The last 72 hours have been rough….We were awakened early Friday morning by Nora screaming in pain. The screams were the same heartbreaking screams she made when she had her phantom limb pains, so we assumed the neuropathic pain had come back after almost 6 months of being pain free. She kept having episodes throughout Friday afternoon – 4 major (lasting more than a minute) and a couple of minor ones that only lasted a few seconds……but something was off. Back when her phantom limb pains were at their worst, she would NEVER have more than 2 episodes in a day – and within minutes of it being over, she was back to her normal happy self as if nothing had happened. Friday, however, she never snapped back to normal. She was hiding, tail tucked and not wanting to be touched. She did perk up for food and for going outside in the yard….
Early evening we couldn’t take it anymore, and rushed her to the ER at Animal Medical Center. She was assessed by their amazing ER staff who couldn’t say for sure if this was phantom limb or if there was cervical involvement. They send us home with Gabapentin and Codein and orders for strict crate rest.
We got home Friday night, but in spite of the pain meds she kept having agonizing moments of pain throughout the night. Saturday morning we made an emergency appointment to see neurology at AMC and brought her back in. The neurologist was able to find the source of her pain. Turns out she has a ruptured disc in her neck that is pressing on nerves and sending shooting pains through her body. She was given new pain meds, and orders to be on strict crate rest for the next month – with us carrying her out to poop and pee. The hope is that with proper rest, her disc will regenerate and we can avoid risky surgery. Being a tripawd in and of itself is a high impact activity…..
Nora is now finally resting comfortably in her crate. As of last night her pain meds finally kicked in and we could all get some much needed rest. We will do our very best to help Nora through this next month. She is going to hate having to be confined and restricted, but it’s worth it to make sure she never has to endure this kind of pain ever again. Lots of love, kisses and organic pumpkin filled Kongs……and her kitty brothers are watching over her as well.