Blitz-post op nearing 5 weeks

Thanks so much everyone. I was almost afraid to give an update because everytime I post how well is doing and that MAYBE we have turned the corner, he has a relapse for days. BUT we are doing much better. 

The day of his acupuncture session, like the time before, he was having an awesome day. Bright eyed, playing, hopping around, grabbing his ball, and obviously no discomfort. Because of this I almost cancelled the acupuncture. I wanted to know if he would continue to improve without it. But he DID have the session. The focus this time was on phantom issues vs pain control so the needles were placed differently than before. Once the needles were placed he seemed frightened, and the phantom cry returned for a time or two while at the vets and then again that evening, but certanily not like the last time. The vet seemed to think it was the redirction of the energy channels causing the discomfort, and that would be shortlived. I am still not so sure acupuncture is Blitz's thing. The rest of his day was OK, but not as nice as before the acupuncture. But then again it was getting late in the day and that is his usual time for discomfort if he is going to have any.   

This week we weaned him from the Amantadine. Last dose yesterday morning. As you know, both Garbapentin and Amantadine  cause some mobility "wobbliness". For Blitz, having both on board seemed to be interfering with the strength he needs in the rest of his body resulting in back, neck, and other muscle/leg strains. It will be interesting to see how he does. I will keep you posted.

Thursday he was started on Shen Calmer by Jing Tang. 8 capusles once a day, for 5 days then moving on to 2x daily. It is not cheap and like the acupuncture it will be hard to judge if it is working because he was already improving without it. It was something the vet ordered for us when things were not going so well and it took over a week to come in. So we will use up the first bottle and then see how things go. He is now taking the Gabapentin 300 q8h, Carprophen 75 q12, Shen Calmer once daily,  and his antibiotic which should finish up this week. Next the vet would like to wean him from the Carprophen. I will attempt this next week if I am comfortable he is continuing to improve. We can always add it back if needed.

This morning we continue to do well. His eyes are sparkling, tail wagging, playing with his ball, and chewing his toy bone. His interaction with the family is pretty much back to normal, and life is pretty good. We do continue to have occassional phantom episodes, typically the evening time, but they are much less than before and seem to be getting less and less as the days/weeks pass.

I think for now I will not do another accupuncture session just to see if it actually made any difference. The vet states that most dogs respond after 2-4 sessions, but not one. So it might be safe to say we would have been fine without it. 

Thanks again to all of you for sticking with me. I am forever grateful for your support during this very challenging experience