Back Surgery and Prayers Save Daschund

By Howard Young Nov 24, 2005

Yesterday, we took our Miniature Daschund Odie to see his Surgeon, Dr. Ian G. Holsworth for his three-month and final after surgery checkup. Odie, like all dogs like to ride and he was very happy to get into the car, but as soon as we got onto the freeway, Odie knew that we weren’t going to the market.

Every time we go for a “long ride,” Odie associates this with going to the Hospital where he had a lot of pain and Mommy and Daddy left him there alone for a week. But this time it was a short trip to see how he’s doing.

When Odie ruptured his disk three months ago, he became paralyzed within a few days. Ultimately back surgery and a lot of prayers saved his life. I don’t know how many said a prayer for Odie but we are grateful for the prayers.

The first week after surgery, I could see that Odie was slowly recovering, gaining strength and re-learning the connections to his hindquarters. After three weeks, Odie was mobile and able to get around on his own. This was a “big step” for the little Dachshund since I was helping him balance and holding him up when he had to pee and poop.

Odie’s strength and coordination started returning to normal. By Odie’s first post-op checkup you could see how well he had recovered. We were especially proud of our Doxie when Dr. Holsworth gave him an excellent recovery for this stage.

Over the next two months, walks with Odie helped improve his stamina and coordination. He would miss a step once and a while, but you could see it in his gait that he was on his way to full recovery.

I knew that this final checkup, Odie would get an excellent recovery from Dr. Holsworth. My eyes started tearing up seeing Dr. Holsworth walking Odie back to us.

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