Sumi Saga - Emails that I sent earlier this week 7-11-09
First message from 7-8-09:
Hello everyone - I am writing to you all because you either have had the pleasure of spending time with my pug Sumi or you know how much she means to me and she needs your prayers and positive vibes. A few weeks ago she slipped on some mud and had a little scream and was walking kind of weird afterward. I put her on pain medicine, and she seemed to improve. However, then we we in a little car accident 2 weeks ago, and she was once again showing some problems and pain issues. She started to do better, then slipped on the hardwood floor in my house playing fetch about 11 days ago. This time I took her in to the vet and the vet told me that she likely had a slipped disc, and put her on pain meds and muscle relaxants and told me Sumi needed to rest for 4-6 weeks. This past weekend we drove 8 hours to Cheboygan for the weekend, and I don't know if it was the stress or excitement of traveling but on Friday night I allowed her to go up one stair into the house and she suddenly started screaming in pain - she screamed for almost a full 30 seconds and her legs couldn't hold her up or anything. We confined her for the rest of the weekend and tried to get her to rest with the plan to take her to the vet when I got back to Chicago because it was the holiday weekend. Finally got her to the vet yesterday evening and they did X-rays. There's not much that is visible on the X-rays because they don't see soft tissue, but without a clear picture or a CT scan it's hard to make hard conclucsions...unfortunately she was not very still so the pictures weren't very clear. She has actually been much worse in the 12 hours post-vet visit - her back legs are almost completely out of her control and she's scared and I'm scared. We couldn't start her on steroids yesterday - had to wait until this morning, so I gave her the steroids around 7 this morning and will go and check on her around noon to see if she's showing any signs of improvement. The vet is going to a conference on Thursday and will be gone for a week, so they gave me anything that I might need should anything go wrong and we need to go to the neurologist. So the situation is this - if she doesn't show major improvement in the first 48 hours on steroids, it is likely that medication will not help her. So we really really really need the steroids to work. Please please pray that the steroids work for her. If not, then I either have to magically produce $5000 for a neurologist to operate on her or else....So please, I know it's unusual to be praying for a doggie but she's only 6 years old and she's my baby and may be the only baby I have. We are alone most of the year in Chicago while Steve is working on the pipeline and she's the reason I get out of bed each day, even when I don't feel like it....Please pray for the steroids to work for her....Thanks and love,Kate
Second message from 7-8-09:
Hello - Well, there's mixed news. Sumi isn't showing much improvement yet - she looked awful trying to walk when I went home for lunch. I spoke with her regular vet and he said not to wait til the weekend to call the neurologist to get an appointment for a consult - and so I called the vet neurologist and the only appointment available was for tomorrow morning. The consult is only $140, and then we'll go up from there...but we'll weigh all options and see how she's doing tomorrow. The scary thing is that she has to go prepared for surgery - no food or water after midnight tonight.... The interesting thing is that there is a special credit card, called the Care Card, that you can apply for for medical emergencies for humans and dogs, and get instant approval and a number to use in the event of this type of thing. They only give $2500 to start but if things get more expensive than that, as they could, then you can call and negotiate with them. Maybe Sumi will be much improved tomorrow and I won't even have to use it, but it will help if I do need it. There's still hope that the steroids could work - or that the neurologist could say to wait until next week or something and finish out the steroids before going into surgery, we just have to see tomorrow. So tomorrow we are off to Northbrook, Illinois... Please keep saying prayers (p.s. the patron Saint of animals is St. Francis) for her and that the steroids start helping ASAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!love you allkate
Third message 7-09-09:
Hello everyone - I know some of you think I am crazy, but Sumi and I went to the neurologist today. He knows that she either has a bulging disc or a ruptured disc. Here's the setup - he cannot tell whether the disc is bulging or ruptured without an MRI. If it is bulging, it may be able to resolve without surgery. If it is ruptured, she has no future without surgery. The only way to know which it is is to perform the MRI, which she will be having later today. If it is ruptured, again, she will have no future without surgery. However, there is a 90 percent success rate with surgery on these dogs and she could have 6-10 more happy busy years if the disc is repaired. I cannot fathom living with the guilt of not performing the diagnostic test today and just putting her to sleep. So she is having the MRI. I will make the decision regarding cost when we know what we are dealing with, but for those who doubt me, you must understand that the prognosis with surgery if it is needed is very very good. Knowing that, I would really and truly not be able to bear the psychological guilt without knowing that I had done what I can for her. It's the least I can do, because she has saved my life on several occasions....truly saved my life. Please keep praying for us. I will keep everyone posted when I hear from the clinic on the MRI results...love you allKate
Fourth message 7-9-09:
Hello everyone! congratulations on your prayers being so awesome....Just got off the phone with the neurologist and the MRI showed that Sumi does have a disc problem that is likely a chronic issue that just had an acute onset of pain recently - she has a region of her spinal column that is narrower than it ought to be and so will always be at risk now for other issues because the area just isn't stable, but there is NOT a severe rupture in the disc right now. He is going to put her on 3 different medications and prescribing confinement to a crate or small area (not hard, as our living room is quite small and easily made smaller for anything but short potty walks for the next couple of weeks. I have to get her a harness today before I pick her up because she can't have a regular collar, but hopefully she'll get the hang of it quickly.... but the best part is that she does NOT NEED SURGERY right now! We are going to play it conservatively and hope that the rest and medication are going to do the trick and just be super careful with her regarding stairs and furniture - no bendy motions and whatnot....But we can work with this...we'll survive!!! It's really good news - cautious, but good....love you allKate
Hello everyone - I am writing to you all because you either have had the pleasure of spending time with my pug Sumi or you know how much she means to me and she needs your prayers and positive vibes. A few weeks ago she slipped on some mud and had a little scream and was walking kind of weird afterward. I put her on pain medicine, and she seemed to improve. However, then we we in a little car accident 2 weeks ago, and she was once again showing some problems and pain issues. She started to do better, then slipped on the hardwood floor in my house playing fetch about 11 days ago. This time I took her in to the vet and the vet told me that she likely had a slipped disc, and put her on pain meds and muscle relaxants and told me Sumi needed to rest for 4-6 weeks. This past weekend we drove 8 hours to Cheboygan for the weekend, and I don't know if it was the stress or excitement of traveling but on Friday night I allowed her to go up one stair into the house and she suddenly started screaming in pain - she screamed for almost a full 30 seconds and her legs couldn't hold her up or anything. We confined her for the rest of the weekend and tried to get her to rest with the plan to take her to the vet when I got back to Chicago because it was the holiday weekend. Finally got her to the vet yesterday evening and they did X-rays. There's not much that is visible on the X-rays because they don't see soft tissue, but without a clear picture or a CT scan it's hard to make hard conclucsions...unfortunately she was not very still so the pictures weren't very clear. She has actually been much worse in the 12 hours post-vet visit - her back legs are almost completely out of her control and she's scared and I'm scared. We couldn't start her on steroids yesterday - had to wait until this morning, so I gave her the steroids around 7 this morning and will go and check on her around noon to see if she's showing any signs of improvement. The vet is going to a conference on Thursday and will be gone for a week, so they gave me anything that I might need should anything go wrong and we need to go to the neurologist. So the situation is this - if she doesn't show major improvement in the first 48 hours on steroids, it is likely that medication will not help her. So we really really really need the steroids to work. Please please pray that the steroids work for her. If not, then I either have to magically produce $5000 for a neurologist to operate on her or else....So please, I know it's unusual to be praying for a doggie but she's only 6 years old and she's my baby and may be the only baby I have. We are alone most of the year in Chicago while Steve is working on the pipeline and she's the reason I get out of bed each day, even when I don't feel like it....Please pray for the steroids to work for her....Thanks and love,Kate
Second message from 7-8-09:
Hello - Well, there's mixed news. Sumi isn't showing much improvement yet - she looked awful trying to walk when I went home for lunch. I spoke with her regular vet and he said not to wait til the weekend to call the neurologist to get an appointment for a consult - and so I called the vet neurologist and the only appointment available was for tomorrow morning. The consult is only $140, and then we'll go up from there...but we'll weigh all options and see how she's doing tomorrow. The scary thing is that she has to go prepared for surgery - no food or water after midnight tonight.... The interesting thing is that there is a special credit card, called the Care Card, that you can apply for for medical emergencies for humans and dogs, and get instant approval and a number to use in the event of this type of thing. They only give $2500 to start but if things get more expensive than that, as they could, then you can call and negotiate with them. Maybe Sumi will be much improved tomorrow and I won't even have to use it, but it will help if I do need it. There's still hope that the steroids could work - or that the neurologist could say to wait until next week or something and finish out the steroids before going into surgery, we just have to see tomorrow. So tomorrow we are off to Northbrook, Illinois... Please keep saying prayers (p.s. the patron Saint of animals is St. Francis) for her and that the steroids start helping ASAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!love you allkate
Third message 7-09-09:
Hello everyone - I know some of you think I am crazy, but Sumi and I went to the neurologist today. He knows that she either has a bulging disc or a ruptured disc. Here's the setup - he cannot tell whether the disc is bulging or ruptured without an MRI. If it is bulging, it may be able to resolve without surgery. If it is ruptured, she has no future without surgery. The only way to know which it is is to perform the MRI, which she will be having later today. If it is ruptured, again, she will have no future without surgery. However, there is a 90 percent success rate with surgery on these dogs and she could have 6-10 more happy busy years if the disc is repaired. I cannot fathom living with the guilt of not performing the diagnostic test today and just putting her to sleep. So she is having the MRI. I will make the decision regarding cost when we know what we are dealing with, but for those who doubt me, you must understand that the prognosis with surgery if it is needed is very very good. Knowing that, I would really and truly not be able to bear the psychological guilt without knowing that I had done what I can for her. It's the least I can do, because she has saved my life on several occasions....truly saved my life. Please keep praying for us. I will keep everyone posted when I hear from the clinic on the MRI results...love you allKate
Fourth message 7-9-09:
Hello everyone! congratulations on your prayers being so awesome....Just got off the phone with the neurologist and the MRI showed that Sumi does have a disc problem that is likely a chronic issue that just had an acute onset of pain recently - she has a region of her spinal column that is narrower than it ought to be and so will always be at risk now for other issues because the area just isn't stable, but there is NOT a severe rupture in the disc right now. He is going to put her on 3 different medications and prescribing confinement to a crate or small area (not hard, as our living room is quite small and easily made smaller for anything but short potty walks for the next couple of weeks. I have to get her a harness today before I pick her up because she can't have a regular collar, but hopefully she'll get the hang of it quickly.... but the best part is that she does NOT NEED SURGERY right now! We are going to play it conservatively and hope that the rest and medication are going to do the trick and just be super careful with her regarding stairs and furniture - no bendy motions and whatnot....But we can work with this...we'll survive!!! It's really good news - cautious, but good....love you allKate
posted by Kate @ 8:43 PM
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