Time just flies and I need to write an update no matter how boring it is. lol. It is now 9 months since Abbey had her surgery. She is about the same as the past few months. Still shows signs but not like before the surgery but does have bad days occasionally. If she shows symptoms once a day I don't like it. Last night at bedtime and had just given her her gabapentin and she had an episode. Probably in reality last 30 seconds. Held her leg up like a cramp and cried a little -more anguish sounding and rubbing head. I always pick her up when she does this but don't know if thats the right thing to do. Eventually put her down to allow her to deal with it the way she needed to. Off to bed we went and of course the princess sleeps on our bed--only one of the 4 that do. One is bad enough--lol. She still showed a little discomfort for a short period but then the pill must have kicked in. I still get scared as I love her so much and like I said she's my princess. I've said numerous times that we doubted if her symptoms would go away after surgery as she was misdiagnosed for so long BUT our goal was to stop the progression. She certain is not worse by any means so our goal has been accomplished.
As you can see, I don't update that often anymore BUT I will every once in awhile as long as my dear Abbey is on this earth.
Merry Christmas everybody.
We lost our battle on January 3, 2012 and had to put our beautiful princess down. Please spread the word on this awful disease. When I wrote this blog I told everything I was feeling and it's pretty emotional but tells all that I felt. Abbey had my heart on Day 1
Abbey
one year after surgery
A 'SPECIAL PLACE'
You have a special place Dear Lord that I know you'll always keep
A special place reserved for dogs when they quietly fall asleep
With large and airy kennels and a yard for hiding bones
With maybe a little babbling creek that chatters over stones.
With wide green fields and flowers for those who never knew about running freely under
Your sky of perfect blue. Lord,I know You keep this Special Place and so to you I Pray, for one Special Cavalier Who quietly died today
She was full of strength & love and so very, very wise.
The puppy look she once had had long since left her eyes.
She is dearly missed my Lord by her Mom & Dad.
She went to join her family in Your land that is Devine
So, speak to Abbey softly please and give her a warm hello.
She's a Special gift to you Dear Lord from her Mommy & Daddy, who loved her so.
Run free sweet Abbey.
Abbey 1/24/2004 - 1/3/2012
Oh my sweet Abbey. You are with the angels and finally free of this awful disease. I will miss you sooooooo much and I am at a loss as to what to do right now. I love you so much but I know we did the right thing today.
RIP and I thank god he brought you to us.
I love you so much.
Mom
RIP and I thank god he brought you to us.
I love you so much.
Mom
Not doing well--Any of Us - December 29,2011
It's been a very long time since I updated and unfortunately this is not a good
one. It is now almost 3 years since finally figuring out what Abbey had/has. She
was doing relatively good until this past year and has been declining. We are
now seriously talking abou putting her down. I've never had to put an animal down in my life.
Thank you dear lord they have always gone on their own. I'm looking at Abbey in a
different way now---she is having such a very hard time getting around--she
slips and slides all over the place and falls. Her eyes just don't have the
"sparkle" they used to. I think she's plain tired of dealing with this disease.
George and I talked alot last night and shed many many tears and also saw
another neurologist 3 weeks ago and was told we were doing all that she would
have us do and saw our vet yesterday and he agreed with me about her quality of
life. My emotions are so up and down right now. One minute I'm ready to make the
appt. and the next minute I say no. George feels we need to give it a couple
more weeks to give the increase in prednisone and omeprazole a chance. I can't
hardly look at her right now without sobbing so I know it won't be long. If
you've read our story you know how much we do love her and how this is killing
me. I will post when we finally make the decision.
one. It is now almost 3 years since finally figuring out what Abbey had/has. She
was doing relatively good until this past year and has been declining. We are
now seriously talking abou putting her down. I've never had to put an animal down in my life.
Thank you dear lord they have always gone on their own. I'm looking at Abbey in a
different way now---she is having such a very hard time getting around--she
slips and slides all over the place and falls. Her eyes just don't have the
"sparkle" they used to. I think she's plain tired of dealing with this disease.
George and I talked alot last night and shed many many tears and also saw
another neurologist 3 weeks ago and was told we were doing all that she would
have us do and saw our vet yesterday and he agreed with me about her quality of
life. My emotions are so up and down right now. One minute I'm ready to make the
appt. and the next minute I say no. George feels we need to give it a couple
more weeks to give the increase in prednisone and omeprazole a chance. I can't
hardly look at her right now without sobbing so I know it won't be long. If
you've read our story you know how much we do love her and how this is killing
me. I will post when we finally make the decision.
One Year after Surgery
Hard to believe that its been a year. Time flies. She is doing well and is a very happy dog. She was having some scractching episodes about a month ago and we were quite concerned. She has never been symptom free since the surgery and we never believed she would be--we hoped though. I felt she was having some distress so we took her off the temaril and she is now on prednisone which seems to be doing the trick. I have only seen her scratch a couple times in the past 6 weeks or so. The change has been quite visible. She is hungry though and I guess steroids do that to you. We are still happy that we did the surgery as our goal was for her not to get worse and we have accomplished that goal 100% and more as she is definitely better than a year ago. Any questions, please e-mail me and I will get back to you quickly. I still get e-mails and sometimes people call me as they are worried and I sure understand what its like to go down this road.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
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If you have a CKCS-Cavalier Spaniel-and you've run across this page by accident, you at least need to be aware of a disease that is in ALOT of the cavaliers. If you don't read this, then at least go to cavalierhealth.com (link below) and read about what it is. It could be the best thing you do for your dog. We need to spread the word about this.
Day 23--she's feeling better and bored!!!
Symptoms of Syringomyelia - also known as SM
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UPDATED A NEW VIDEO FROM 4/16.
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UPDATED A NEW VIDEO FROM 4/16.
I know how you feel when Abby has a neurological symptom...Mango has scratching episodes once or twice a day, but the Gabapentin is most helpful,
ReplyDeletewhich we give at 7AM, noon, 5 PM and 11 PM, with a half prilosec at 11 PM. I have thought of Abby often since we had a phone conversation several months ago. I am glad for the update.
I am so sorry about Abby. Ella was diagnosed in January and she had surgery 8 weeks ago. I knew that it was not guaranteed that her symptoms would go away but like you said I did not want it to progress which is was very fast. I was amazed when I found out she had a severe case. At first Ella did not show any scratching signs which was more than I hoped for but that soon changed. She is now on Gabapentin along with some other meds and I saw some improvement. She has been with my parents for two days and she did not have her medication. They also let her chase birds and said "Ella is fine" "She does not need pain medication". Well now I saw her do the bunny hop which she did not do before. I am so upset.
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