I am NOT a superstitious person; however, this day forever changed our family.
At approximately 3:00 am, Oscar started to whine from underneath our bed. I got up to check on him and immediately realized something was wrong. He was trying to get out from underneath our bed; however, neither of his hind legs were working. Our vets office didn't open until 9:00 am so I was unsure of what to do. Little did I know, time was of the essence. In addition to his hind legs not working, Oscar couldn't put his head down. He kept holding it up in the air which broke my heart. He wouldn't lay down either, he insisted upon sitting.
Fortunately, I have Fridays off work and was able to drive Oscar to our vet's office which is approximately 45 minutes away. Thankfully, my father agreed to watch our two children (Elaina 3 yrs old and Grant 1 yr old) while I took Oscar to the vet. The entire way down I cried uncontrollably because I felt he wouldn't be coming home with us and the 45 minutes we had together in the car would be our last. Anyone who knows me, knows that I do not cry easily.
Once I arrived I immediately knew we had a major situation on our hands. Our vet immediately confirmed without any x-rays that Oscar was suffering from interveterbral disc disease. To put it simply, a disc that separates the vertebrae in his spine slipped and was compressing his spinal cord causing hind end paralyzation. She asked me to put Oscar of the floor and when he tried to move his hind legs dragged completely behind him. Her face told me what I already knew. Her words confirmed it, "This isn't good." The entire time I was fighting back tears when she explained we had two options. 1) Put him down. 2) Drive him to Columbus for emergency spinal cord surgery. Our vet explained the surgery has a low success rate, but we should know within just a few days if the surgery worked. I immediately agreed to surgery and she tried to contact the surgeon. Unfortunately for us, the surgeon had two offices (Dayton and Columbus) and was in Dayton that day. He wouldn't be able to make it back to Columbus until 6:00 pm to see Oscar.
I drove Oscar back to my parents, picked up the children and then proceeded home to cry some more and take care of Oscar. In the meantime, I indicated to some of our church friends the situation and two came over to pray for him and offer me their support.
At 4:00 my husband came home and drove Oscar to Columbus for a surgical consult. I was unable to go as I had a previous commitment to take senior pictures. When Mark was gathering up blankets, etc I ran out to the car and just held Oscar while crying since I felt he wouldn't be returning home. I was afraid the surgeon would advise us to put him down.
Shortly after 6:00, Mark called saying the surgeon met with Oscar, confirmed he had IVDD, surgery at best would be 50/50 and if he doesn't walk within 1 month he never will. Surgery would cost over $3,000; however, it if was our only hope I was willing to pay it without hesitation.
A few hours after that, Mark called saying Oscar came out of surgery and they were both headed home. I was surprised since I figured Oscar would have to stay there for a few days considering the magnitude of the surgery. The surgeon did incate he didn't see any visible damage to the spinal cord (it wasn't blue) which did encourage me slightly. Shortly before midnight, Mark and Oscar were home.
No comments:
Post a Comment