Patience, Matt...Patience...

Patience is not one of my stronger virtues...not at all...I want Cassi to walk NOW!  Poof!  Magically or divinely, I don't care.  I just want things back to normal...NOW!  Sadly, this is not going to happen real soon.  It takes a lot of PATIENCE and hard work to get her back to her pre-injury condition.  She will get there...just not "tomorrow".


We had our second physical therapy appointment at Animal Care Center in Rohnert Park with Juli Dell'Era and, while Juli saw some improvement, we are not moving as rapidly as I would like to believe.  Cassi and I do her exercises 1 to 3 times a day (as much as she can handle) and I, too, noticed improvement in the 2 weeks passed since her last PT appointment.  Juli says the last thing to come back is the proprioception I mentioned in the last entry.  She has conscious proprioception, meaning she is aware of her rear end only when I stimulate the knuckled foot by pinching the pads causing her to return the foot to normal position.  Apparently, the last thing to return is the unconscious proprioception, where she turns her foot back immediately (or shortly after knuckling) on her own...with no stimulation.  This makes total sense.

Although we are seeing Cassi "walking" a bit better each day, she still is favoring the front end.  Her front "arms" are so strong, she holds on like a little monkey when I carry her.  She does, still, have a tendancy to "inch-worm" or arch her back when she shifts to the front and Juli says we need to develop her abdominal muscles.  In addition to the arching, she also curves to the right, favoring those muscles due to the rupture affecting her left side.  Juli has added a few more exercises to help with this.

Since removal of the diapers, Cassi has slipped backwards a bit on the potty training.  She was holding everything in until I took the diaper off in the morning, but now we have had a couple "accidents" in the middle of the night.  Dr. Cheri at PESCM thought the diapers might be contributing to the bladder infections she keeps experiencing.  At least the last two tests (at $152 a pop!) have come back negative, so I think we are past that.  I only revert to the diaper if she doesn't "potty" before bed time.   Then I check it when I get up during the night (many times...for some reason...). 

All in all, progress has slowed a bit.  Yes, we are still seeing something different every day, like her scratching her face with her hind legs or chasing her own tail...things she hasn't done for awhile and we usually take for granted...but she is still walking like a "drunkin' sailor" when she gets lazy.  When she's "alerted", she walks straight and places her feet properly, but when she doesn't pay attention, she "leans" and "knuckles".

I just keep working with her daily...patiently...

Thanks for checking in!