Swimming Pool therapy

Part of Nathan's rehab therapy this time again is swimming in our pool.  In Nathan's case, its to get him to move his back legs apart from the front legs, which doesn't happen while walking.   He has developed a bad habit of shifting his weight to the front legs.  So, swimming is supposed to help this. 

Of course, Nathan HATES the pool.  He has hated it from the first time 5 yrs ago went we taught him how to get out of the pool in case he fell in while running around it.   Anyhow, when we put him in the pool and let him swim on his own now, he moves his front legs, but not the back ones.  So, we are forced to get in the shallow end with him.  My husband holds up his body and I move his back legs while he moves his front.   Well, actually, Nathan scrambles like a maniac with his front legs to try to get out of the water.  After a minute or 2 of me moving his back legs, he starts moving them on his own.  We go thru this exact same routine now each afternoon. 

He is almost back up to being able to walk his 1/2 mile walk around the park trail.  I'm guessing another 2-3 weeks, we'll be at least back to where we where before the 2nd surgery, which is completely amazing to me.

Nathan gets his 5 week post-op check up

The neurosurgeon examined Nathan this morning.  He is 2 days short of 5 weeks from this second surgery.   She was pleased with his progress, but he's got a long way to go.   He is leaning his weight forward rather than giving equal weight to his back legs.  We have exercises to do to force him to put more weight on his back legs.  One exercise is putting his front legs on the first step of doggie stairs forcing him to stand on his back legs.  This can also be done by just lifting him up on his back legs on forcing him to support himself on the back legs.  So, in addition to working on getting walking again, we will be focusing on building stability on the back legs.  

Nathan sure does like being the center of attention!!

A quiet week

We are at exactly 4 weeks post-surgery.  Nathan is about the same as he was a week ago.  We are needing to use the sling on longer walks.  He can walk on a short walk without.   Unfortunately, he is definitely being lazy around the house and defaulting to scooting without even trying to walk first.  We are trying to play the "walk around the house for kibbles" game alot to remind him that he can walk.  I think we are battling a little bit of depression on his part.   Seems like its going to take a bit of effort to get him out of his current state of mind.

I don't blame him for giving up a bit after going thru so much and starting over again.   But, he is a fighter, so on we go......

3 weeks post surgery #2

Nathan is doing well at 3 weeks.  He can walk unassisted on a short walk but he is very wobbly.  So, on our longer walks, we are using his sling.  He requires almost no support from it, but just enough to keep him steady.  His legs have the strength, they just don't have the coordination yet. 

We are looking for signs of potential increased improvement from where he was prior to this 2nd surgery.  One small, but interesting sign, is he does not appear to be scuffing up the top of his feet by his toenails.   We had been limiting the walking on cement and had been doing our long walks on the park trail where there is dirt instead of cement to decrease the scuffing on his feet.  But, I'm not seeing that now as we have been doing a bit of street walking.   I'm hoping that is a sign that we will have some additional improvement from where we were.   Not sure what to think on the potty control front.  Some days, I think its better.  I see more pee pees.  But, no clear signs there.

We are going have to work on the scooting around the house habit, again.   Maybe he's just trying to get me to play the chase the food kibble game around the house!