Charles Comes Home!

I've been a bit preoccupied with a couple of stranger-than-fiction situations that recently caused me to tweet "Sometimes I wish there were a god so I'd have someone to blame."

But alas . . .

One situation was that Charles, who will turn six on June 3, has been lame for nearly six months. And after vet upon vet, and drug upon drug (and also some acupuncture and chiropractic), we had to take him to Orlando (3 hours north) for an MRI. Oh, after they redid everything we already did (exams and x-rays) that turned up nothing.

Though the problem presented as orthopedic, it was in fact neurologic. Severe nerve root compression at lumbar 7/sacral 1, which was causing not only lameness, but intense pain shooting down his leg.

 

Want a better look?

Closer?

I drove him up Monday morning and my husband went up yesterday afternoon to retrieve him. He is allowed outside only to relieve himself; he can't even go around the corner for a couple of weeks. The recovery time (i.e., period of very restricted movement) should be about 6 weeks and involve a lot of tranquilizers because he's a rowdy boy.

How did this happen? It appears that Charles never got the memo about his physiology. He isn't aware of the limitations of his build and thinks, for instance, that he has the agility of the golden lab puppy he plays with (or the adult goldens he plays with). Violet's idea of playing is to chase or be chased in large circles or figure eights. She won't even try all of that quick zigzagging that other dogs do. She won't stop short, pivot and change directions while maintaining speed. But Charles will.

Or at least he used to.

The neurologist recommended Charles not play like that anymore. As in, never.

Fortunately, greyhounds Ivy, TK and Baby just moved back into town so he'll have some friends to lounge around with in a couple of weeks when he's permitted more movement. And the issue with movement is that it leads to the formation of scar tissue, which puts pressure on the nerves that now have more room because part of his spine was removed.

So there you have it. Thanks for all the well wishes and wish me luck keeping him still for six weeks!