Cue the sports-training-montage music from the movie Rocky. In recent days, Lilly has shown marked improvement in her strength and body control. We still remind her to be “careful” or to “go slow” on stairs, but as you can see in this new video update, Lilly is getting stronger.
I don’t really know (and haven’t had the time to look up) how the physical therapy needed for the massive neurological deficits caused by Lilly’s adverse rabies vaccine reaction and the resulting meningoencephalomyelitis (inflammation of the brain and lining of the brain and spinal cord) might differ from regular strength and agility training.
BUT, I do know what we did to help Ginko recover from his MANY knee surgeries.
So, that’s sort of what we’ve been doing, except with more stairs. After Ginko had TPLO on each knee, he could NOT run, jump, or do stairs for 12 weeks.
Essentially, Lilly’s at-home “rehab” consists of:
- Walking on leash: We’re now up to a full mile a day, including the big hill to the west of the house.
- Walking up and down stairs 4-5 times back to back: Our goals are to build her butt strength on the climb and to work on front strength and control on the descent.
- Walking backwards on cue: Again, to build rear leg / hip strength.
- Hopping up and down from the sofa: We’re trying to get her agility jumping strength back.
- Playing some short-distance fetch (on carpet or outside on grass): For many reasons … I’ll try to get some video of that soon so that you can see how much she tumbles. She completely freaked me out over the weekend by doing an airborne barrel roll … jumping to catch the ball.
In just the last day or two, we’ve seen a leap in her ability to do stairs “safely.” That has been a real concern because the last thing we need is a concussion, spinal injury, or orthopedic injury from her tumbling down the stairs.
Check out this GO GET DADDY video from Monday (3/5/2012) morning:
Lilly is looking SO much better! Yay.
I know LiLy can perform more better than that.. Go Lily!
She looks so much better! I am so happy for Lilly and you.
Wow! Lilly looks so much better. I’m sure the work you’ve been doing to rehabilitate her has made a big difference. This is awesome to see!
Brought tears to my eyes to see her doing so well and most importantly looking so happy! Good job team Lilly! Keep up the good work!
Wow…what a difference. So very, very glad to see this improvement in Lilly and to see her tail wagging!
Lilly’s doing great! What a long way she has come!
(When I first read the title of this post, I missed the colon and I felt sick. Then I realized what you meant.)
Oh, no. Darn punctuation. I’m sorry it made you worry. Things still really suck, but Lilly is getting better … slowly.
Oh look at her! She’s so excited, and so proud of herself!
Go Lilly! Awesome!
It’s wonderful to see her mastering those stairs. I wouldn’t worry too much about the slip/fall at the bottom of the stairs. Reba does that too when she hits the tile and wood floors.
So glad Lilly is better. At almost 65, I feel the world has become such a different place from when I was younger, with a need to wonder whether there will be adverse reactions from new drugs and vaccines. I worry for my grandkids. Big Pharma has become too powerful.
Wow…she looks awesome. You must be so happy! Go Lilly!
I just cried watching that video! It’s so good to see Lilly running like that again and being so happy and excited! You’ve done so well by her, Roxanne.