The vet who performed my back surgery...

Hi everydoggy,

A very nice, concerned lady has asked me about the vet who performed my back surgery. Here is a link to his Web site ... www.tcvh.com. His phone number and location can be found there. Mommy and Daddy really liked him. I guess I would have to say I did, too, because I can now feel my back legs, although the whole experience was NOT pleasant! I am very grateful, though, for everything he did for me. 

Puggy snorts,

Newton

Bad, bad blogger!

After much harassment from me, Mommy finally got un-lazy and started blogging again. Although we've been away for a while, we've been checking up on all our friends. 

In Mommy's defense, she hasn't felt up to blogging lately. Want to hear why?! I'm getting a little sister! No, not a four-legged one ... a two-legged one! That's right, pugs. Mommy is going to have a little human baby. Her belly just keeps growing and growing, and she's tired a lot. 

This is Mommy. She's about 8 months pregnant here. 

I didn't quite understand it at first, and Mommy had to keep patiently explaining why I couldn't jump all over her anymore. I get it now, though, so I just quietly lay next to her belly on the couch. It's my job to keep little Lila (that's going to be her name) warm and snuggly. I've also been trying to teach Lila that I'm here to protect her by barking loudly whenever the doorbell rings. Mommy says to bark away because the more she hears it now, the less scared she'll be of me when she gets here in a few weeks (she's due November 26 ... the day before Thanksgiving)!

This is me supervising the putting together of Lila's crib. I had to be on alert and make sure Daddy and Mommy built it correctly.

Now that we've got the big news out of the way, I wanted to update you on my back problems and Mommy's eye surgery. Good news is we're both doing fabulous. Occasionally, I limp on my right leg, but I have regained all feeling and am my happy go lucky self again! And Mommy's eyesight is 20/20, and unlike others experience sometimes with LASIK, she is not having any dry eye symptoms! Yahoo! 

I promise to keep everyone updated on my little sister. Mommy promises to help, too!

Till next time,

Big Brother Newton       

P.S. Look at this new toy Daddy got for me. It's a snow blower. It means I will no longer have to trailblaze a path through the snow this winter. Daddy will be able to do it for me!!

Mommy's Having Eye Surgery

As if one surgery wasn't enough this month, Mommy had to go and decide to schedule her LASIK surgery tomorrow. It's a good thing I'm doing so well so I can take care of her. She's a bit nervous. I keep telling her she'll be fine and we'll snuggle all weekend, but she is still worried about the surgery going terribly wrong! If I haven't told you already, Mommy is a WORRIER!

This is me concentrating hard on clever ways to cheer up Mommy!

Since I had great success with all of you sending positive thoughts our way, I thought I'd ask for you to do the same for Mommy! Maybe it will calm her nerves!

Thanks, everydoggy!

Newton

Frankenpug!?!

I am now four days post surgery, and Mommy said it was finally OK to take a picture of my incision. It's healing nicely, she says, only I have a couple of razor burns (that's what those red areas are). And, the stainless steel sutures rub my top neck roll. Mommy says that wouldn't happen if I was a little less chubby. Apparently, that's one of my goals for the summer. My other goal is to start walking without a limp. The doctor says it may take up to six weeks, and Mommy says I'm already doing better. I even shake my leg when she scratches my booty now. I haven't been able to do that in over a month, so that has to be a good sign.


Surgery, guys and gals, is not fun, but it did leave me with that cool-looking incision, which gets me lots of love, attention, and treats, of course.

So, in case everydoggy is wondering what back surgery is like, I'll take you through it. Mommy and Daddy dropped me off at the vet around 9 a.m. (yes, dropped me off, as in left me there if you can believe it ... they said they didn't want to go, but the vet said they wouldn't be able to see me anyway ... I still think they were horrible for leaving me). The vet did a chemistry panel to make sure I wasn't allergic to anesthesia. They shaved my chest, gave me a shot, and that's really all I remember. Mommy will have to take over from here.


Mom: It was terrifying, I'm not going to lie. Leaving Newton there was one of the hardest things I've had to do, especially when the vet explained the risks. He was scheduled to start the surgery around 11 and work through lunchtime. When 1 p.m. rolled around and we hadn't heard anything, we started to panic. Finally, we got a call at 1:30 p.m. saying Newton had done well, that a lot of pressure was taken off the spinal cord, but also that the vet had nicked an artery in the process. Apparently, this is common when working in tight spaces, and fortunately he was able to repair it. It sure scared us--and the vet--half to death. We got to go see Newton in recovery around 4, and the vet announced that we could take him home. He thought he would be more comfortable and less stressed with us. I'm sure glad of it. The thought of leaving him there overnight just killed me. Anyway, he is doing well. His surgical site is healing. He has good moments and bad moments, but it's getting better day by day.


Thanks everyone for praying for us and sending positive comments our way. They sure helped. We will keep you updated throughout the recovery process.

Newton (Frankenpug) and his very relieved Mommy, Amy

P.S. This is a picture of Mommy and me before I got my MRI and before we knew that I did not have a tumor. Notice how sad we both looked. We were terrified. I think Mommy was even crying. She's done a lot of that the past month. We are much happier now that we know I am on the road to recovery. We are certainly counting our blessings!

Good News!!!!!!

Hi everydoggy! Newton here. I'm back from having an MRI. Before I complain about it, I wanted to say that the vet thinks I'm going to be OK. I have a compressed disc that is affecting my right side. With a little surgery, I should be fine. The vet here in Utah is sending the MRI results to Colorado State University for a second opinion, but he's certain of the diagnosis. He showed Mommy and Daddy exactly what he was talking about. They even ran some kind of dye to make sure it wasn't a tumor.

While it was great news, and I shouldn't be complaining really, I must say that was a HORRIBLE ordeal. First, I had to fast. That was terrible because as you all know, pugs love the food! Then, the vet inserted something called a catheter into my right front leg. Next, we had to ride up to the University of Utah in my vet's SUV, where they injected me with something that made me very sleepy. Thank goodness I was asleep for the part they called intubation. Daddy said it was awful. Mommy couldn't even stay in the room.

A little later, after the good results came in, they gave me another drug to make me wake up. It made me very drunk and it gave me hallucinations. It was awful. I also had terrible gas. It was humiliating. I was passing gas right and left in front of a room full of strangers.

Anyway, I wanted to thank everyone for their prayers. They were answered. Before I go, Mommy wants to say something ...

Hi everyone! It's Amy. This is a puggy service announcement. If your pug starts limping, take him to the vet ASAP! I'm sure all of you would rush to the vet, but I learned today that the sooner you get them seen about, the better their chances are of having a full recovery. And like Newton, I wanted to thank everyone for their support. It helps knowing we have positive thoughts being sent our way. Also, if my regular vets are reading this ... THANK YOU so much for all your help and for being so kind to me last week.

I'm leaving you with a picture of me and Newton from a while back. It's to show him how much I love him. Right now, he's a tad mad at me.

Disheartening News

Hi everydoggy.

This is Amy, Newton's mom. We've been having a rough go of it lately, hence, no blogs. It all started about a month ago when Newton started walking around all hunched over. We thought this was a reoccurance of a back injury he had about a year ago. It seemed to be clearing up fine when he started limping on his right front leg. We had X-rays taken, and they looked good ... no signs of arthritis, fractures or anything like that. Orthopedic tests narrowed the problem down to his shoulder. We started him on a combo of Rimadyl, another pain killer and a muscle relaxer. We also started him on Companion Laser Therapy. Nothing seemed to be helping.

Yesterday when I got home, I noticed he was not only limping on his front leg; he was also dragging both back legs. I rushed him to the vet--they were AWESOME--and we were referred to a specialist in Salt Lake City. Our vet even helped us get an appointment ASAP. The staff, meanwhile, helped console me! We went to the specialist this morning, and after a series of neurological tests, he decided he needed to do an MRI. He was concerned that it could possibly be a tumor on the spinal cord or something wrong with a disc. We're hoping it's a disc. That can be fixed. A tumor cannot.

He's in good spirits and is playing with his beloved loofah puppies. As you can imagine, I am distraught. So is his daddy. Please, please, please keep Newton--and us--in your prayers. The MRI is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. I will keep everyone updated.

Worried about her sweet baby,
Amy

Happy Belated Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Yep! I'm having to say all three late because my Mommy has been SO LAZY lately. I mean, I'm a pug, and I sure love to nap, but Mommy has had me beat lately. In all fairness, she has been really sick with bronchitis and then she caught the stomach flu. I myself have been busy being her nurse, which she says I'm terrific at. Luckily, she was all better for the holidays ... a good thing because we had company! Daddy's Mommy, Daddy, Sisters and Brother-in-Law all flew in to have a White Christmas, and boy did we have one! Here are some pictures from the holidays.

This is me staying as far away as I can from the white stuff.

Eventually, I have to walk in the cold, white, powder.

This is me trying to figure out what my uncle and aunt were doing in the yard.

I'm still not sure what this is, but they were awfully proud of it. Mommy says it's something called a snowman. I showed him whose yard it was by peeing all over it. For some reason, this got me yelled at by Grandma!

This is Mommy in her Santa hat. I thought every present was mine. This one wound up being Mommy's, but I had my share. I'll blog about that later this week. That is, if I can get Mommy to stop napping and start blogging on a regular basis!!!

Hope everybody had happy, happy holidays!
Newton