Kayla Sue

My sweet Kayla is getting old.  We know that, we have always known that our time with her is limited -- in fact, I knew from the day our eyes met and we became soul mates at the Humane Society on that steamy day in July, 2001, our time would be limited.  Life is sweet and oh, so short, especially for our canine companions.  And I've been in denial about it pretty much ever since, only not really....

We almost lost her right before she turned 10 and passed out and turned blue at the Comlara Park campground, suffering from laryngeal paralysis (her larynx wouldn't open and close like it was supposed to, so she wasn't getting the air she needed).  She had a risky, expensive surgery at U of I, recovered beautifully from it, and became our same sweet Kayla (with the post-surgery addition of her hacking and coughing like an old man -- we call her Gramps now), cheating death to give us more time with her.

Since this summer though, her age has been creeping up on her again, as she can no longer jump in the back if our car or onto our bed like she used to.  So Bob has to lift her into the car or onto the bed.  She also had some limping issues in Zion when we took her on walks, her back left leg seemed to be bothering her and she'd pick it up sometimes when we walked and would walk with three legs for a bit. We wondered if she had a thorn, or a pad issue, or a sprain or fracture of some sort, so we took her to the vet when we got home to make sure there was no fracture or other bone problem (hips, knees, feet, back) and she had a thorough exam including Xrays which showed no bone problems.  Her hips looked okay as far as they could tell, so we figured it was maybe some arthritis, and that she'd be fine as long as Bob could lift her when needed.

Then last week we noticed it was getting harder for her to get up off the floor -- she was already taking her time getting up carefully, but now she has a hard time getting her back legs underneath her and then getting them to lift her upright.  We assumed hip problems, but then over the weekend her back legs started giving her even more trouble.  She continued to have problems getting up, and then when she'd walk, her back legs were unsteady and she'd lurch like a drunken sailor sometimes, or her legs would go out from under her altogether and she'd fall down.  This happened on slick floors more often, but also started to happen on carpet.  She resisted coming up or down the stairs without a ton of coaxing, and when she'd get to the landing at the front door, her back legs splayed out from under her on the linoleum (we have since added some carpet pieces for her to walk on).  She increasingly has trouble going outside to go potty, and going potty itself once outside has also been a challenge.  In fact, twice she fell over after she pooped because she could not maintain the position.  I'm sure the snow and ice hasn't helped. :-(

Over the weekend we Googled her symptoms and took her to the vet again yesterday for another exam, wondering if she had a condition we found online called Degenerative Myelopathy (DM), which is a kind of MS that older, larger dogs get, and which her symptoms sounded like.  Basically it's an autoimmune disease that attacks the nerves and causes the messages to her muscles to misfire. It starts out the way Kayla's symptoms are presenting, and eventually can cause total paralysis in the back legs, and incontinence.  The vet confirmed that it could be DM, and said that her earlier larynx problems which required surgery in 2009 could be related to what's happening now (an overall nerve issue related to the original laryngeal paralysis).  She also said it could possibly be a ruptured or herniated disc in her back, pressing on a nerve, which could be dealt with via back surgery. And her escalating symptoms progressing more quickly than normal may suggest that.  


But the only way to tell for sure is an MRI and some other neurological testing, which of course can only be done in Chicago at a special vet clinic by a Veterinary Neurologist. So we are taking here there next week (first appointment we could get was for Wed the 15th) and hoping the symptoms don't progress much more before the appointment.  If they do, we are supposed to take her to the Chicago clinic's emergency room, and have her admitted through their ER, which will cost way more than the already astronomical cost of the regular office visit.  And in the meantime we got a sling/harness contraption we use to help lift her back legs when she goes up/down the stairs, and outside, and that is helping in terms of getting her in and out.

The good news is that for the most part, like right now (she is lying on the love seat in my office, snoring softly) ...

... she is comfortable, alert, engaged, eating well and seems to be her usual joyful self, and best of all she does not appear to be in any pain, so that's good news too, but also probably rules out the herniated or ruptured disc theory (which is what I am hoping it is, since that's the one thing that may be treatable).

If it is DM, there is not much we can do other than wait for it to progress to the point where she can no longer walk at all, or potty by herself, and then we will have to make a tough decision .... .  If it's a disc problem, that can be treated with surgery, but even then we'll have to decide whether it's worth it or not in terms of putting her through an expensive and probably painful back surgery that might or might not help.  Yes, I realize we are getting way ahead of ourselves -- we don't know for sure what this is, what's causing it, and what, if anything can be done to treat it.  But we are worried and sad, watching her struggle to get up off the floor, knowing whatever it is, it's something serious.  And that at 11 and a half years old, her time with us is limited no matter what.

I will keep all four of my readers (haha!) posted as we know things.  For now I just hope we/she can hold out until our appointment next week in Chicago, and that she doesn't get much worse and require an ER visit.  Please send some good thoughts, energy, words, prayers to the Goddess, God, St. Frances, or whomever.  Thanks!