A BoBo Update...

What a week! Is it really Friday? This week has been a blur, to say the least. Thought I would give everyone an update on "BoBo the Wonderdog" (as we affectionately call him)...

Tuesday night we had a friend of ours who is a Vet, Paige Wenaas, come over to evaluate Bo. She was not very encouraged - he was not walking or even attempting to walk, not supporting his weight at all, not able to really move himself at all, still in pain despite A LOT of pain meds and almost seemed to be regressing, instead of getting better . She encouraged us to get another opinion by going to see the Vet Neurologist. After a lot of leg work on her part, Paige called us on Wednesday night and said that the Neurologist basically told there was little more that she would be able to tell us without a CT Myelogram (a $2000 diagnostic test, that would only tell us what the problem is, it would be another $2000 should surgery even be possible). So, we had a tough decision to make - do we spend up to $4000 on back surgery for a 9 year old dog that may or may not get better in the end, or end his pain and suffering, since it did not appear he was getting better? Kenny and I spent about three hours on Wed night discussing it. This is probably the hardest thing we have ever faced together during our marriage. We got these dogs a little less than a year into our marriage and they were certainly our first children. Although they nearly drive me to drink most days, the prospect of losing Bo is SO hard to think about. We were really worried about Carson, too. He LOVES these dogs! We sat on the floor and cried and talked about it as we pet him and loved on him...I swear he sat there and listened to it all and understood! I think he thought to himself "Well, it's now or never..." We took him out to potty before bed that night and he stood up (albeit very wobbly) and attempted to walk across the yard. Our neighbors probably think we are INSANE because Kenny and I were out there screaming and cheering him on at the top of our lungs! :)

He has been steadily improving since then. We are trying to back off on the pain meds and he is definitely a little more alert. He is now rolling from side to side on his own, can stand and bear weight with some support in the back and will take 2-3 steps (with support) if the motivation (i.e. hot dogs) is there! He still has very little control or use of his back right leg and Paige said that he might not completely regain that. He will have to learn to live with that and compensate, but he can make it with only three functioning extremities. We are really hopeful that the improvement continues.

We are SO thankful for Paige...she has been amazing! Her son, Sam, and Carson are on the same soccer team and will go to Kinder together in the fall. She certainly has a passion for what she does and we would not have made it through all this without her. She has been an incredible blessing!

I think Bo is going to be completely rotten before this is all over because he whimpers or whines and we jump. He is definitely starting to, in typical Bo fashion, "milk it for all it's worth". That's ok though...he is getting better!

Bo, in his "Bo Mobile", looking a lot more alert. Note the Get Well card (with a "Bo dog" on the front) taped to his kennel. It is from his "cousins", Hunter and Ginger (Aunt Nan and Uncle Slim's dogs). It says "Bo, get to sniffin' rears soon! Love, Your Cousins" - too cute, Nan! :)