We saw Dr Yamamoto at the Canine Rehab Center on Wednesday. She felt him over to see assess how well he's healing. The assessment: not much. He was still sore and whipped around to give her warnings when she felt the iliopsoas on both sides, as well as on his back at the spot where those muscles originate. We were disappointed. We decided to do an x-ray to see whether there was perhaps a congenital issue that was impairing his healing. There was some subtle disc narrowing and hip changes but the radiologist thought that it was just a result of his positioning during the x-ray. (He was quite squirmy - he doesn't like being on his side or back.)
We could potentially do an ultrasound to give us more information but it would probably not change our course of treatment. We could do an "MRI to rule out a spinal cord, spinal nerve or disc problem that is not showing up on radiographs" but "this is expensive and would require general anesthesia." The doctor even mentioned the possibility of stem cells. But before we jump into any more aggressive treatment, we agreed to do another 6 weeks of restricted activity and cold laser treatment twice a week, with the addition of a muscle relaxant and PT exercises. The PT exercises are designed to keep the other muscles around the iliopsoas strong, but they're also good because I was worried about Cai losing muscle tone due to the extended rest period. I will also continue the chiropractic visits every two weeks. At the beginning of September we'll do another recheck and go from there.
On the bright side, we've exceeded the annual deductible for Cai's health insurance with Healthy Paws, and are now getting reimbursement checks for 80% of the cost of laser and chiropractic adjustments.
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