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To those who did not know…and to those who care...


(12-27-06)
Preston, our 3 year old little white dog we adopted in February of '06, has had quite a December. A few days after Thanksgiving, Preston started stumbling and acting "drunk" as he walked around the house. We decided to watch him for a few days and see how he progressed. Those few days went by with not much improvement so we took him to our vet. The first diagnosis was a ruptured disc in his lower back. Through x-rays our vet noticed a slight narrowing of the spine which is normal with a ruptured disc. This is usually treated with steroids (prednisone), rest, and possibly surgery. We took him home that day and saw great improvement by the end of the night.



Preston responded great to the steroid treatment for the first week. As we stared the recommended reduction of dosage he began showing signs of "drunkenness" again however this time his front left leg was getting worse. He got to the point where he could not walk a few steps with out doing a face plant. We took him back to our vet for a checkup. He took more x-rays and suggested something may be wrong with his wrist and should probably see an orthopedic specialist.



We were referred to the Dallas Veterinary Surgical Center, a first class facility that only sees patients referred by the animal's normal vet. The center is located at the Tollway and Trinity Mills, about 10 minutes from our house, in a nice 3 story building built specifically for the sugary center. In other words it's not your everyday strip center vet hospital. We had taken off the Thursday and Friday before Christmas so we woke up early on the 21st and had Preston at the center at 8:00am. We met with a doctor who immediately ruled out a problem with his wrist and suggested a ruptured disk in his neck area. Preston showed all the signs of this injury and was admitted for a few tests to confirm. Surgery to repair the ruptured disk was supposed to be done before the end of the day.



Amanda and I went home to begin our remodel of the home office to try to get our minds off the stress of having the little guy in surgery. At this time we also realized what we really needed for Christmas and let everyone know, if you still have not finished shopping for us you can donate to the "get well soon" fund for Preston instead of the obligatory gift card barrage. Surgery on a dog is not cheap, and this is what we really needed for Christmas! We received a call around 3 that afternoon to let us know the results of the tests. The doctor did not see a ruptured disk or an injury to his leg or wrist in the x-rays or the CT scan. The doctors preformed a spinal tap to analyze spinal fluids to rule out a neurological problem. The samples needed to be analyzed by another set of vets so we would get the results the next morning.



On Friday the 22nd around 11am we received a call from the center to let us know the results. The doctor diagnosed Preston with an inflammatory form of meningitis (GME). This was confirmed from the spinal tap fluid analysis and has to do with cell counts not being normal. It is not a viral or bacterial form so it is not contagious like some human forms. The origin of the dieses is a mystery and not much is known about how an animal contracts it. The effects are inflammation around the spinal cord near the neck and brain. This causes pain in the neck and decreased mobility. This explained the lameness in the front leg and the pain he would experience when you touched his neck, or stood above him which made him look up. Treatment includes a heavy does of steroids (prednisone) to be tapered down as he shows improvement, as well as a series of injections to boost the immune system and try to stop the body from fighting itself. He was also prescribed decreased activity and rest; those of you who know Preston know this obviously will not be a problem.



The overall prognosis at this time is good. It was the best decision to leave him there over the holiday because we were doing our annual "Around the Metroplex 10 times in 48 hours" whirlwind tour. This allowed him to have 24 hr. care and rest without us coming and going all weekend long. He came home yesterday (Tuesday 26th) after a 5 day stay at the hospital. We have him on a heavy dose of steroids for one month and then will start to taper off the dosage and watch for signs of a relapse. He will be due for another spinal tap in a few months to analyze the cell counts and decide if he needs to stay on medication.



He has responded well to the prednisone and injections. He came home to an overly excited Oscar and has most of his normal self back. He can now walk and get up and down from the couch on his own without too much trouble. His front legs seam to be working just fine. This is an extreme improvement from the Dec. 21st when he could not stand without falling on his face.

Right, removing the battery. This is… fun. As mentioned before the cable from the battery to the connector runs underneath the bottom right corner of the circuit board. So, you need to remove two screws to lift the bottom edge of the circuit board as you pull the wire out.

The screws are very small and not of a standard flat or Philips head but a small knife blade was good enough to unscrew them.

So, with bottom edge of the circuit board unscrewed and the battery prised out enough to break the glue seal you can unplug the cable (noting which order the colours are in, as this will be the same on your new battery). Then lift the circuit board from the middle (the foam hard disc clip is a reasonable handle for this) and free the cable. The battery should now just lift out.