Diagnosis of the Veterinary University of Hannover
Monday (09.20.2004) I had my neurological examination, Tuesday the MRI (fully sedated) and depending on the outcome I would have surgery afterwards ...
After getting the appointments Mistress used the Internet to book a room for us. That was no problem. So Mistress, Master and I drove towards Hannover at 9.00 am on Monday morning. Without mishap (Master was with us after all) we arrived at 1.15 pm at the Veterinary University. Since we did not want to get lost on the campus Master asked the porter after the "Hospital for small pets".
Mistress had to fill in a form and then it did not take long for us to be shown into an examination room. Mistress was prepared (she had carefully written everything down) and told the nice vet about my "passion of the dog". I was very impatient and jittery. Master was fully occupied to stop me from jumping up and down - I just had to show that there was really no reason for us to be here I was feeling swell and had not had pains in two weeks ...
After the vet had taken her notes she gave me a "normal" exam and shoved a thermometer up my tail and called it "taking temperature". Up until now that was the worst result of my back pains. An other vet joined us and made the neurological examination. That was to determine if my nerves had already been damaged. First the vet had a look at my gait. Then she tested my reflexes. For example she would knock against my knee with a little hammer, the knee would the move "all by itself". All my reflexes were OK. Master and Mistress were very relieved ...
They took some blood samples and since I was to be sedated the next day they x-rayed my chest. This was possible without the sedation. It was very nice and reassuring that Mistress was allowed to stay with me for the x-rays. After more than an hour of talking and examinations we went back to our room.
On Tuesday morning we were back at the hospital at 8.00 am. A little later a vet came and put me into a collar. He told Mistress and Master that he would phone them after the MRI to talk about the next steps. Mistress told me to behave myself and not to cry but it was her who had the wet eyes ... The vet opened the door and without a glance for Master and Mistress I zoomed out.
I don´t think Mistress and Master know exactly what they did between 8.30 am and 1.45 pm. I personally think they had a lot of coffee and waited for the cell phone to ring. That it did at 1.45 pm and the vet said they had a result. Mistress and Master were not far from the hospital and arrived 5 minutes later to hear what the vets had found out.
Mistress was so exited and frightened that her legs were shaking and she was very pale. Master was very calm (on the outside ...). The vet took them to see the x-ray shots. She first explained what part the pictures showed. On this kind of pictures the disks for example are white while the bones are black. One of my disks in the lumbar region (L7/S1) was or still would bee somewhat grey. That one is not as healthy as the other ones. It has lost some of its "buffer power" and is pushed slightly outward (over the vertebra). But it would not make any difficulties provided it did not develop further.
The vet said the surgery would not "gain" anything at this point. I would likely have more problems afterwards that now, since I was not in pain. But she made it clear that I could not do agility anymore since the stain would be too much. Mistress was so happy that it was relatively "harmless" that she dissolved in tears ...
Everybody was very kind and took a lot of time for us. Every question was answered as often
as it took for my nervous Mistress to fully understand the answer
...
If I should need surgery at some point we are sure to go to the Veterinary University Hannover again!!!
