Happy 5th Birthday Tonka Dog

AP here:
Since Tonka came from a shelter we don't exactly have an actual birth date for him so the vet techs at GAVH gave him December 7th. That is also Pearl harbor Day so it does make it easy to remember. This year his birthday happened to fall on a an underwater treadmill therapy day which meant getting into "water" one of Tonka's last favorite things. It actually meant the "w" word twice because once we are home from treadmill he then gets an actual bath. I felt bad that he was going to have to get wet twice on his birthday but the treadmill is helping him so I did not want to cancel.
What I didn't know is that it was also going to be raining for his birthday so he was going to have a very wet day.

We started the day with a walk in the rain and it was not coming down too hard when we first went out. We made it all the way to the park and the sky opened up and we had to take shelter under the jungle gym.

Hate the Rain

Can I Come Out Yet

Later in the day we went to the Canine Fitness Center and he walked on the Underwater Treadmill. Diana and Chris gave him some extra birthday attention which made him happy. He has been doing really well on the treadmill and is up to (2) five minute sessions with a 2 minute rest in between.

Once we were home the boy had a bath and relaxed while I blew him dry. Of course Tonka is always relaxed and can fall asleep during anything.

After he was all dry he got brushed..

Sweet Boy

Then his girlfriend Nala showed up to hang out with him.

Nala

I think all in all he had a pretty good day!

Underwater Treadmill and Muscle Memory

AP here:
Seems that every Friday night about 5 hours after his underwater treadmill therapy Tonka wants to try and go for a walk. As this is becoming a pattern we are upping his treadmill workouts to twice a week to see what transpires. He sees Chris and Diana on Tuesdays for manual and laser therapy and then Diana works with him in the treadmill usually only on Fridays. The addition of Wednesdays will work as long as he does not getting too fatigued.

This week was our first double session week and he did great. We went on Wednesday afternoon and Chris came by to watch him in the treadmill and analyze his gait in the water. She was pleased with how he was doing and pointed out that each leg is a separate issue and is moving differently. Once I got him home, blew him dry and combed him out he slept most of the afternoon. He didn't try to walk that night but did get himself into a sitting position twice but just could not get his feet right under him. He also slept through the night which he hadn't done in months and  sometime in the night he had rolled himself to his other side .

Thursday he rolled himself over several times during the day and attempted to get up for breakfast and for dinner but again just could not get the feet right to push. Friday though was a different story....
I have set the cameras up to record during the day because he has been wandering out of range of the camera that is setup where his cage used to be. One minute he is there sleeping and the next I cant find him till I switch to a different camera. He could be just scooting along but he could be also getting up and attempting to walk...

This was Friday around 1:30pm and yes he is trying to walk....

After the big attempt to get up and go to the other room I arrived home to take him to his treadmill appointment.

Canine Fitness Center

UGH Water

Keeping his head up

Rest Time

It seems that walking on the treadmill is helping him to:
A. Get Stronger
B. Invoking some muscle memory of what his legs should be doing


Three weeks ago it was thought that he would
never walk again but we are on a mission to
prove that statement completely wrong.

He is getting much stronger and wants to try and pull away from me and walk every time I stand him up. Today his feet were moving as they carried him to get rinsed off after the treadmill and he tried to walk away when he was being toweled off.
Diana and I keep saying we expect him to just get up one day and start trucking on his own - he defiantly has the will to do it.

Days go By (Some Good, Some Bad)

AP here:
So this month is actually the one year mark for the start of Tonka's journey down this strange road of neurological weirdness. We have gone from a limp on the left leg, to no use then to full use only to have the right leg fail and not recover. The month of September was the worst of the year with both legs deciding not to work at the same time. With no mobility at all the only option was a harness to carry him around in. We have gone from dribbling when standing to now full on incontinence. Tonka no longer has control of either bladder or bowel functions and has to be expressed every 4 to 6 hours to prevent urinary tract infections or kidney problems.

The year has been full of ups and downs and constant rearrangement of schedules and routines.  Different Doctors and various medications all of which have left us with no answers and in the case of some medications have made him worse while on them. The things that consistently help him are therapy, both manual and aquatic and his connection to people.

It is easy to lose sight of the goal when the daily tasks of his care become somewhat overwhelming. I will admit that we have had some bad days. Tonka and I are very fortunate to have a great group of people that surround and support us. We have had some progress in the past 2 weeks, its all baby steps but we will take baby steps and be happy.

Tonight we had a session on the underwater treadmill at the Canine Fitness Center in Crownsville and although our afternoon started off rocky with Tonka tipping himself over in his wheels it ended in success. *** no harm came to the Tonk everyone checked him out to make sure he was OK.

Sylvia Comes to Visit

My friend and fellow rescue Sylvia went swimming today at the canine fitness center. AP and CM took me there once but I didn't like it much see http://tinyurl.com/4ys38mh
Sylvia is still working on getting her hip back in shape after her FHO surgery http://tinyurl.com/3vfu3zf
and swimming is good therapy. Since the fitness center is pretty close to my house her and her human Trish stopped by to say hi. I have been sort of groggy after my anesthesia on Tuesday but I perked up for my guests and strolled the yard with Sylvie. AP said Sylvia is looking really good and the hair has almost grown completely back on her hip and leg.
I really like Sylvia she is so sweet.

Trish will be updating everyone soon with a new blog post and AP wanted to put up some pictures so everyone can see how well she is doing. Isn't she a cutie?