Lol borscht is basically beet soup. I'm not a huge fan of it but I will eat it anyway.

I will give Layla a big kiss when she wakes up!

I posted this to YT and I'll post it here too...

After all we've done, after all the money we've spent, after all the therapies and rules we've been following exactly... today had to happen. We went to pick her up from rehab and usually the vet brings her up, but today she was busy and in a hurry to leave, so I left the papers for her at the front desk and they paged a vet tech to bring Layla for us. Usually that's fine and there's no issues, she gets carried up to us and we take her home. Today, we waited a long time. We were the only people in the waiting room, and then two girls were bringing a dog out. They were walking really slowly. Scott peeked around the corner when he heard "Come on! Come on!" in a baby voice and he immediately rushed over and I followed. There's Layla, trying to drag herself across a slippery tile floor, with a leash looped around her little neck. We were both in shock and he scooped her up while they were telling us how cute she is! We just threw the leash off her neck and put her in her carrier and left. I cried all the way home. Do they realize she CAN'T WALK? She just had SPINAL SURGERY! She is absolutely not supposed to be dragging herself right now. We have no idea how far or how long she was dragging. I am just so crushed, that goes against everything we're trying to follow for her.

They should know better!!!! :mad:

OMG Lindsey, I can't imagine what a shock that was, I would have been livid. You are going to talk with the Dr about this and find what is going to be done about it.
You have worked so hard to get Layla to where she is, I pray that they didn't cause any harm to her. Please talk to the vet and get to the bottom of this, you have been through so much. I don't post much but i love reading your updates on Layla and i pray for all of you.

I don't even know what to say! I am so sorry this happened and that Layla was treated that way.

Please post as soon as you speak to the vet, and know that you are getting enough prayers from us here to bring her through, no matter what!

Give Layla a kiss and hug from me, and tell her how much I love her!

Scott is calling the vet this morning. He said last night he heard the receptionist call twice for someone, and the last time he heard her say "Isn't there ANYONE around that could bring her up?" and it sounded like the girl on the other end just said she would do it. So I don't think she was an animal attendant.

Scott left a message for the vet to call him back. Today is one of my bad days and I just feel like crying. I forgot Layla's pee pads at home and Scott wouldn't turn around to get them when we were only 10 seconds away, so I will have to either try to express her outside and not know if I'm getting any out, or express her on a pile of paper towel in the bathroom...

The vet finally called back. She feels terrible about what happened and apologized a lot. She is going to find out who brought her up, and make sure it doesn't happen again. She is letting everyone know about it and putting measures in place to make sure nobody brings animals up when they don't know their background or how to properly handle them. Too bad we can't go back in time before it happened to Layla.

This morning we drove up to drop off Layla just as her vet was getting to the building and offered to take her in for us. She said she is so sorry again, and she talked to everyone and found out it was two volunteer high school students who brought her up. Layla never should have been under their care and it never should have happened. She is making sure it will never happen to another dog again, and the issue is being sent to their nursing department to have it dealt with.

But why did it have to happen to OUR dog? We just can't catch a break. Layla hasn't wagged her tail any more since the incident. We have spent thousands of dollars on her care and are doing everything we can for her. I am having a really bad day and I just want to cry.

Lindsey, I'm just now catching up on the posts. I was so excited to hear how well Layla was doing and am so sorry about what happened at the vet's office. Hopefully it won't set her back and she'll continue to improve. Don't be upset......Layla has improved so much in the last few days. What a miracle she truly is!!!.....and many people are praying for her!!!

I posted on YT but I don't think I posted this here....

On Friday night, we got to the cabin, and my mom was fussing over Layla in her crate while we were unloading the car. When I finally got a chance to pet Layla, SHE WAGGED HER TAIL AGAIN!!!! I was so happy. All four of us gathered around to see it. There wasn't time to get a camera because we were disorganized from just arriving! But we all saw it and it lasted about 10 seconds. It was a slow wag, but still faster than any she's had lately!

The rest of that night and the next day, we were armed with a camera. We got nothing :(

On Sunday morning, Scott got up around 6:30 to express Layla's bladder and came back to bed. Between that time and around 9:00, I kept waking up and looking at her in her crate beside our bed, and she would always be looking at me. Finally I decided to get up, and she got this eager look in her eyes and she was jumping from foot to foot in her front legs, like she always has when she's excited. I got down to pet her and there it was! Her tail was going again! I fumbled around for my cell phone (no contacts in my eyes lol) and found the camcorder function finally, but by then, she was just finishing her wag for the day. So I didn't get it on video again! But it was there and I saw it. It feels like she was just sitting there WAITING for me to get out of bed so she could show me it!

Oh Lindsey, this is so encouraging!! Maybe you can just document when it wags and for how long:confused:

I have said since the start I was going to keep a journal of her recovery but haven't gotten around to that yet :rolleyes: I have pretty good records of it on here and YT though!

Layla had a fantastic day! She was the strongest the vet has ever seen her on the exercise ball and she got a lot of good movement. She walked on the underwater treadmill for 8 minutes, a new record! And she also did some sling walking, and finished with some acupuncture. She was really motivated and energetic today.

Yesterday she didn't pee for 10 hours! I kept trying to express and couldn't get anything and it was so frustrated. When I took her to the vet for laser, I asked the tech to try expressing her. After the 5 minute laser session, she tried and couldn't get her expressed either. So she called the vet in, and she tried for a few minutes and said she couldn't feel the bladder at all, so maybe she just hadn't drank much. That extra 10 minutes of time pushed our therapy session from the regular $22 to $53! I was shocked. I won't ask them for help again if they're going to charge me like that for it, when they didn't even accomplish anything anyway! I successfully expressed her a couple of hours later.

We're getting back to our normal life now. She is still in her crate most of the time, but the last couple of nights I've let her lay on the couch with me and suck on a pillow (her favorite pasttime!) and last night we even napped together. My heart isn't broken anymore. I am finding it hard to work today so I've spent most of my time researching carts for her. I think we will order one next month.

I am so glad you are not heartbroken anymore Linds. Layla is such a wonderful dog, and you and Scott have taken such good care of her. You all have each other! As long as she is happy, what else matters?

What does it mean that she can walk on the treadmill underwater?

Judy, when Layla walks underwater, she is doing what is called spinal walking. This movement isn't controlled by the brain, but the muscles in charge of reflex remembering that when the front legs move in a walking motion, they used to move in a walking motion too, so it's a jerky kind of motion based on muscle memory. It's basically reflexive walking. She doesn't have the strength yet to hold her weight long while moving on ground, but the water is great because she stays afloat with her life jacket and they can work on just the movements of her legs instead of also holding her weight. I'm sure that eventually she can do it out of water too :)

Here is a video of another dog named Cricket, who is a yorkie cross owned by a lady I met on another forum for handicapped pets. She was told Cricket would never walk again, but he now spinal walks, and does very well at it!

That's amazing! I hope Layla does get her full responses back, but if not, and she can do this spinal walking, she will be just fine! She can still run around and play.
I would imagine you would still have to express her urine, but that's not the end of the world either.

I hope Layla is back to herself soon but, you know, this dog in the video looks very happy and playful.....and definitely not in pain. Not exactly what you want but definitely something that you could live with!!

Layla is happy and not in pain, so we are glad about that! On Monday, she was put on the underwater treadmill, and started walking on all 4 legs with no help! It was the best day she's had yet! Usually she has her feet placed for her for about 3 minutes before she takes over. This time she started and walked for 7 minutes!

Today while she's at the hospital getting rehab, she will also have a couple of lumps aspirated. Please say an extra little prayer for her today. I hope the lumps are nothing but we want to make sure anyway! The rehab vet actually brought it up and thought it was something we should do.

Before we pick her up today we will stop at Petsmart and buy a little plastic pool for her. She likes being able to walk around on her own and the water gives her that freedom, so the vet thought it would be great to have at home :)

I will say an extra prayer for Layla today. I hope the lumps are nothing. Are they going to test them? Did they say what they "think" it could be?
I'm so very happy that Layla is able to walk on her own even if it is for a few minutes. She sure is an inspiration to us all! I hope she enjoys her pool Lynsey! You will have to post pix of her in it.:)

I will for sure! Maybe I can even get some video :)

They haven't said anything about the lumps, just that they would like to aspirate and test them. I did bring them up to our vet in our town and she said they're probably just cysts that all dogs get. I'm glad the other vet thought we should look at them more closely though. The one on her neck has gotten quite big.

I will pray for her. Did you get the results of your tests back yet?

Sorry I haven't post much here Lindsey. I have kept up reading about Layla's progress and continue to keep her in my prayers. I'm just not always sure what to say that could be very comforting. I am thrilled with the news that she started walking on her own on the underwater treadmill...that's great news. Hopefully soon...she'll be back to her normal self....we pray so anyway.

It sounds like Layla's doing very well. I would think that exercising in the water at home would be very helpful. I hope the cysts end up being nothing to worry about.

Judy, I haven't gotten my test result back yet. I guess that means that it was nothing to worry about and my doctor will probably just talk to me about it at my next appointment in September.

Layla is doing so well now. Yesterday she didn't need help walking again. Her vet brought her out for us and told us that she has been just so motivated lately. She took video of her on the treadmill and on the exercise ball... she said Layla is the only dog she's had who has so much movement in her hip flexors on the exercise ball so that's really exciting! So her vet is getting video of that to document it.

I asked if we could see a video of her walking, since we don't see that at home and it's kind of not real to us yet. I know she's doing it every day, but I don't know what it looks like or anything. So she said "Well why don't you just come in for a rehab session with her?" and that's what we're going to do on Tuesday afternoon! I'm so excited to see her moving again!

I just want to share something that I think is so cute. For the past few weeks, when Layla runs out of water in her bowl, she will flip it upside down so we know. If we just glance at her from across the room, we know she needs water if her water bowl is upside-down. It just made me giggle because I was talking with a designer while she was eating her kibble, and when I turned around to check on her before continuing with work, her bowl was upside down and she was sitting there beside it, patiently waiting with a "please, mom?" look in her eyes. I just love her to peices!

Layla sounds like such a sweet and patient little dog!!!

I got some video of Layla in rehab last Tuesday so here they are!

Exercise ball (very slight movements, really easy to feel but hard to see):

Underwater treadmill:

In a cart (too big for her, so the vet has a leash on the back to keep it a little more stable):

Oh Lynsey!!! That is fantastic!! I loved watching her on the underwater treadmill. She was doing just wonderful! That must be you walking beside her while she's in the cart. I notice just every few seconds she is looking up. She looks soooo happy! And I swear in the first video...she looks at the camera and winks!:p You must be so happy with all the progress she is making! I certainly am!!!:)

Lol yeah that's me... everytime I started to fall behind she'd look up at me like "Are you coming, mom?" She is soooo happy and makes me so proud every day. Her vet last week asked if we would mind if she could meet another set of yorkie parents if they're in while she's there, because their yorkie was just in an accident and has no deep pain sensation either. She thinks Layla is such a good role model because she is so happy and doesn't care that she can't walk! She's a good example of a dog who has a happy healthy life without the use of her legs :) I am so happy for her to help out someone else, because we didn't have that when she went down. If we had to go through this for any reason, I'm glad it's helping other people.

I'm so excited for Layla!!! She's doing so well!!!! You can tell in the last video how happy she is to be so mobile!!! How wonderful for all of you!!! Give her an extra kiss and treat from me!!!!

I will Diana :)
I gave her a little haircut last night to blend into her shaved back a little better :) Her legs have short hair now and hopefully it'll be easier for the vet to see them in the water!

She really is the cutest little girl! She looks like she loves the cart. She is doing so well, Linds! I think it is just wonderful that these other dog's owners can get to see how well and happy she is.

What a little love she is! You really are blessed! Her spirit is so inspiring.

Thanks so much for posting the videos. I just love seeing her!!!

My mom's doxy (who just went to the rainbow bridge) had a cart too, for about 3 months before he was able to walk after his back surgery. She looks so happy to be zooming along!

Good for Layla! SO proud :)

Thank you :)

The vet called today to tell me that she does not think that Layla's nerves will regenerate at this point past surgery. I knew that in my heart it might turn out this way but hearing the vet say it was like a kick in the stomach and I am a crying mess right now. It's very hard to hear news like that.

Oh baby, I'm so so sorry! At least Layla isn't in pain, and she's such a happy girl. I know seeing to her every need is hard on you, though. I'm sorry you're hurting:o

Thank you Betsi. You all know how special Layla is to me, and she'll continue to be my special little girl, but it's so hard to know she won't be the same again. We're measuring her for a cart tonight so she can follow us around the house and run around the yard again. I would do absolutely anything for her to recover, to feel when we give her tummy rubs or back scratches, to be able to scratch her own ears, to be able to do her business in private (because she hated doing it in front of anyone!). This is by far the hardest thing I've ever dealt with in my life.

I know it is hard, but I wouldn't give up hope just yet! And I can still see her zooming around in the cart - she will be fine, you will be fine, even if she makes no more progress. I know it is so hard to hear news like this, and I'm so sorry, but I really think things will work out just fine!

Thank you Gayle. She is happy and that's all that matters I guess. She will be happier with a cart too.

Oh Lindsey, Layla just looks so cute in that cart she is just adorable. I love the vids :D

I know you heard bad news but all Layla wants is to be part of your family.

XOXOXO