My camera card reader has been broken so I haven't been able to send recent pictures. I bought a new card reader today and took some pictures so now you can see how much Noah has grown and weakened. He can no longer sit straight up, but sits with his back curved and his legs sticking out. The second picture is of him trying to walk. He can't get his legs under him. This is how he urinates (runs down his leg) and defacates. When he wants to get somewhere, he has gotten quite good at pulling himself with his front legs and flopping his back legs behind him. Multiple times each day, we carry him outside, but often he just goes to the bathroom in the house on the carpet remnants (which we throw away after a while and put down new ones) and he gets many baths. We have purchased a Bottoms Up leash  and put it around his back legs to hold him up so he can walk some. We're trying to build up his leg muscles. He so badly wants to run and play with the other dogs. It is very painful for us to watch him try so hard and have to give up and watch the other dogs instead of being able to run after them. And through it all, he remains the sweetest puppy. He is always so excited to see you and loves to be petted and gives the sweetest puppy kisses.

Today has been a very roller coaster day. To continue the weather analogy, it started out pretty cloudy and overcast, but ended up mostly sunny with a few clouds. Noah and I visited the neurologist at the U of M today. We started with an exam and the neurologist telling us that he was expecting to diagnose muscular dystrophy, a degenerative disease found in male Golden Retrievers. However, Noah's bloodwork (which is normal) is not indicative of muscular dystrophy, so that was crossed off the list (YAY). He then said, he believes the brain to be normal (again YAY). Went on to say that we only had about a 20 - 30% chance of finding something fixable and his quality of life right now isn't good and would likely only get worse and at some point I knew I'd have to make the decision to help him to the Rainbow Bridge. He would not be a candidate for the cart if the problem was degenerative as the front legs would also start to weaken. Our good options were starting to run out. We decided to do some different x-rays to see if we could learn anything. I had to leave Noah there for a couple of hours and run some errands for another dog while waiting to hear the results of the x-rays. Driving around in tears thinking the worst and wondering how I was ever going to have the emotional strength to take him to the vet to help him to the Rainbow Bridge, I returned to the U. The tech came and got me and we met with the neurologist and reviewed the x-rays and the neurologist says "I was wrong" (Oh glory days). On this x-ray you can see that a couple of his vertebrae are malformed, compressing and narrowing the opening for the nerve. And he says, "I can do surgery and fix this." (The sun is now shining -- he came darn close to getting hugged.) He goes on to say that while he has had very good outcomes with this surgery and other dogs with this condition, it would be better if Noah were older since he is still growing and there is a possibility that even post surgery, his vertebrae could compress and he could have problems (here come the clouds again), but there is also the possibility that his vertebrae will be fine. I, of course, asked, should we wait until he finishes growing and was told "no, that could cause nerve damage that would not be repairable." So, the decision is made. In two weeks Noah will have back surgery. He may or may not need a temporary brace to stabilize his back. He should then be able to walk and it will be our job to do physical therapy and strengthen his leg muscles.

Noah's surgery will not be inexpensive. The CT scan that is required prior to surgery to determine exactly where the compressions are located, will cost approximately $1,000. The back surgery (which we are hoping to schedule for the second week in June) is estimated to cost between $2,500 and $3,000. If you would like to donate to help defer some of Noah's surgery costs, please click here for information on mailing in a donation or making a donation via credit card. Every $5 helps and adds up and Noah thanks you with lots and lots of puppy kisses.