This sweet boy has lost so much….first he lost the use of his legs, then he lost his Mom, and now, after being paralyzed from IVDD in his back legs, he has suffered another round of IVDD, this time in his neck.
Not even two months ago, Winston came to DRSF as a surrender having suffered IVDD in his back legs. Our community was there for him once to provide all the care and diagnostics he needed and our hearts broke when we learned he was not a candidate for surgery.
He has been such a good boy in his foster home and LOVES his Eddie’s Wheels that help him to get around even faster than he can on his two front legs.
We were hard at work in finding this sweetheart with the biggest brown eyes to find his new forever home when Winston’s Foster Mom reached out to our medical team to say that Winston appeared to be painful in his neck and after he started getting worse vs. better, we knew, with some fear in our hearts, that he needed to get to SEVN.
After a drive from FTL to Miami in evening traffic, Winston was seen by Dr. Kornberg who confirmed, that yes, it was IVDD, in his neck this time and we were faced with a question we have never come up against before…..“What the heck do you do for a dog who is already paraylized from IVDD In their back legs when they get IVDD In their neck???”
Is surgery even an option?
President Pam consulted with Dr. Wong who shared that yes indeed, surgery was not only an option, but SEVN has done neck IVDD surgeries in dogs who were already paralyzed.
We were hopeful for a moment that maybe we could medically manage through without surgery, but Winston’s neck continued to spasm even on meds and so, we had no choice but to go to surgery.
We gave the OK, and Winston has gone to MRI and then right to surgery with Dr. Kornberg and we are back on the hook for another IVDD surgery – our 2nd in less than 30 days.
For as many time as we have done this, we still hold our breath each time we ask and we can only continue to provide this kind of care that YOU make possible. You have already been there for Winston once, do you have it in you to help us be the safety net for him as he faces another battle with IVDD?
