Max Trying to Stand Up

They say a picture is worth a 1000 words... well.. how about a video! Or a few videos


Max standing in his cart working on lifting his head 10/9/2012

Max sitting in bed demonstrating how he can now turn his head 10/9/2012

Max working on pushing himself up to a standing position  10/16/2012

If you think that last video was something - check this one out!

It's Monday. Some Improvement!

It's Monday. June 11, 2012.  Max had a weekend full of ups and downs. Fri he showed some improvement with his reflexes and was able to swallow for the first time since his big seizure and going into a coma (induced to stop the seizure).  Saturday was not such a good day.  Max was flat and dull, and didn't reflex respond to much at all. He wasn't swallowing either.  When we went back to visit at night I noticed he had a blood shot eye.

Sunday though was a good day! I spent about 5 hours with him massaging his ears just like a few people had told me to do, from the base of the ear to the tip. Apparently this is like reflexology or similar to hitting all the important points in acupuncture / acupressure to help stimulate the body.  I don't know, but by the time I left last night, his pupil (we could only see one because of the scarring on Max's other eye from when I accidentally dropped him the night before his cyber knife) had gone back to normal size and was responsive to light.  I thought I could see him following people in the Emergency Room but wasn't sure.  He kicked the tech before the tech touched him, he bit me and the tech when we were messing with his mouth. He yawned a few times and pulled his tongue back in and repositioned it where it was supposed to be. He sneezed, he coughed. He looked like he might be able to hold his head up a little when they were coupaging him but it did fall down.  His muscles can shake him head as a reflex but he doesn't quite have the control to hold it up on command like he used to.  He also was swallowing quite a bit.  While I was massaging his ears he also started to pant and opened his mouth and panted that way. When I stopped rubbing he closed his mouth and stopped panting. Still a reflex to regulate his body temp, but something new.   Maybe there is something to that ear rubbing???

They also had reduced his keppra to 100mg 1x day, and reduced a number of his other drugs on Saturday so maybe his body was just adjusting.

This morning's call with his neurologist was encouraging and he said his reflexes were crisp and more consistent. Mentioned his eyes and that when he touched Max he seemed to respond appropriately. He said he thought we had a little improvement! Improvement is good! Of course we still don't know where we will be with regards to brain function until he totally recovers..  He also mentioned we're going to have up and down days, recovery ebbs and flows, so we have to look at it as a big picture vs day by day.  He also mentioned that there isn't a lot of information out there about how dogs recover from coma's, so hopefully what we're doing will help others in similar situations, just like all of my blogging about what Max went through with the brain tumors and the cyber knife.

Today Max is getting a feeding tube put in.  The goal behind doing this is two fold. 1) To give Max more time to recover and 2) Let Max go home to recover at home.  They should be putting it in early afternoon. Then they're not going to use it for 24 hours and then tomorrow they will start with water and see how he absorbs that, and then start on some gruel and see how that goes.

The positive:  He will no longer need his urine bag (which could be a negative from a clean up perspective!) His tummy will hopefully start working, he'll get more nutrients and hopefully be able to get stronger

The negative:  He's going to be pooping now and he can't get up to go out yet!  Good thing we have a big box of pee pee pads from Daisy still!

I was told that I'm going to need to build Max a ramp to sleep on about 6 inches high on one end. Put a yoga mat over it for traction and then his bedding... However, while walking the dogs this morning we saw a bean bag toss toy out in someone's front yard that looks exactly like what we need to build.  Luckly the Local ACE hardware store carries them... might be a very easy solution!  Max also will need small t-shirts to cover his feeding tube and keep it clean, so I've got to go get him a little wardrobe!  (100% cotton - he broke out when he was modeling for Christian Dior at Sax 5th avenue that one time!  Yes Max has been a runway model in his earlier years.. not much he hasn't done!)

Please keep those good positive thoughts coming Max's way for a good strong recovery!  He's making baby steps but he's definitely improving!  I'd love to see him running again!  I keep remembers that he was in a similar position last Sept and he came out of it running and jumping and chasing puppies!  He is a super dog!!!  He deserves a shot at showing the world what he can do!

10-13-11 Seems to be Totally back to normal!

Today is Thursday 10-13-11, not even 2 full weeks after Max finished his cyberknife treatments and he appears to be totally back to normal! I woke up this morning to Max in his dog bed next to me watching me sleep like he used to!

He spent the entire night there!  Since we've been home he's been sleeping out in the hall by himself, which is totally not like him. He has always been the dog who would never let me out of his sight!

He did get up 3 times last night to go out, but made sure he woke me up to let him out each time. Both eyes are very clear! He even jumped over his brother Buster who was snoring in the middle of the floor to get out of the bedroom!

This morning he actually ate some dog food (not that we normally feed him dog food, but it makes it a whole lot easier to get his pills down with mushy dog food.  He actually was excited about it! 

 Once I slipped his milkthistle and astragalus capsules in his dog food he became a little more leary of it... He ate one capsule but not the other and I can't tell which so I'll have to try again. I definitely am beginning to think his lack of appetite may have been him not wanting to feel drunk with the anti-seizure medication.

After he finished his breakfast he went and did his rounds trying to steal everyone else's food. I did catch him chowing on Rex's raw food.. not so sure I want Max eating raw yet.. maybe when he's completely off the prednisone and his immunity is

back to normal, but it's good to see he's interested in it again!

Last night he even snuggled up with Buttercup (his sister) and lay down with his head on my foot, he's interacting more and more with everyone!

When he went potty after breakfast he decided he was going to be super man and ran and skipped a step coming back up into the house... He's definitely MUCH more stable on his feet. I don't see any unsteadiness or wobbling any more! No twitching, no head tilting, no leaning, no circling and his eyes are both blinking at the same time!  I LOVE IT!  I'm very hopeful he keeps improving from here!