Epics Results

Well Wednesday Epic had her followup xrays. It's been one month since I first discovered her boney lump, just below her carpus.

We took several views, so Rebecca (radiologist) would have multiple to compare with her originals.

As I'm totally impatient I again dropped them off at her house.....went home and waited for the phonecall.

My mobile began ringing at about 9.30pm. I took a deep breath and answered. One of the things I love about Rebecca is that she has such a calming voice, so within seconds I was relaxed and felt like I was going to be able to deal with whatever she was about to tell me.

So here it is.............................

Rebecca is confident that the lump hasn't grown. OMG YAY!!!!!! If she was going to be HIGHLY critical, then there is the smallest chance that it may have grown by around 1mm.....BUT she is more confident that it is the actual positioning of the recent xrays, compared to the originals.

She has said that she thinks "short term" continuing to train and trial her won't be detrimental. And it was here I asked what did she class as "short term??"

Rebecca has recommended that we take followup xrays in 6mths, so that she will again compare them with the originals and give me a better prognosis re the "short term vs long term" question. At this stage she still can't rule out DJD vs trauma so it's just wait and see :-(

She has given the all clear to compete with her at the Nationals, but has recommended a rest afterwards. And she's basically said to "treat" her clinically at this stage, so if she's not painful and not lame continue as we are.

I'm still going to Deb Nook and Charlotte Stead as I really feel Epic is benefitting from both. And I just ordered a special carpus icepack to put on her leg to reduce any possible inflammation that may occur after competitions.

It's 7 weeks till the Nationals and I'm a little behind in my preparation. I've started to retrain my running Aframe to have her come down lower into the contact zone to reduce the "impact" on her carpus, but there is a HUGE list I had really wanted to work through before the Nationals arrived. Most is based on teaching her extension.....though she has started knocking the first bar in competition.....so now we have to fix this too. LOL!!!

I'm so happy that Epic and I still get to play and have fun in agility and I'm hopeful that longterm, she's just going to be a "special" dog that has a weird boney lump on her leg LOL

Bush Bashing Dogs

Ive just spent the weekend out at my parents 25acre property. What can I say it's doggie heaven.

I currently have Dancer for the next few weeks (Helena is off to England to see Crufts!!) And she was VERY excited to be coming out for the doggie weekend away :-)

I've added a photo ....with the girls posing nicely. Jestah on the other hand decided there was WAY too much posing going on and he would just "observe" from the bridge in front of the house :-) After his antics last night of getting himself somehow (don't ask me how) caught in the chicken coup and having to be "rescued" he probably thought it was safer up by the house, rather than getting involved in the younger girls shinanigans.

Wednesday is the day Epic gets her followup xrays......can't believe it's been four weeks already.

Sometimes it looks like the lump is smaller and other times I'm not quite so sure.......the other thing I'm not sure of, is whether she is occasionally lame. If she is it's EVER so slight. And I don't know if it's because I'm constantly watching her and seeing something that isn't there?

Either way I should know by the end of the week what her prognosis is.

I've tried not to dwell on it and I'm taking a deep breath that it will be okay.

Alternative Therapies and Power of Positive Thinking

Well it's been quite a rollercoaster week for Epic and I. Sunday I was sitting on the floor and she came over for a cuddle....when I noticed a lump on her front right leg, a rather hard boney lump.

So Monday she was taken to work for some xrays and there was definate boney changes. So the xrays were popped on a disc and sent through to Rebecca Lonsdale (a radiologist) and I very impatiently waited for a phone call.

I received the call later that evening (the bonus of being a vet nurse). Rebecca was certain it wasn't anything like a bone tumour...PHEW!!! But she wondered if there was anyway she could be continually hitting/traumatising the area.....Hmmmmm no???It's kind of in a weird spot to hit.... She does pounce into her 2o2o with alot of gusto in training though.....AND she has a running A-frame where she jumps off from quite high up. Now if this is the case.....it would be an impact injury where she is continually hyperextending her carpus :-( Thats not good news.....and Rebecca diagnosed Degenerative Joint Disease.... NO!!!!!!!!!!

DJD is a progressive disease......how progressive we're not sure yet and so I now wait 4 weeks before we take more xrays to see if there are any changes. So her agility career hangs in the balance at the tender age of 4.

The interesting thing is that she's not painful and there is no obvious lameness.
On Wednesday I took her to see Deb Nook (a vet who practises in accupunture and chiropractic) and we started treating her with needles....Epic goes back in two weeks for followup treatment.

On Thursday after work I got Clint to video me playing with Epic doing a 2o2o on a plank of wood..........OMG......did she just hit her leg on the corner........Okay so here's where slow motion is GREAT. When running on the plank itself she is definately hyperextending her carpus when trying to slow down into her 2o2o.....but I think she's also hitting her leg on the side of the plank when going into her position. (why didn't I put rails on either side to prevent her peeling off to the side???)

Friday I took the video to work and got Louise to look at them. And she also agreed it looked suspiciously like she was hitting just below her carpus. Rebecca rang to see how she was and I mentioned that maybe she IS hitting her carpus....GOOD NEWS......if it's trauma related......take the trauma away ie the plank....AND the bone should remodel and as long as it doesn't involve the joint the prognosis is SOOOOO much better.

Today I've been in contact with Charlotte Steed (physiotherapist) and Epic is booked in to see if we can strengthen her muscles to help with the hyperextension and put plans into place to slow the progression of DJD..... JUST in case this is what it is.

Epic has been given the all clear to still able to train and compete at this stage...it will be re-evaluated once the next xrays are taken.

And all my thoughts, are being put into BELIEVING it's trauma related.

Borderfame Twist Of Fate ADM :-)

Congratulations Epic on gaining your Agility Dog Masters title!!! What a little trooper you are :-)
On Friday night she ran her little paws off to receive her last pass!! Wheeeeeeeee!!!
AND....in both Open and Masters she didn't come off the end of the dogwalk....she did her 2o2o and waited for her release :-) Couldn't be happier!!
I have discovered one thing though........I'm soooooooooo unfit!! After each of my runs I was practically gasping for air, now I'm only 33 so really I have no excuses...what can I say I'm obviously just plain lazy :-) Sorry Epic for not being able to get you back to the car as fast as you would like, so you could have your "jackpot" but it seems my body can only deal with 40sec bursts of energy before it wants to collapse in a heap. LOL.....New Years Resolution....find someone to hold Epics "jackpot" outside the ring....so I don't have to run back to the car :-)

Thanks to Jennifer Coton for the photos!!!

Obsessions

I find it amazing how we as humans (myself included) can become so obsessed with such small things, to the point of ruining relationships...with our dogs in particular....seeing as this is an agility blog :-) We become fixated with faster contacts, where we can shave seconds off our next run and in turn place enormous stress on our dogs to perform to the level of perfection we seem to be striving for. And in the blink of an eye our four legged friend begins to shut down and the once strong relationship we thought we had with our beloved dog begins to unravel.
I feel in particular since coming back from America, my whole outlook has changed quite dramatically. For me agility is not quite the same. Yes I believe I still have an obsession with getting the best out of my dog. For example I know that every stride Epic does is 0.3sec and if she adds, say 5 strides extra on a course I'm already 1.5sec behind the leader...let alone whether her ground speed comes remotely close to the winning dog!
But for me, my relationship with Epic is more important. Agility is supposed to be FUN and I think there is a very fine line between having fun and winning, and placing too much pressure on your dog and in turn getting a poor performance.
I think there is a lot to be said for having a game of tug for the pure enjoyment of it with your dog...not just because you're trying to warm them up for the course they are about to run or because they are soooooooo high drive that it stops them from barking at you for attention. Just purely for the simple pleasure of hanging out with your dog and building on that fantastic relationship that will ultimately bring the best performance your dog can give.

Happy Birthday Epic

It's Epic's 4th birthday today and it really doesn't seem like I've had her this long. We woke up nice and early and took both dogs down to South Perth foreshore. She LOVES it down there. What with the many trees to sniff and all the birds to chase, it's doggie heavon. On our way home we stopped in at Pet Stock so she could pick a toy and a treat out :-) This is also another of Epic's favourite places and the minute we walked in the door, she made a bee line for the kangaroo sticks, almost inhaling one straight off the shelf!! The toy she picked is a very funky blue and yellow squeaky dog. (though I'm sure it'll last about 2secs!! LOL)

For the past 3 weeks Epic and I have had some time off in agility. Nothing like putting your feet and paws up and just chilling out.

I have been trying to teach her a new trick (saw a dog doing a handstand!!!) and I've managed to get her to put her back end up onto the lounge which stands about her shoulder height. Not too bad ....just have to work out how to get her higher!! LOL It's been really interesting teaching her new things. The biggest thing I've discovered is she had very little backend awareness and even though I'd done certain things with her when she was younger...obviously it wasn't enough.

2010 has already begun and there's so many things I'm hopeful for and want to work towards. Having fun with Epic is a BIG one. Yes the Nationals are here this year and I'd like to do well. But I don't want to lose sight of the fact, that first and foremost she's my best friend and there's no need to become so obsessed with getting into the finals that I forget that agility, is really just a sport. My life isn't going to change if we don't pass. Don't get me wrong I'll be disappointed, but I guarantee you that the very next morning, I'm still going to get woken up by a licky blue eyed border collie who loves me more than life itself.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EPIC!!!!!

Jeddi-Spaghette's Life Changing Week

Introducing Jestah :-) Doing what he does best...chilling out and sleeping. He's my 12 and 1/2 year old border collie. Retired from agility and obedience, currently enjoying a relaxing lifestyle. For the past twelve months he has been treated for chronic bronchitis. Over the last several months he has been slowly deteriorating. Coughing and wheezing more, our once hour walks were now reduced to a 5min walk to a tree where he could sit down and watch, while I ran and played with Epic.
2 weeks ago (on a particularly hot day) he seemed to crash. He was really struggling to breath and we rushed him into work for some oxygen and a steroid injection to try and reduce the inflamation in his lungs. During that week he was taken into work 3 more times....each time worse than the previous. The vets started to prepare me for the fact that we had tried everything and over the weekend I needed to think of his quality of life :-(
Monday morning (after a particularly bad night for Jestah) I went to work completely devastated having made the decision to have him put to sleep.....and it was then I was given a little ray of hope....by one of our vets Louise Duval who thought outside the square. She said "I wonder what Laryngeal Paralysis looks like?" and that set the ball rolling....she got her medical books out and I jumped on the internet and to our amazement Jestah had every symptom!!
Tues morning he went and saw Anna Tebb an internal medicine specialist who seemed quite confident that it was this diagnosis, so he stayed for a few hours to have an ultrasound to try and confirm it. Unfortunately the test was inconclusive :-(
He was booked back in on Thurs to have a light anaesthetic and together Anna Tebb and Tim Caporn (specialist surgeon) looked down his throat and thankfully confirmed Laryngeal Paralysis. I was over the moon!! He had a diagnosis that could be treated with an operation.
I dropped him off the very next day where he underwent the Laryngeal Tyeback surgery. What a long day.....everytime the phone rang I raced to pick it up, worried out of my mind about whether he was going to be okay. At 4.10pm I received the call I was waiting for...."Jestah has had his surgery, and touch wood, so far everything has gone really well"
Today is Saturday....the very day after his major surgery....and he is currently sleeping under the dining room table, breathing lovely, deep, peaceful breaths.
I'm so thankful I'm a vet nurse and was able to take him home so early.
And words cannot express how grateful I am to Louise, Anna and Tim who have given me the greatest gift possible.....the life of my best friend....