do so on Wednesday again. I gave Jessica my email address and asked her if she could send us a video copy of Ellie doing the treadmill and she said that was no problem. (I wanted to share that because it really is interesting and fun to watch. Havent gotten it yet but when I do, youll get to see it). I was looking at Jessica as she spoke and during this, Lee noticed what looked to be a blister on the TOP of Ellies back toe --- it was not there when we took her in. Lee immediately feared that it was an allergy blister that developed and asked about it. Jessica says, Oh, yeah. When I turned the treadmill on, Ellie just stood there and was carried backwards off the end and her foot got caught under the treadmill. Shes OK, though. I just had to hold a treat in front of her to nibble on so she would walk forward like she was supposed to and she did fine then. Really? Jessica wasnt going to say anything to us until Lee pointed it out? She let Ellie fall off the end and get her foot caught and hurt? And then I did not realize until I got home that NONE of this was recorded on the instruction/progress sheet that they gave us to take home ---- not that Ellie stood there and fell off the end in the past or today or that her foot was compromised today. So, I will be taking that sheet back for tomorrows rehab session and asking to have it documented. Whoever is conducting the treadmill session needs to know of Ellies tendency to just stand there so they can prevent her from falling off the end and getting hurt, especially since they evidently have different techs doing the treadmill sessions. (I looked at Ellies foot closer when we got home and all the hair was scraped off around that blister. Grrrrr. Emoji So I cleaned it well and sprayed Solercaine on it initially and put Neosporin on it later, and will show it to Dr. OKine of Internal Medicine when we go on Thursday for the regular blood draw. After all weve been through with Ellie, maybe we are just being paranoid but I dont want it to get infected or anything else to happen. The good thing is that today, it looks MUCH better.) Ellie is doing pretty good on her daily exercises and rehab here at home with us. She definitely has weaker hind legs, especially the left one, but she is cooperative with everything we have to do. It will just take practice and time to get her where she needs to be. BUT today, I had to work for 4 hours and my husband Lee had a job interview and had to leave the house while I was gone. So, Ellie was toileted well before he left and then was left alone for 2-1/2 hours while he was at his job interview, Well. When Lee got back, he found that she had pooped down the floor heating duct and all over the heating grate. It was somewhat dried so she must have done it right after he left. Sigh. He got the shop vac out and all sorts of cleaning supplies and sucked all the poop out and scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed. He even took the grate out back and hosed it and scrubbed it and dried it and repainted it with Rustoleum to make sure that there would be no lingering smell. He sprayed the inside of the duct with some sort of pet spray that supposedly kills odors, But then we ended up throwing out the shop vac because we couldnt get all the poop cleaned out of it and because it stank so bad. (It was an old vac, but still....) We cant crate Ellie because she breaks out of a crate and hurts herself doing it --- went through that for the first 6 months we had her and we arent going to attempt that again. Shes back on Prozac for her separation anxiety, which worked before but evidently is not working right now. Tomorrow, we go see the acupuncturist and holistic doctor for the first time for her neck but we will see if she can help us with this issue, too. Will see if she has the flower essences and such that some of you have recommended. Probably should have gotten those before this but havent had to leave her alone for several weeks so just got lazy and didnt get them. So that is my fault. But we have to do something because at some point, Lee WILL get a job and be gone from the house, and I will have to be gone to work for my 4 hour shift and she will have to be left alone. So, that is the latest. Like I said before, some good news, some bad news, and it all evens out in the end. Thanks to all for listening and for your support. We surely do appreciate it.
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 22:59:47 +0000
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