Indy's Story
Indy Lessemun is a seven year old Border Collie, National and Crufts obedience champion. His kennel club name is CH Rockin Indy-Go OW Cex.
Indy was brought to Fitzpatrick Referrals on 18 July when four days previously, he had turned suddenly to fetch a ball and become instantly unstable on all four limbs. He was taken to his primary care practice and on examination, was found to have spasm of the neck musculature, his front and back legs were stiff and extended and he was in severe pain.
Indy’s owner, Claire Porter had requested that Indy was referred to Fitzpatrick Referrals, despite the fact that she lived some distance away in Worcester as she had read about Noel Fitzpatrick and felt that Indy would receive the best possible care and treatment at Fitzpatrick Referrals.
When Indy arrived he was able to stand but was very wobbly on his back legs. The spasming in his neck had stopped. Both hind limbs showed neurological deficits and he was able to walk, but only just. The right hind leg was more profoundly affected than the left.
An MRI scan of the entire spine was performed which showed multiple areas of disc disease. Compression of the spinal cord due to disc extrusion was evident at the junction of the thoracic and lumbar spine. A moderate volume of disc material had popped out of the disc at high speed and the concussive force of this material had caused damage to the cord. This disc material was also causing continued compression on the spinal cord. To put it in context, this is like a doughnut leaking jam into a confined space of the spinal canal and the effect on the spinal cord is that of putting a cement brick on a garden hosepipe. The problem with this is that if you throw the brick hard or if the brick is large enough it might actually permanently damage the hose (spine) and even when the brick is taken away then the hose (spinal cord) may still be damaged – and you still can’t water the garden.
The findings indicated a guarded prognosis since, because the MRI scan indicated loss of blood supply to a region of the spinal cord associated with the disc problem, which is common with this type of injury (spinal cord ischaemia with high MRI signal intensity). Luckily the high-field magnet within the MRI scanner at Fitzpatrick Referrals was powerful enough to detect this accurately and pinpoint the diagnosis quickly.
Emergency surgery was required since Dr Noel Fitzpatrick was concerned that more nucleus pulposus (jam) might leak out of the disc (doughnut) and might paralyse him permanently (throwing a large block fast against a hosepipe).
Surgery was performed to relieve the pressure on the spinal cord by means of a hemilaminectomy – whereby a small window is cut in the bone of the vertebrae allowing access to the spinal canal to allow removal of the ruptured disc material (jam).
Indy’s procedure was performed on 18 July and he stayed at Fitzpatrick Referrals for two days.
On 22 July, Indy’s owner contacted us to let us know that Indy was much brighter and happier in himself and she had been strictly having his physio performed 3 – 4 times a day. Claire told us that he was still weak on his back end and that his right leg is weaker than the left. This would make sense because the greater injury was to the right side. The swelling on his back has gone down and his wound is healing well. Claire commented that he was definitely standing more ‘squarer’ than before the operation and not so ‘sunk’ on his back end.
Indy came for his recheck to Fitzpatrick Referrals the week of 25 July. He was able to walk unaided but was still slightly uncoordinated. There was a good response to the surgery with the owners reporting that he was already five times better than prior to the surgery at only 10 days post-op.
On 2 February 2012, we received the following email from Indy's owner:
"I thought I would drop you a little note to inform you of Indy’s progress since you last saw him. HE IS AMAZING!!!!! – Simple as that!
We have doing every bit of rehabilation you can think of – Hydrotherapy (Treadmill), Chiro, Massage Therapy (which is amazing), hill walking, ball balancing, wobble boards, Tellington Touch.....you name it, we’ve tried it. He is walking and running amazingly well, and if you didn’t know what he’s been through you would never know to look at him. He is walking straight now, no wobbling and running is getting better all the time. I think he will always ‘bunny hop’ while running though. But who knows?
He has recovered so well he will be competing in the Dog Obedience Championships at Crufts on Friday 9th March in the Obedience Arena in Hall 5. We would both LOVE to see you there if you get a chance. Indy’s ‘fan club’ are dying to meet you and express their thanks."
Claire Porter, Indy's Owner
You can watch Indy fully recovered and in action by clicking here.
To view more footage of Indy before his procedure, please click on the links below:
Gallery
