Zeke becomes a Pincushion
August 11th, 2008
Filed in: Uncategorized
“Wow, Zeke’s like a house of cards these days,” Tom said to me.
No lie. Zeke’s back legs have grown increasingly weak lately, to the point where he’ll tumble if he tries to walk quickly on the hardwood floors. It’s like he can’t get traction with his back legs. And the stairs? Don’t ask. He was diagnosed with hip dysplasia and had a femoral head ostectomy nearly 10 years ago, so he’s always had wonky back legs. We’ve done our best to treat it with supplements and alternative remedies like T-touch. This level of stiffness and attendant “Bambi on ice” syndrome is new, though. And scary.
Rather than pursue a traditional Western medicine approach (hello, steroids), I wanted to see if drug-free therapy might help. That’s why Zeke ended up looking like this last week:
Yes, Zeke had acupuncture and a chiropractic adjustment. (I didn’t tell Tom. Surprise, honey!)
Dr. Lundquist started off by doing a thorough body exam (first thing discovered: Zeke is fat), then she moved on to the the adjustment:
Zeke was a total trooper through the whole thing, until Dr. Lundquist did an adjustment up near his neck. He wasn’t expecting it, and he reacted with a little snarling, “HEY,” but then quickly went back to normal.
The acupuncture didn’t phase him at all - he continued to dash around the room with all of the needles sticking out of him. We were supposed to have “quiet time” for 10 minutes, but Zeke was more interested in looking out the low window and waiting for Dr. Lundquist to come back into the room. (He liked her, despite the neck adjustment aspect.)
We left with the appointment with a jar of fish oil and a list of physical therapy exercises. We’ve done our “homework” every day, but Zeke remains a house of cards. It’s still early in the process, and Zeke is the ultimate badass, so I’m not freaking-out-worried. Yet.
I do hate to see him diminished this way … suddenly, over the course of a month, he’s an old man.
