The story of Gus – a new leash on life

Now and again I have the opportunity to make a huge difference for patients and their humans.

A single case like this can really carry me and my team through a whole series of tough and tragic cases. These are the “silver linings” we all crave.

Gus came to us first as a pain patient. He was losing function, and we were faced with a conundrum:
“Is Gus weak because he is painful?,” or “Is Gus weak AND painful?”

In the early stages of these cases it is impossible to know the difference. So, we began with the obvious first step. We worked to control the pain and re-evaluate the weakness. One of my early blogs was about Critter, a dog who was weak because of his pain.

Gus, though, was a different matter. Once his pain was managed, he remained weak, and in fact his weakness continued to progress. Unfortunately, we were left with the reality that he was dealing with degenerative myelopathy – - such a devastating yet common issue for German Shepherds. Because Gus had enjoyed an active, athletic, outdoor lifestyle with his owner, we measured him for a K-9 Cart, and ordered him his “candy-apple red” set of wheels. He was like a teen-ager in his first muscle car! We fitted his chair to him, strapped it on, and he raced down the hall at the clinic. Within a short time he was running alongside his owner again – - an activity he dearly loved before losing so much function.

As his disease has progressed, so has the muscle-wasting that is the hallmark of this disorder. Just a couple of weeks ago, he developed a decubitus ulcer – - a pressure sore – - over the boney prominence at the top of his thigh bone. Decubitus ulcers can be devastating for these patients because any time they are not in the wheelchair, their body weight alone puts incredible pressure on shrinking tissues. Whole areas of the body can become devitalized, lose their blood supply, and simply peel off. It can be pretty ghastly, and if the tissue can’t heal, euthanasia can be the outcome.

Fortunately for Gus, we were able to apply common sense principles of good hygiene (cleaning and closing the open wound), good wound care (by removing dead and dying tissues), and the latest in technology in the form of therapeutic LASER to create a “perfect storm” of healing.

After just three treatments, we have a bed of very happy, healthy, healing tissue, and our conversation has turned from discussing euthanasia to laughing together as Gus reminds us his time on this earth is not yet over. Gus is happy, his human is happy, and once again I and my team are reminded why we do what we do for a living!

Photo credits:  Dr. Robin Downing

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