Being in the moment with Prophet

A little over two months ago I noticed that our dog, Prophet, was unsteady on his feet when turning around quickly. He was also struggling to jump into the car, and slipping when walking downstairs. The vet thought we were looking at arthritis, and I began giving him anti-inflammatories along with the dietary supplement he has been taking since having surgery for a ruptured cruciate ligament in 2017. After a couple of weeks, though, I wasn't seeing any improvement with the Rimadyl, and the vet asked that we get an x-ray.

Prophet racing down a 75˚ incline

The images showed only minor arthritis -- not nearly enough to account for Prophet's problems with walking -- and the vet said this indicated degenerative myelopathy. He explained that it is a progressive and incurable condition and that it is similar to ALS in humans. Prophet is seven. I know that the lives of dogs are quicker than ours, but I had been hoping for a few more years of long, active, daily walks in the wooded parks of the Bronx. The vet said that he couldn't predict the progression of the disease, but that we were probably looking at half a year to two years.

Prepped for cold laser treatment.

After Prophet's cruciate ligament surgery, we took him to an animal hospital in Manhattan for some physical therapy. We decided to bring him back with this new problem. The rehab vet did a gait analysis and a DNA test. He recommended a daily regimen of massage and exercise that I could do and also initiated some sessions with their physical therapists, including cold laser treatment, underwater treadmill, balance challenges, and walking over hurdles. Back when Prophet was a puppy he had a catastrophic illness.  After that, e purchased health insurance. It paid for part of this.

Some dogs don't like the vet. Prophet fights to go. It is the one destination that makes polite leash

Underwater treadmill.

walking impossible because he is so anxious to see the people he knows there. The animal hospital is a little different. He treats that as a day spa. He loves the underwater treadmill and loves being towel-dried afterward. He really likes being rubbed with the cold laser and even tolerates the protective goggles. He doesn't fight to go inside as he does at the vet. He just gets a huge smile and leads the way.

I don't know why the rehab vet is so confident that I am fastidious about doing Prophet's exercises and massage everyday. Maybe he says this to everybody on the theory that they are more likely to be consistent if he says that they are. Nevertheless, I do, in fact, make certain to follow all his instructions. If I am honest, it is another way of expressing our closeness and that became increasingly important after being told that our time together would be shorter than I thought. And I realized, too, that dogs live each day for that day. They don't fret about the future. I owe it to Prophet to try to do the same. As long as we are out in the woods every morning I should enjoy those walks and not worry about how many more we might have.

After a month and a half we returned for a new assessment. This included the same measurements and gait analysis as before. I hoped that we were slowing the progress of degeneration. Instead, the rehab vet informed me that Prophet's thigh muscles were stronger than they had been at our previous visit with more bilateral symmetry! He reminded me that during our previous visit Prophet had stumbled each time we turned around at the end of the hall. While his gait wasn't perfect, this time there were no stumbles at all. And he told us that the DNA test was inconclusive, that Prophet only had one copy of the gene associated with degenerative myelopathy and was therefore probably only a carrier.

At the time I found all this news merely puzzling. Myelopathy is a diagnosis of exclusion and I knew I was not going to do all the tests necessary to rule everything else out, especially because it wouldn't affect treatment: there is no treatment for the condition. And since deciding that I need to live in the moment with Prophet I felt less worried about an actual diagnosis anyway. So I just continue to give him his daily physical therapy and massage. But this weekend felt different.

Saturday we went to Van Cortlandt Park and I decided to let Prophet decide where we went. He was very determined to set a course and a pace. He led me from the Northwest Woods by the horse stables across the bridge to the Parade Ground then all the way down Broadway to the Van Cortlandt House. Then we had to cross the old Putnam Division right-of-way to the lake, through the marsh, back across Tibbett Brook and back to the Northwest Woods. He was in an extremely cheery mood the entire time, despite the fact that he has to be on leash the entire way and this is close to a two-hour walk, longer than we have done since the weakness in his hind legs appeared.

Up on the ridge in Van Cortlandt Park

Yesterday we went to Van Cortlandt Park again, but this time I insisted on setting the course and the pace. We walked the Northwest Woods, up the flat path to Yonkers, then climbed to the ridge and back south. One thing I have not done since the initial diagnosis is to put him in a sit-stay and then summon him from a distance over rough ground. It seemed reckless. But that is just what I did yesterday. Near the end of the walk is a rocky promontory with a precipitous drop of over 80 feet to the paved path. It's emotionally an easier ask with the leaves off the trees because he never loses sight of me. I second-guessed myself a lot as I walked down, but I talked myself into it. He made the twists and turns of his descent at speed and without incident.

So my decision to live in the moment is surviving. He is not one hundred percent, but there is no doubt that he is stronger than he was when we first brought him to the vet and stronger still than he was when we first brought him to the animal hospital. His friendship is a blessing to me and I am thankful for it every day.