On Tuesday June 22, 2010 I got a frantic phone call from my sister. She was crying hysterically and told me that there was something wrong with Duke. I rushed home and discovered that he was paralyzed in his back legs. He was in tremendous pain and needed to be rushed to the vet right away. I took him in and they whisked him away to the back and did a neurological exam on him. He was so tense and in so much pain that they thought maybe his neck was hurt as well as his back. After multiple x-rays and exams it was discovered that Duke had herniated a disk in his back. We were sent to an animal surgeon across town.
They admited him to the animal hospital and did a contrast x-ray and a cat scan. The doctor explained that Duke had a herniated disk between his 2nd and 3rd lumbar. He needed emergency surgery to give his spinal cord room to move and to remove the pieces of herniated disk. This all happened on Tuesday between 1130 am and 5 pm.
Duke was in the hospital from Tuesday until Friday afternoon. He has multiple staples in his back and was sent home with a catheter in but he pulled it out on Friday after he got home. The vet gave me the green light to just leave the cath out and express his bladder manually. The first time I took him out to go potty though, he urinated on his own!
Everyday since his surgery he has gotten a little more alert and has had less pain. He still has no use of his back legs, but does have some sensation in them. The Doctor has put him on mandatory crate-rest for a few weeks before starting to use his legs again. The entire family anticipates a fully recovery. We also thank everyone who sent positive thoughts and prayers our way because we know that this helped Duke!
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