Hopefully today will be better than yesterday. It's not raining, the sun is trying to come out.. but it's humid out there... AC is working though..
Both boys got their first treatments... I did their hips
Buster is still asleep at 11AM... Rex has been awake since 5:30 this morning... but when I brought him into the kitchen for breakfast he immediately fell asleep.. He seems sore... He is still having trouble with his back legs and doesn't seem to have any sensation with them - before he was kicking... so not sure if we're going backwards with that... ... He has a very hard time holding his head up, but his eyes are following.. and he did try and sit up a bunch of times.. unfortunately all he has been able to do is lift his head from the side... the up and down is still having some challenges.. but we've been here before... a few times.. so hopefully we can over come this.. not sure if it's Loop Related or not..
He is still drinking water well and I had him standing over his Physical therapy box and he managed to keep his front arms straight enough for a little support for a period of time so he could drink standing until he dove nose first into his water bowl when his wrists gave out.. it's still early in the day.. I've been known to faceplant in my Capt Crunch (with Crunch berries of course) and he hasn't eaten yet..
One thing I have noticed with Rex is that his neck is no longer skin and bones.. there is some fluid in there..not super strong muscle.. but some thickness to his neck... which he didn't have before...
The Loop does some things similar to Hyperbaric oxygen Therapy (HBOT) and Rex is usually exhausted on his 2nd, 3rd, 4th days of HBOT (we go for 5 days in a row). I have mostly attributed that to the 3 hour drive to get there, the added activity of going to the hospital every day, and staying in a hotel, as well as going to see his physical therapists one or two times while we're up there, vs. me doing it at home with him... just a lot more activity.. but maybe it's more... so I'm kind of curious to see if it's just the treatments that are pooping him out and if he'll regain strength in a few days like he does when we go for HBOT.. sometimes he has to be home for a few days to rest up and settle in - HBOT has residual effects that will last a few weeks after a series of treatments.. I'm going to go on a limb and make the assumption that the Loop will too - it's a cumulative thing... .. so what I'm hoping to see is that his body gets accustomed to the treatments and adjusts to them and continues to get stronger...
When I've had electric acupuncture.. even though I'm not doing sit ups (if administered in my stomach) I will feel like I've been doing sit ups all day... I'm wondering if that is the same feeling he has.. that can poop one out who hasn't had much muscle tone to begin with... anyway- these are things I'm paying attention to... and will keep you posted...
HAIR ALERT - to me it looks like he's still sprouting more hair... in his shaved patches.. but the pictures look too similar.. so I'm going to post these once a week (it is like watching paint dry isn't it?) (see updates to the Hair Alert post
AFTERNOON UPDATE:
After a little bit of a rough start to the day, things are picking up with the beasts..
Buster Update... He spent most of the day sleeping but it's also in the mid 90s and extremely high humidity... who wouldn't want to be in the AC sleeping today? He got up... walked right over his brother a few times.. I think I"m beginning to see why Rex can't walk... went out a few times. He has NOT fallen today... He is clearly feeling better than he has been.. He decided to navigate the front steps on his own again and hopped up them... and then he took a flying leap to jump OVER the threshold at the back door.. luckly he landed on the welcome mat or he'd be spread eagle on the deck... He did NOT take his turmeric today.. he's apparently having a case of pill fatigue..and ate around them.. so we'll see how that is working out for him later today
Rex update.. Rex was also not enjoying the heat and is now laying on his cooling bed. He didn't look or feel dehydrated to me.. but really wasn't doing much this morning and could barely lift his head. I decided a Vitamin B12 injection might help and figured some Sub Q fluids wouldn't hurt either being that it was so hot.. Sometimes when he's this lethargic, even if the skin pull test doesn't seem to look like he's dehydrated and his mouth isn't tacky.. he still seems to do much better with fluids... and 1/2 hour after the B12 and fluids.. he perked up and decided he wanted to eat, wanted to be taken outside, wanted to practice putting pressure on his legs, even in the 90+ humid weather... and he wanted to lay on my tummy and practice holding his head up and turning it to watch everything go on while I scratched his chin.. apparently some days his exercise ball and his exercise block don't quite cut it for him... hey what ever it takes to strengthen that neck..
I just called over to Assisi Pet Health to double check and make sure that the Loop wouldn't have much of an affect on the microchips these guys have (apparently it may weaken the signal of the loop just a little bit but nothing major) and Rex has a B.B. that some not so nice, trespassing, non-gentleman like hunter shot into his nether regions while I was yelling at him to get off my property. I wanted to make sure that it wouldn't affect the BB either and heat it up... We are good to go on both accounts. Neither will affect the Loop or the treatment.
I also asked if I could use 2 loops at once and was told that I could as long as they were at least 7 inches from each other... which is great news too for Rex!
So far so good!!
Both boys got their first treatments... I did their hips
Buster is still asleep at 11AM... Rex has been awake since 5:30 this morning... but when I brought him into the kitchen for breakfast he immediately fell asleep.. He seems sore... He is still having trouble with his back legs and doesn't seem to have any sensation with them - before he was kicking... so not sure if we're going backwards with that... ... He has a very hard time holding his head up, but his eyes are following.. and he did try and sit up a bunch of times.. unfortunately all he has been able to do is lift his head from the side... the up and down is still having some challenges.. but we've been here before... a few times.. so hopefully we can over come this.. not sure if it's Loop Related or not..
He is still drinking water well and I had him standing over his Physical therapy box and he managed to keep his front arms straight enough for a little support for a period of time so he could drink standing until he dove nose first into his water bowl when his wrists gave out.. it's still early in the day.. I've been known to faceplant in my Capt Crunch (with Crunch berries of course) and he hasn't eaten yet..
One thing I have noticed with Rex is that his neck is no longer skin and bones.. there is some fluid in there..not super strong muscle.. but some thickness to his neck... which he didn't have before...
The Loop does some things similar to Hyperbaric oxygen Therapy (HBOT) and Rex is usually exhausted on his 2nd, 3rd, 4th days of HBOT (we go for 5 days in a row). I have mostly attributed that to the 3 hour drive to get there, the added activity of going to the hospital every day, and staying in a hotel, as well as going to see his physical therapists one or two times while we're up there, vs. me doing it at home with him... just a lot more activity.. but maybe it's more... so I'm kind of curious to see if it's just the treatments that are pooping him out and if he'll regain strength in a few days like he does when we go for HBOT.. sometimes he has to be home for a few days to rest up and settle in - HBOT has residual effects that will last a few weeks after a series of treatments.. I'm going to go on a limb and make the assumption that the Loop will too - it's a cumulative thing... .. so what I'm hoping to see is that his body gets accustomed to the treatments and adjusts to them and continues to get stronger...
When I've had electric acupuncture.. even though I'm not doing sit ups (if administered in my stomach) I will feel like I've been doing sit ups all day... I'm wondering if that is the same feeling he has.. that can poop one out who hasn't had much muscle tone to begin with... anyway- these are things I'm paying attention to... and will keep you posted...
HAIR ALERT - to me it looks like he's still sprouting more hair... in his shaved patches.. but the pictures look too similar.. so I'm going to post these once a week (it is like watching paint dry isn't it?) (see updates to the Hair Alert post
AFTERNOON UPDATE:
After a little bit of a rough start to the day, things are picking up with the beasts..
Buster Update... He spent most of the day sleeping but it's also in the mid 90s and extremely high humidity... who wouldn't want to be in the AC sleeping today? He got up... walked right over his brother a few times.. I think I"m beginning to see why Rex can't walk... went out a few times. He has NOT fallen today... He is clearly feeling better than he has been.. He decided to navigate the front steps on his own again and hopped up them... and then he took a flying leap to jump OVER the threshold at the back door.. luckly he landed on the welcome mat or he'd be spread eagle on the deck... He did NOT take his turmeric today.. he's apparently having a case of pill fatigue..and ate around them.. so we'll see how that is working out for him later today
Rex update.. Rex was also not enjoying the heat and is now laying on his cooling bed. He didn't look or feel dehydrated to me.. but really wasn't doing much this morning and could barely lift his head. I decided a Vitamin B12 injection might help and figured some Sub Q fluids wouldn't hurt either being that it was so hot.. Sometimes when he's this lethargic, even if the skin pull test doesn't seem to look like he's dehydrated and his mouth isn't tacky.. he still seems to do much better with fluids... and 1/2 hour after the B12 and fluids.. he perked up and decided he wanted to eat, wanted to be taken outside, wanted to practice putting pressure on his legs, even in the 90+ humid weather... and he wanted to lay on my tummy and practice holding his head up and turning it to watch everything go on while I scratched his chin.. apparently some days his exercise ball and his exercise block don't quite cut it for him... hey what ever it takes to strengthen that neck..
I just called over to Assisi Pet Health to double check and make sure that the Loop wouldn't have much of an affect on the microchips these guys have (apparently it may weaken the signal of the loop just a little bit but nothing major) and Rex has a B.B. that some not so nice, trespassing, non-gentleman like hunter shot into his nether regions while I was yelling at him to get off my property. I wanted to make sure that it wouldn't affect the BB either and heat it up... We are good to go on both accounts. Neither will affect the Loop or the treatment.
I also asked if I could use 2 loops at once and was told that I could as long as they were at least 7 inches from each other... which is great news too for Rex!
So far so good!!
