Laurie's Blogs.

Check out my back yard!  This is what I woke up to (September 29, 2019)…  It’s the new baseline for weather, and I’ve got no choice but to accept what is!  I just wanted to share the picture.  Now on to the blog!

This week has come with some lessons that all tie to this theme:  Acceptance of ‘What Is’ and working from a ‘New Baseline’.  When writing blog posts, I look at literature, I look at other human physical therapy blog posts, and if not inspired, I look at my own life, my recent cases, or my family, in order to write a fresh blog post for the FourLeg Family of Followers.  Today as I sit down to write this blog, I found myself looking at the past week’s events and found a string of happening that all tie together.  Coincidence?  Or the universe slapping me upside the head to get me to notice a theme?  (Honestly, it’s likely the latter!)

So, this week, we sold our calves, hubby had a scan to determine the extent of metastases of his carcinoid tumours, one of the shelties was hit with idiopathic geriatric vestibulitis, and a long term regular patient of mine had a sudden onset of mild neurological signs. (A number of other things transpired as well… but let’s focus on these 4 things.)

Chronologically…  We learned on Monday last week that my husband’s scan was actually going to be a two-day event – an injection on Thursday and a 3-hour scan on Friday.  Up until Monday, we had only been told that it would occur on the Thursday.  (Apparently, we should have gotten a letter in the mail to tell us this, but that never came, so on Monday when Peter talked to the folks from the Nuclear Medicine Department, they told us that ‘when we didn’t get the letter, that’s when we should have called in to enquire!’  Okay… might as well see that as comedic versus lacking in intuitiveness!)  This would be fine and dandy except that we had scheduled to sell the calves on Friday morning (exactly when his scan was going to be taking place).  So, instead of dwelling on the ‘What should be…’, our reality and acceptance of ‘what is’ was able to take us down the following path.  How fortunate we were that I was free on the Friday to take him in for the second part of the test versus him having to go on his own (or worse, have my mother take him!!!)  The second silver lining was that the calf sale was occurring online, so with my son and one of the ranch hands, they could be home watching the sale on line, with one of them on the phone talking to the auction market (to accept or decline the final bid) and the other one on a phone with me (the ultimate decision maker).  How fortunate that we had the support team to accomplish this.  Let’s not worry about the fact that I had to run upstairs from the Nuclear Medicine Department and sit outside in the rain in front of the hospital in order to engage in the process… it was cold, uncomfortable, and exhilarating at the same time.  That’s our new norm and we made it work!

On Wednesday morning, we woke to find that one of the Shelties had developed vestibulitis overnight.  Her little eyes were dancing and she was falling over constantly.  No worries, I thought, I’ve got this!  So, I proceeded to do the Dix Hallpike, only to get no definitive increase in symptoms.  I did the Epley Maneuver.  No change.  I did it both ways… why not?  No change. So, in the back of my mind I thought, that perhaps she was more of the ‘brain tumour, seizure in the cerebellum… etc, differential diagnoses.’  As the week progresses, she got worse, not better.  I continued with Vestibular treatment methods, and got my husband and youngest son involved in it as well.  (Side lying technique seemed to be easiest for everyone to do… just as an FYI).  On Friday night, she was so bad that my husband and I had decided that he would call the vet clinic on Saturday to make an appointment to have her euthanized.  Fast forward to Saturday morning.  The dog was in ‘rolling mode’ when we tried to pick her up / move her.  However, I had my husband do the Side Lying Vestibular technique while I was getting ready to head to work.  Well, to our surprise, the dog was able to stand and walk afterwards (yes, still with a head tilt and some ‘side shuffle’, but able to stand!!)  So, she passed the “Do you want to live another day?-test!)  And she’s wobbling with us still.  Is this our new norm?  If it is, we can accept that!  She improved from the new baseline, and we can manage with ‘what is’, should that be the new norm.

Last case scenario!  I had one of my regular clients message me on the Friday, to say that her dog was having some neurologic issues manifesting as weakness in the rear end.  This owner had x-rays done immediately (C5/6 narrowing with boney proliferation, and T13-L1 narrowing with no boney reaction) and was able to book in to see me on Saturday.  My impression was that the weakness was coming from the neck (no back pain, or changes in epaxial tone adjacent to the T-L region, whereas the C/S had pain and muscle reactivity), and the plan was to do acupuncture, laser, mobilizations, PEMF, and neck traction.  The owner was understandably upset by her dog’s condition and was asking questions such as, “Will he always be this way?  Will he sit normal again?  Can you fix this?  Should I do surgery? How long should I wait before considering surgery” And so on!  My reply was that with neuro cases, we are never 100% sure of how things will go, however, what we are seeing is an acute flare of what is obviously a chronic condition in his neck and that we are only on day one of treatment planning.  These factors alone would allow us to believe that we can make gains from this new baseline with conservative management.  Can we reverse aging or the chronic nature of his C5/6 (or T13-L1 for that matter)?  No.  Can we manage him every step of the way as he continues on in life?  Yes.  Absolutely, yes!

So, as we personally journey through life or guide our clients & patients along the path as well, it is likely pertinent to take stock of, appreciate, and accept what is.  Recognize it as simply a new baseline from where to build or progress from OR be grateful for the fact that ‘it could be worse’.  Take some time to work through these thoughts in your own head, and talk to your clients about the same.  We all likely need this messaging in one way or another!

On that note, I have another week of new challenges to accept or conquer ahead of me, as I’m sure you do to.  I wish you all peace and strength as you meet each challenge.

Until next time… Cheers!

Laurie