My little boy pulled through like a trooper! What an exhausting day we have had.
To summarize the day, we got to the hospital at 8:00, they had us in a room by 8:30. Micky has been really wobbly since we got to Marion, and fell about three times before we got him in the building. It's easy to know you're doing the right thing when that happens, I knew he could not go on for much longer down that path.
I expected Mickey to instantly dislike Dr. Durkes like he does with most male vets, but amazingly he was calm and tolerant of his touches. Dr. Durkes felt up and down his neck and spine while feeling the pulse in his own temple. Unfortunately, they don't allow people to view the procedure anymore, Dr. Durkes felt like too many dogs were having to come back for another treatment, I think it interferes with his concentration.
They wheeled a hydrolic table into the room and DH and I lifted Mickey onto it, he was given a sedative and within 10 seconds was already falling to sleep. I begrudgingly let my baby go and turned him over to the very competent hands of Dr. Durkes and his staff.
Western Ave Animal Hospital
Finally at 1:00 we went back to pick Mickey up, literally, we had to pick him up. He decided that he wasn't going to use his legs. In order to get him to the car we had to put him back on the hydrolic table and wheel him out, I had no idea how we were going to get him from the car to the hotel room, but I was prepared to sleep in the car with him until he was ready!
It was quite a shock to see Mickey, he had been shaved from the back of his head to the base of his tail. Micky has spondylitis in addition to wobblers, so Dr. Durkes did the procedures for both conditions. Based on the amount and color of the blood, Dr. Durkes assessed that 60% of the problems Mickey had with movement are due to his back, not the wobblers. According to the doctor, we should expect to see improvement with the back issues in a week, and improvements with the wobblers in about three. :)
I would love to give more information to anyone who wants it, so if there are any questions out there please leave them in the comments section and I will answer as best I can.
A very groggy Mickerson
Implant sites on shoulders - each one of those dots is where the needle was inserted to inject the beads.
Mickey's back - I haven't counted the dots, but I am sure there were literally hundreds of injections.
The neck wrap