Thanks for the Tripawd Power Hugs, Sally and Rene!

Griffin is doing much better this morning, although still very wobbly in his hind legs.  It has not yet been 24 hours since his last dose of Gabapentin, so hopefully he will continue to improve.  I used the wagon last night for his final pee break and then carried him to my bedroom, laying him on the rug.  I guess he was offended by that and when I returned to the bedroom, he was standing and then followed me out to the hallway.  He slept well and was able to maneuver himself around to a few different positions overnight.  He needed help getting up this morning but is making the effort to walk.  He sways when standing still and stumbles a bit when walking, but ate a full breakfast and walked two blocks (and stubbornly tried to make me stay out longer as you can see in the video below).  He just seems more "with it" this morning.  Hopefully his acupuncture appointment this morning will help him feel even better!

Thank you so much to everyone who chimed in yesterday! I was panicking that he had a spinal cord injury and never considered that Gabapentin could cause side effects because he did well with it last year.  If his oncologist thinks Gaba is the best pain med for Griffin, I'm going to see if we can start with a much lower dose (he is currently getting 300mg per dose) and build his tolerance as severe mobility issues that might take a few weeks to resolve is a quality of life issue that I don't think is acceptable at this point.

I messed up horribly.  I’m not sure how I mixed up the bottles, but I was not giving Griffin Gabapentin – I was giving him the older, higher dosage of Piroxicam.  So instead of having 7mg daily, Griffin had 23mg on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, plus his regular dose of 7mg this morning.  I figured it out when I retrieved the bottle to show the vet who came for the acupuncture appointment.  I notified his oncology team and contacted Animal Poison Control.  According to the hotline, gastrointestinal and kidney issues are the primary side effects of too much Piroxicam, not mobility issues.  To be on the safe side, I took him to the hospital this afternoon for bloodwork, which came back normal for kidneys and slightly more anemic than he was last week.  The ER vet said the increased anemia could be due to bleeding stomach ulcers from the Piroxicam, so she prescribed 7 days of Sucralfate.  I asked about his hind end paralysis and she said that is not a side effect of Piroxicam.  The discharge papers note that Griffin was non-ambulatory, but to my knowledge, no neurological exam was done.  Very frustrating.

The video I sent this morning was prior to his acupuncture and right after his morning Piroxicam dose, so it was not yet in his system.  He is much worse in terms of ambulation right now.  I'm not sure if it is due to the dose of Piroxicam he received this morning, the acupuncture, or both.  He is unable to bear weight at all on his hind legs and I'm not sure he has feeling in them right now.  His front leg is fine.  He does not appear uncomfortable and upon returning home a little while ago, he ate a full meal and drank water (while lying down).  I spoke with the vet who did the acupuncture and she said that his session was a very easy one with 1/2 inch needles, nothing that should even remotely cause paralysis.

At this point, I'm not sure what I can do besides wait to see if Griffin's mobility returns once the Piroxicam is out of his system.  An immediate concern is expressing his bladder since he was not able to urinate when I tried holding him up outside after we returned from hospital.  I'm going to try to figure that out now (I know Rene recently linked a post with that information).

Thank you all for the support - I do feel like I'm drifting further and further from shore and it feels comforting to have my Tripawds family with me.  Griffin has had some random movement in his back legs (spasming when he was dreaming and pulling back once when I stretched his leg), but other than that, nothing.  I looked up videos of how to express a dog's bladder lying down because he cannot stand up at all and I can't hold him up and express his bladder at the same time.  A friend brought me pee pads, but even though it has been 11 hours since he last peed, I cannot get him to express his bladder.  My friend said that she thought he might be holding it in because he knows he is not supposed to pee in the house, but in the videos it seems that by pushing on the bladder it should make a dog pee whether or not they want to.  I'm letting him rest for a bit before trying again.  I really, really don't want to have to go back to the emergency room to have them express his bladder tonight.  If anyone has experience with this issue, I'd love some advice.