MRI and other unpleasant things

Dear Friends,

I'm sore and still dopey from yesterday. I had a long day without any food or drink and was probed, touched, tested and examined pretty much all day. The worst part is that they are still not 100% sure what is wrong with me.

In the morning Dad took me to a neurologist, Dr Sanders in Kirkland. He was very nice and I was very excited to meet him - of course WHEN am I not excited to meet someone. I was wiggly and happy as he examined me and did some initial tests. There were some embarrassing conversations between the doc and Dad, stuff about me having difficulty keeping my balance and posture when going potty. I mean, they don't need to be talking about THAT....sigh.

I was a little alarmed to see my Dad depart and leaving me behind, but I was quickly distracted by cookies. I don't really remember the details of the day, but I had a really long nap, during which I had something called an MRI and also a spinal tap. The good news is that I'm really smart but the bad news is that I have something called the Hansen's Type II intervertebral disk disease on L6-L7 and L7-S1. The MRI showed that at least two of my vertebraes have compression, causing the pain and immobility. The vet said that surgical decompression would be the next logical step. Which means.....surgery....then 3 days at the vet hospital...followed by at least 6 weeks of recovery at home. This means no running around, no walking around, no doing anything really.

Here's a couple of pictures of me all dopey and showing the spot where they did the final tap. I am sore today and I'm going to sleep most of the day, so please no phone calls. Mom said she'll fax these results to Guide Dogs as well, as more and more it's looking like we need to spend close to $6,000 on the surgery (not including the $1,600 we spent today on the MRI and friends). How much is that again in doggy dollars? Oh they will help me, I know they will, but everyone is very stressed. I'll go sniff them.

Much love and whisker tickles, Voyager