[Dailydrool] Frank the Tank

[Nancy]

I've posted about Frank a lot this past weekend on Facebook, so this is for you all who "don't do Facebook" (not a criticism, it can get weird.) Friday late afternoon, all of a sudden, Frank couldn't/wouldn't get up and obviously was in a lot of pain. We zoomed to the vet, they examined thoroughly and xrayed, and sent us home two hours later with "we're not sure, but for most problems that manifest this way, the first-stage treatment protocol is the same: TOTAL rest, pain-relief, and muscle-relaxers". We were mostly panicked, until we talked very early Saturday morning with Frank's breeder, who is methodical, calm, has lots of common sense, and has seen it all before -- everything anyone could ask for in a relationship with a basset breeder. Mostly she said it takes time, so calm down and do what the vet says and give it some time.

Right now, it's about 48 hours later (seems much longer than that!). In those 48 hours, I got 2 hours sleep on Friday night, on the floor, and 7 hours on Saturday night, also on the floor, but 7 hours is a lot more than 2! In those 48 hours, Frank couldn't move on Friday night, peed around noon on Saturday, and could actually stand up long enough to pee and poop this afternoon. In those 48 hours, we went from hand-wringing to being organized: when Frank needs to go out, we drag his bed to the front door, out onto the porch, and into the garden wagon to tow him to a shady spot where he can enjoy the change of scenery and relieve himself. We have an x-pen set up in the living room so he can see what's going on, but can't get up and go anywhere. We are feeding him chicken and rice, which he loves! We found a ramp on craigslist for when he's mobile again so he won't have any steps to go down (and I totally agree with a current Drool thread about keeping your houndie off the furniture. We have no idea how Frank hurt himself, but it certainly could have been by jumping off the couch or our bed.)

We're optimistic about his recovery, and we know he's not out of the woods. Note to Onslow's mommy: the vet said Frank's mystery salivating and pacing episodes in the past several months could well have been caused by pain twinges in his back from time to time.

Their diagnosis at this point is radiculitis, which means a herniated disc inflaming nerves. Frank walks like a drunken sailor, which we only allow him to do if he needs to pee or poop. The rest and the meds are making a difference, and we hope each day will bring the progress of the last two days.

Nancy, owned by Frank the Tank, and Tina-Weena, nurse-dog extraordinaire