Sadie's Saga Continues

After more than a year since stem cell, Sadie has still not been able to get up on her own. I consulted another doctor and discussed with her primary vet. Her primary vet recommended a rehab specialist that deals with neurological disorders and all other kinds of issues but she was up in Buffalo Grove. So I waited two months to get an appointment and last week Sadie and I ventured up north to try to find a solution to her situation. We made a day of it actually scheduling her annual appointment at her primary vet's new practice just 20 minutes away from the rehab place. In between, we stopped for a walk and lunch (for Sadie) and iced coffee (for me).  

While at the rehab center, they did about a 45-minute evaluation of Sadie. What they said was that her Wobbler's disease was not really an issue. She's learned to live with it. The bigger issue - her knees which they said never completely healed after the stem cell. She said her squat probably improved but stem cell does not completely repair the ligament so her knees were still blown and that's why she couldn't get up. She recommended an ortho consult with their head surgeon (a very reputable and well-known guy who our vet also recommended and said he's the only one that she'd let touch Sadie). Lots of discussions to be had but our primary vet will review the rehab center's extensive findings. Preliminarily our primary vet has said that she was surprised that the rehab doctor had recommended a surgery consult for Sadie because if at all, she tries to avoid surgery if at all possible. 

In the meantime, while Sadie waits for her ortho surgery consult, she has some pre-surgery rehab of acupuncture, laser and treadmill therapy to do. Then she will go for ortho consult and then depending on what they find, possibly right into surgery to repair her knees. She's back on some pain medicine and her walks have been reduced as of right now although she's really enjoying getting outside and rolling in the spring grass which aggravates her allergies (of course she has allergies too!) and makes her stuffy. Have you ever heard a dog snore or ooze green boogers from her nose? Definitely a lot of firsts with this dog. She's a lucky pup that we love her so much (or at least I do).