We had a follow-up appointment with Juli, the canine physical therapist at Animal Care Center in Rohnert Park on Thursday the 11th. Juli was checking out Cassi, determining what progress she had made in the two weeks since our last visit and, I guess, she thought Cassi was making excellent strides (so to speak). After about 5 minutes of checking Cassi out, Juli says "so these are my thoughts for her...and I always wait a while before I make this recommendation, but I am going to recommend, and don't be alarmed when I say this, but I'm going to recommend you consider getting a cart for her..."
She continued..."not as a permanent solution but as a rehab tool for her...". OK, I must admit, at first this took me by surprise...because Cassi was (is) virtually walking...she beats her brother running down the path outside in our backyard...she is fast! The exercises seem to be doing her a lot of good and I do see improvement daily...so why go to further expense? Took me only a moment, but then I though about it further...see, as strong as her legs are getting, she does still have a curvature to her spine, or scoliosis. The muscles on the surgery side (left) have atrophied so she favors the right side, mostly when she's tired. On the visit with Juli prior to this, Juli ended the session by saying that "Cassi might be ready for the underwater treadmill next time...". She mentioned that we could do a regimen of 8-10 weeks of the UTM, which would only be once a week, or we could achieve similar results with a cart as a DAILY physical therapy tool. To me this was a no brainer, especially adding up the cost of the 8-10 weeks of sessions and comparing it to the $375.00 cost of the cart...
To the left you see the style cart we have ordered. Juli recommended a company called EDDIE'S WHEELS because she believes they make the best, custom fit carts. You can find lots of other companies, but their carts are adjustible and don't appear to be as stable as Eddie's. I asked fellow blogger, Nicole, at http://www.alec-story.blogspot.com/ if she would second this recommendation, even though she had had problems with Eddie's customer service (which you would know if you have read her heart-wrenching story of love and devotion to her best friend, Alec...(if not, click the link above and read it!)) and Nicole agreed...Eddie's is best. Fortunately, Cassi's needs a "standard" cart...because these things can get expensive! You should checkout the Eddie's Wheels site by clicking the link above and see all the great stuff the do for our best friends! They even have a Facebook page that shows current "patients" posting their "firsts", which I am sure I will be doing with Cassi's. We have to wait 3 weeks (from 2/16) before the cart arrives. Then I have to wait for an appointment for "fitting" with Juli and the very nice, LOCAL rep from Eddie's, Amanda Jacobs...testing my patience AGAIN, waiting to get Cassi moving! In the meantime, it's sticking with the daily exercise routine that's made her stronger to this point and will be key until the cart arrives...and after.
Cassi chillin' in the backyard...
Orion doing the same...after it finally stopped raining!
They are soooo cute guys
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Thanks kids! We love our babies!
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