first full day back home

Bella has a shaved patch of skin, starting at the top of her head, 12" long by 6" wide . There is a dorsal incision beginning at the base of her skull and extending 6" towards her rump. It is being held together with 23 staples. She has another shaved patch over her rump about 3" x 4" where they injected dye for the diagnostic myelogram. There is a pain patch filled with fentanyl on her right side which I will remove in two more days.

She has no motor function in any of her limbs, and can move only her head. She is on very soft bedding, and must be shifted every so often. I let her lie on one side,then the other, then on her tummy. She has a lot of pain deep in her neck.

She has no voluntary bladder function, although she is not incontinent. I must manually express her bladder every few hours. This is hard to do at first. The bladder is a lemon sized water balloon located in her abdomen between her ribs and backside... closer to the backside than ribs. There are also intestines and her colon located here. Nothing really to hurt by applying firm pressure. More on this fun activity here. Actually it was fun the first time I actually got it to happen. I was having a very unsuccessful time of it, with her whining and crying, and me apologizing and pressing and pressing again. Then I remembered the prednisone causes excessive thirst, so I filled her up with as much water as she would drink to get her excessively full. That did the trick.
If I am not dilligent about this urination business, she will likely end up incontinent due to an overstretched and flaccid bladder.
So far she has not had a bowel movement. I guess I won't worry about that until tomorrow or the next day. She is supposed to have them as usual. No expressing of the bowels, thank you baby jesus.

I am to give her one prednisone twice daily for the next six days, then once a day for seven days, then one every other day until they are gone. She takes a half of a 10mg pepcid ac (generic) each day to help with stomach upset from the pepcid.

I have also started her on a daily joint supplement called synovicre. Beef flavored chew tab. Yum.

I am to give her physical therapy two to three times daily. They include:

• Compressing leg muscles to simulate the weight of standing. Apply pressure with palm of hand to bottom of paw with the other hand keeping the knee joint from bending up towards the body.
• Stretching the legs. Lengthening each leg towards the back and towards the front, holding each stretch for a little while. I've been counting 10, and watching her breaths.
• Rotating each leg in a bicycle motion, moving through a full range of motion.
• Manipulating her feet and toes. I can stretch them apart and play with them all I want. She hates this normally, so this will be a good gauge to measure the regaining of sensation and movement.
• Supporting her into a standing position with her feet flat on the ground and gently rocking her back and forth, and side to side.
• Massaging her muscle tissue and joints.

A great online booklet describing all aspects of dachshund disc disease and treatments is here.

My questions are these:

1. Why isn't she sleeping much?
2. Why isn't she having a bowel movement?
3. When can I roll her from one side to the other over her back?
4. Is it ok to really fill her up with water to make bladder expressing easier?