So Emma hurt her back on Monday. I'm not sure when or how, but when I got home from work on Monday, she was having trouble walking. I immediately ran her into the Emergency clinic, where they put her on an IV and kept her for the night, referring her to Dr. Caplan in the morning. (You may remember Dr. Caplan, she also treated Basil)
When Dr. Caplan examined her the following day, the outcome was not good. She took some video of Emma trying to walk and sent them off to a neurologist at Texas A&M for a consult. During the exam, Emma was scheduled for a CT scan and a spinal tap. Since she wasn't in any pain, we just weren't sure what we were dealing with. However, after the neurology consult with the A&M vet, they decided it wasn't brain related either, and since Emma is part schnauzer, many of her symptoms pointed to
FCE, which is basically a spinal stroke. To get a concrete diagnosis a Myelegram was done to make sure there was no pressure on her spine, and nothing else odd going on. Everything came back clear, and she was diagnosed with FCE.
The good news is all the research I have done says that with FCE 90%-95% recovery is usually possible. We got off lucky, while she has one limb not working at all, and one at least showing little movement, she still has feeling in both of those legs. Her right side was minimally affected and is attempting to make up for the affected left side. Emma is able to urinate and defecate on her own, is in a good mood, wants to eat, and in general is still a happy dog, though confused about what is going on with her body.
They are keeping her tonight, and I can pick her up tomorrow. Emma will have acupuncture today, and will have a Physical Therapy consult on Friday. I'll keep you posted!
