Hydro-Therapy

Yesterday I went to VOSM and met Janay and Krystal. They helped me into a bathing suit (harness) and stuck me in a big glass box.

Harness

Off We Go

Into the Box

This Floor is Funny

 Then they added water - which was totally not cool but not as freaky as that swimming pool I was in before. I was mad that they tricked me into water so I snubbed them when they tried to make it up to me with treats.

Hey I'm Trapped

Hello - A Little Help Please

Must Find Handle - Water Rising

Then to make it even worse the floor started moving and I had to walk to keep from crashing into the back of the box. They made me walk for 2 whole minutes before they let me stop and rest and they did that 2 more times. AP says it is supposed to help my muscles get strong again. I cheated a little and put my bad foot out on the side of the floor that wasn't moving a few times but I got caught by Janay and she moved me back to the middle.At the end they turned on the jets and it made a little Jacuzzi/Whirlpool and Janay gave me a massage. I liked that part!

Help Me

Walking in the Water

Rest Time

Ahhh!  I Like the Massage Part

Why Yes - I will have a Treat Now

 It felt weird when the water started going away but I was glad it was leaving and decided that perhaps I would have a treat or two.

When it was all over they dried me off with some towels and gave me ear rubs so I guess it wasn't all that bad.

Towel Time

Another Look

 This month I took Tonka to see Dr. Cannap at VOSM. He has seen Tonka once before for his shoulder and I wanted to make sure that his goofy walk was not setting us up for something bad down the road. The good news is his ankle, knees, hips and core are solid (except for the slight hip dysplasia in the one hip). He told me to keep him active anyway I can. He has some muscle atrophy and some slight deficit in the good hind leg so we are going to try the underwater treadmill with him sometime soon. That is if Tonka doesn’t absolutely freak out at the idea of being in water that is not the ocean. I really wanted to get a gait analysis done on their really cool computerized track so we could benchmark and monitor Tonks progress over time. Unfortunately the computer could not understand Tonka’s blind stagger along with his shuffling feet and it didn't work.  He asked me to talk to the neurologist on staff Dr. Gallagher and have him read the MRI and see if he had any ideas. He came back with the same things that Dr. Harris and Dr. McDonnell have already reviewed with us which leaves us no definitive diagnosis. He also concurred with the others that to rule out other possibilities we should MRI his neck and head which we will do at some point but for now he is making great progress.