Kota man and possible neurofibroma?

tashakota

Kota's on Prednisone for 10 days to see if that helps with the inflammation going on. Doc wants me to report back on how he's doing and using the leg, etc.   I really didn't want him on Pred but the doctor thinks it will be beneficial and is necessary to get the inflammation down.

 A short term course of pred shouldn't do any harm, but I agree with Kate that using milk thistle is a good idea.

tashakota

Another round of anesthesia and another large sum of money gone. 

  I know the feeling, spending lots of money on numerous tests. DH and I went through this with Jessie at Purdue when they were trying to diagnose the reason for her chronic cough. It took six visits, she was under anesthesia twice, had many blood tests, and xrays, but we finally learned she had chronic bronchitis. She is on Flovent, 1 puff twice a day, and hardly ever coughs now. I really hope you have a good outcome for Kota, and I will keep both of you in my thoughts; (((hugs))).

 Leslie; How's Kota doing? Is the pred helping him?

 It helped when he was taking two pills a day but back down to one pill and he's limping. Can't wait to see him on one every other day. :(

The doc wants us to try Gabapentin. It's an anti-convulsant and used to help with chronic nerve pain.  I have called him back after thinking it over and have questions, but still waiting for him to call.

I am going to give swim therapy a try with him. There is a place here in town that will eval him and let me know what they think.  I know that the pain meds helped him, so I want to fix him very badly but I'm beginning to think a fix is not possible. I still haven't ruled out acupuncture, oh that reminds me, I need to call the local vet for a checkup about the pheno levels.

I'm still frustrated and the poor guy is limping worse than he ever has. :(  Ok, let me clarify, he's limping worse than he every has *without* having lots of exercise be the reason. He's definitely been worse but that was after exercise. This is normal every day stuff that is making him worse... if that makes sense....

We go to see the acupuncture vet on Friday morning. Not sure if we'll do any acu then or not, but we're moving in that direction.

Sending good thoughts for Kota. I sure hope the acau will help! (Sinbad just started acu and chiro to help deal with some arthritis.) Lots of feel better vibes streaming your way from RI

tashakota

 It helped when he was taking two pills a day but back down to one pill and he's limping.

   I'm sorry that the pred didn't clear up the inflammation.

tashakota

I'm still frustrated and the poor guy is limping worse than he ever has. :(  Ok, let me clarify, he's limping worse than he every has *without* having lots of exercise be the reason. He's definitely been worse but that was after exercise. This is normal every day stuff that is making him worse... if that makes sense....

  Have they ruled out a neurofibroma? If he has one, maybe that's why he's getting worse even though he's not stressing his muscles or joints. Good luck with the acupuncture; sure hope it helps him. ((((hugs))))

jessies_mom

  Have they ruled out a neurofibroma? If he has one, maybe that's why he's getting worse even though he's not stressing his muscles or joints. Good luck with the acupuncture; sure hope it helps him. ((((hugs))))

They haven't but they haven't been able to see one with any tests done. The doc said that the Gabapentin was being used to see if it can reorganize nerves in his CNS in order to overcome the problem.  So basically the Gab will help his body forget about bad wiring of nerves which are sending pain signals and therefore help to overcome this.  Whatever "this" is.

 Kota's limping seems to get worse every day. He did see Dr Demarco today who did some acupuncture on him. He's got 3 more visits scheduled for that over the next 3 weeks, plus some pool therapy work next Friday. 

Callie, I think you would like Dr. Demarco. :)

tashakota

 Kota's limping seems to get worse every day

 I'm so sorry; poor Kota. Did Dr. Demarco have any input as to why he was limping? Fingers and toes crossed that the acupuncture and pool therapy help the little guy.

jessies_mom

tashakota

 Kota's limping seems to get worse every day

 

 I'm so sorry; poor Kota. Did Dr. Demarco have any input as to why he was limping? Fingers and toes crossed that the acupuncture and pool therapy help the little guy.

Oh poor Kota - we are certainly sending our best healing vibes to him and some hugs to you!

Sending our best wishes and positive vibes for success with the new treatments. Lots of hugs, too!

I know this must be so difficult but I'm hoping that either the acupuncture or the meds will help and surgery won't be necessary. Hugs to you and Kota.

jessies_mom

tashakota

 Kota's limping seems to get worse every day

 

 I'm so sorry; poor Kota. Did Dr. Demarco have any input as to why he was limping? Fingers and toes crossed that the acupuncture and pool therapy help the little guy.

She did not. But she was honestly troubled and surprised with how bad his limp was when she saw him walk.

He holds it up most of the time now. He goes down the RV steps on 3 legs. He trots on 3 legs. He walks on 4 but with a severe limp.  He can not lower himself to the ground on that leg, so he always folds that one under first and then he might shift to the other leg when laying down.

It's bad folks and I don't know what to do. My hands are tied until Thursday when I call the Neurologist back and tell him the Gabapentin is not doing squat.  Dr Demarco didn't want to add any pain meds because Dr Skinner wants to find out if the Gabapentin will work and that could take a week or more!  

We have started carrying him in and out of the RV because the steps are pretty steep.  He still tries but I am trying to catch him first and carry. I can only imagine what this is doing to his other leg. :(

tashakota

 Kota's limping seems to get worse every day. He did see Dr Demarco today who did some acupuncture on him. He's got 3 more visits scheduled for that over the next 3 weeks, plus some pool therapy work next Friday. 

Callie, I think you would like Dr. Demarco. :)

Remember -- SOMETIMES acupuncture helps right away.

SOMETIMES it doesn't.  It depends on what it's doing.  The first point of it is to find the "spot" where the injury or problem is and unblock correct nerve flow thru that area.  That's why I always say it excels in HEALING a problem.  But that's a process -- and it may take all the sessions to accomplish it.

SOMETIMES it's simply going to relieve pain -- and that can be a double-edged sword -- by that I mean if there is a real injury or problem, then you don't want Kota overdoing and injuring it WORSTE just because there is an absence of pain.  Does that make sense?

I would hope Dr. Demarco can actually help figure out what's going on ...   I can tell you tho -- I wish I was there.  I always love watching them work on an animal.  Good luck