Rehab

This afternoon I called our vets’ office and spoke to their rehabilitation specialist. She is originally from the hospital where Charlie had his surgery, and has experience working with neurology patients. We have started to set up a plan for little Charlie.

I explained our situation, how unpredictable he is, and she came up with a great idea for how she can work with him in short sessions a few times a day twice a week, and he will be given his 1:00pm Gabapentin pill while he is there. I will drop him off at the facility in the morning, and he’ll rest in a crate in the ICU (where at least one nurse will be keeping an eye on him at all times.) Then he will get a little bit of physical therapy (rehab) 2-3 times per day, depending on how he feels. Either my sister or I will pick him up when he’s finished for the day. We will be shown some exercises we can do with Charlie at home as well.

I will ease him into it slowly, because he tends to growl at people he doesn’t know or trust, which is why he was sent home from the hospital so quickly after his decompression surgery. But Charlie bonds very quickly with his main caregivers, so I expect him to get used to them after he is there a few times.

I have scheduled an appointment with Charlie’s regular vet this coming Saturday morning for an exam, to have his hocks looked at, and to basically get approval to begin rehab. Our little boy is going to begin the next step of his recovery!