What happened to Nimrodel?

Hello,

    Nimrodel (Nim-row-dell) is now 10 years old and for those of you who don't know Nim has worked beside me for may years as my partner, best friend and Service dog. her tasks made it possible for me to manage many of the basic day to day things i struggle with due to my autism and she has on more then one occasion been a life saver for me. simply put she has been my life line for the past few years and before she was task trained and became a service dog she was my emotional life line. Nim is the reason I wake up everyday and even on the worst days. since she has retired to at home service i she is what i look forward to most, seeing her run up to me wagging her tail and getting kisses. Recent;y Nim has become very ill.

what happened to Nim?
well yesterday was a lot like any other day, we woke up and hung around the house a bit Nim seemed sore and i was waiting for an hour after my meds kicked in to take Nim out as she seemed content to just nap. after a bit i took her out. after she went out to pee and poop (just her first short walk) we went back in and i started to do some work on my blog. Nim decided to lay down and wait for me to be ready for our 1 mile walk. after a few minutes i hear Nim doing something so I turned to look and she was up on the mini trampoline and it seemed like she was going to use it to climb up on the bed for some cuddling.. however when i called her she didnt try to get up. she seemed i thought to be trying to decide how to do it. in hinesight i think i noticed her head moving a bit but it didnt register at the time. then I hear what sounded like a ripping sound so i lead her off the mini trampoline thinking it was going to break under her and I didn't want her to get hurt *i couldn't have imagined what was about to unfold*

when i got her off i realized it wasn't a ripping sound there was not tare then at second glance I realized it! it was pee! Nim had peed through the mini trampoline! so i asked her if she needed to go out and she started walking sideways towards me! this worried me she was walking at an angle seemed like she wanted a wall for support..a quick glance it looked like she was holding up her back leg and she fell. then she got up and fll again. i panicked! i scream and broke into tears i called pat and fought through my tears that it was an emergency and nim needed to get to a vet. then i ran to my roommate i could hear her getting up and falling but i was paralyzed in fear for a few minutes. we came out and nim was in the bathroom, she followed us out walking sideways and fell again. then it got even worse. she began looking like she was trying to get up and falling back really quickly in a repetitive and circular motion. she was literally spinning around the kitchen and across the room doing this. i scream as my knees buckled just crying. i couldn't even talk to the vet i was such a horrible mess. all i could think was that i was seeing my dog suffering and dying a horrific death! i thought they were seizures. Sarah did what she could to keep me calm reminding me to stay with nim and to pet her no matter how bad it got. i wanted to close my eyes and make it all go away. there was nothing worse then seeing Nim go through this! after she got off the phone with the vet we wrapped her up in blankets and protected her head. *Sarah suggested it as i couldn't think clearly at all at this point!

We knew things were really bad because when pat here she didn't even seem to realize he was in the room. normally she runs around in excitement when she so much as hears his car and when he walks in the house. however this time he came right up to her but it was like he wasnt even there. we all slowly and carefully lifted her onto the blanket and loaded her into the car. as soon as we got there staff came out and we got her into the office. they checked her temp 104.9 and we went over our week and what it could be ruling out what it wasn't. Nim was realy out of it. her eyes were glazed over and she couldn't even get off her side. when she would sit up she swayed. When the doctor came in he checked her over and checked for an ear infection. her ears looked good so he moved on to test her eyes and her sense of touch. through these tests he found she lost vision in her left eye. she also lost sensation in her front left leg. He said that it looked like she has old dog vestibular disease but her loss of vision in one eye and loss of sensation in her front leg is unusual so it could have been a stroke or possibly a brain tumor. the good news is that if it is old dog vestibular disease most dogs who get this recover to nearly 90 plus percent back to normal. Unfortunately it would cost thousands of dollars to figure out which for sure. while we waited for mom to get there Nim started to show some improvements. her eyes cleared up and she waged her tail when mom walked i showing she was aware. she also tried to sit up but didn't have to much of a rolling fit with our support. after reviewing our options we said we will take her home and see how she does with supportive care. We plan to reassess in a 5 plus day. We have much hope that she will regain her ability to stand and walk and may make a near full recovery! we are praying very hard for this


Nim's care: for care she needs subcutaneous fluids twice a day on antibiotics and aspirin (coated) physically nim cant really use her limbs and sways when she sits up. she is also tilted to the left the vet said this is classic with old dog vestibular syndrome and will likely improve if the diagnosis is correct but may always tilt her head a bit to the left. Still unable to walk

 

Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers she means everything to me!
     
                          -AutismDogGirl

FOLLOW Nim's recovery at

https://www.facebook.com/PrayersForNim