Help a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Battle Syringomyelia

As a veterinarian, I frequently see pets in need of surgical and medical intervention to correct health problems. Ella's story is so compelling, that I am featuring guest blogger, Jana Rade, to better familiarize the pet care community on the plight Cavalier King Charles Spaniels face in their battle with Syringomyelia. Fight For Ella Continues Recently we got acquainted with Ella and her struggle with syringomyelia. After her surgery Ella was doing great. Sadly, her fight is not over as her symptoms seem to be making a comeback and there is a chance that she might need a second surgery. She does need a new MRI to properly assess the situation. The most common surgery to relieve the effects of syringomyelia is cranial/cervical decompression (also described as foramen magnum or suboccipital decompression). The flow of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is freed by removing both part of the skull and part of the first vertebrae. That is the surgery Ella had done. This surgery has a good success rate in reducing pain and neurological symptoms. However 25% to 50% cases can develop scar tissue that will obstruct the CSF flow once again and lead to relapse. Ella has been put on additional medication and considering the signs she is showing there is a good chance that she is one of the dogs who relapsed. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qPLDMSPRXA[/youtube] Ella's update There is no cure for Syringomyelia. Those words keep playing in my head. There is also no guarantee that Ella will not relapse after she has had an expensive surgery where they removed part of her skull and she spent months recovering from this procedure. I knew that when I decided to take that chance. It was the only chance I felt she had and if she was one of the ones that was not successful at least I did something. I thought that would make me feel okay and I would worry about that later and figure something out then. I just prayed that she would be one of the lucky ones. I knew that surgery gave her time. That was a given. It would at least relieve the pain but there is a possibility that when part of the skull is removed, scar tissue can form. This will then cause relapse and dogs will require to have another operation. Why has this been on my mind recently? There was a post on www.cavaliertalk.com with notes from Dr. Dewey who is a neurologist that pioneered foramen magnum decompression (FMD) surgery and spoke recently at the AVMA convention. Someone took notes on what he said and his presentation was targeted to vets so most of it was not new information but reading again some of these statistics made me realize just how realistic relapse could be for Ella. Dr. Dewey created a procedure using Titanium Mesh with the hope to reduce the rate of recurrence. I knew about this procedure when deciding on Ella's surgery but it was more expensive, more dangerous, and at the time I did not know what the long term benefit would be. (visit Fight for Ella for detailed surgery statistics). I am constantly worrying about Ella getting worse. I have days when she is better than ever but then there are the bad days and I see the signs that she had before she had surgery. I am reliving everything over again. I know it has only been 6 months and we still have a long way to go. Every head shake, every stumble up the stairs, every time she hides under the bed, every time she flinches when I try to touch her head my stomach drops. I have these statistics in my mind. I will not be able to handle this again and she is just too young with too much to offer. I know she has so many good days that to harp on the bad ones is not fair. When I explained to her neurologist some of the things she had been doing, he seemed concerned and put her on some more medication. He mentioned doing another MRI and that was extremely scary for me. I know the more knowledge is better but if the MRI results are not good, then I am faced with the same thing as before. I worry but I have reason to worry because she has a 50% chance. One person told me to face the facts and that she is getting worse. To just adjust her medications and that is the answer. There are several articles you can read about statistics and dogs that are euthanized and success rates but it just makes me too sad. I am posting this to share my worries but I also know there are people that need hope. I also long for hope too and there is hope for many of them. Ella is her own case. She is a special case and a special angel. I have been avoiding this since Ella's neurologist told me Ella would need a follow-up MRI in August. The chances of a relapse are relatively high and even though I have seen the symptoms reappear, I have been scared. One reason is because I know I will not be able to do anything about it. If scar tissue has developed they recommend surgery to remove it. Surgery that I will not be able to afford. Knowing that she is on medication and I still see some symptoms of pain and eventually she will get to a point that I don't want to imagine and there is nothing I can do, will kill me. I will need all the support and prayers through the next few weeks. Ella needs our help! We have lost a dog in the past because we couldn't afford expensive medical treatment. It is the worst feeling ever. With Jasmine we had been lucky to have had enough credit to give her what she needed. Not everybody is in a situation where they can afford such an expense. They don't love their dogs any less. Annie has already used all her resources for the first surgery and treatment and now has nowhere to turn except to us. She needs to raise $2000 in order to get Ella the MRI and treatment that she needs. She needs your donation to raise these funds. Please consider helping Ella. Even a small donation will help. Click on the "ChipIn!" button below to make a donation safely and securely or visit Annie's website to contribute. Thank you for reading Ella's story. To receive my next article via email, please press the “Don’t Miss a Blog Post” button on the right upper corner of this page.