What a Difference a Day Makes!

About a week and a half ago and over a period of approximately 48 hours, Nellie lost the use of all four of her legs. We went to the vet in Morgan City, LA and Xrays and blood work showed no problem.


The vet recommended that we go to the vets at LSU for CT scans, MRIs, etc. They said the cost would be several thousand dollars. We cringed.


We decided to drive at breakneck speed and go to our hometown vet at the Hopewell Animal Hospital. Were we snobs to think that a NY vet could fix something that a LA couldn't? You New Yorkers know what I'm talkin' about.


She stayed overnight with the NY vet after being given prednisone. The next morning, she had improved, but not much. We were ready to make a decision to have her put to sleep, so Sky was able to take the train the next day and we all went to visit Nellie. The vet, Jerry Scheck, told us about a tensilon test that would show if she had myesthenia gravits, and he advised us that there were no guarantees that the test would be positive, but he recommended that it might be worth a try. So we decided to try the test.


The miracle vial of tensilon arrived the next day, and I drove to the vet's office. I learned that if the results were positive, within 15 seconds of the injection, Nellie would jump up and walk around like a youthful dog for about 45 seconds, then collapse. Does this sound like science fiction? Well guess what! I wish I had taken a video camera with me. She ran around for about 3 minutes, then she collapsed. The doctor and his expertise had given life back to my dog.


Nellie is home now, and she can walk. She's getting better every day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7YX9kuWrxA

I am unable to add pictures to this post. I don't know why, but here's a youtube video of the tensilon test on another dog.