He did very well and it was a very quick removal.

This is an updated video of Akiva Walking taken today, 5-11-2010.  Akiva has been walking much better, with an improved gait, less swaying of his head side to side, and less exhaustion.  Today is the longest that Akiva has been able to walk without sitting down since before he became ill.  He is able to climb some stairs again, the steps in the house are too much for him, but he can handle the couple steps going in and out of the house. Some more comments below the video.

We can see in this video that there is significant improvement over what we saw just under a month ago. I just looked through the videos from 4-12 and Akiva was not able to stay standing / walking for any longer than 12 seconds. Today, he was walking without sitting down for over 3 minutes.

We notice towards the end of the video, he trips slightly, but he quickly catches himself. If you compare this to the videos taken just under a month ago on 4-12, you will notice that when he tripped on the 4-12 video, he hit the ground with his chest, but now when he tripped, he is able to catch himself.

Tripping on 4-12 (this is typical of what happened when he was tripping around this time, not just a one time incident):

Tripping on 5-11 (this is what happens now if he does trip, he has not been wiping out anymore):

Akiva has been seeing a chiropractor vet in Green Bay for treatment over the past couple weeks. I have Akiva on a number of supplements as well. He is currently taking;

Acetyl-l-Carnitine – 500mg QD – Thorne Research
Coq10 – 45mg BID – Nutramax
Back Support – 1 capsule BID - Vetri-Science
Fish Oil – 321mg Omega 3 BID - Nordic Naturals
Glycoflex III – 1/2 tab QD – Nutramax
Denosyl – 225mg QD – Nutramax
Marin – 1/2 tab QD – Nutramax
DMG – .5 ML QD – Vetri-Science

I may add in a dose of Alpha Lipoic Acid and Vitamin E based upon the suggestions published by the Neuro Muscular Lab at the University of California.

His allergies have also improved since he has been on the Nordic Naturals fish oil, far less itching than normal, some days almost no itching at all.  Akiva has remained bright, and alert with completely normal mentation.

He has also resumed a normal interest in food.  We have been able to reduce Akiva’s weight by 2+ pounds slowly with a reduction of calories, he is currently about 16.8 pounds, with a goal of 13-15.  He was at about 19 pounds at the end of march, I feel we are achieving weight loss at a reasonable pace, and will continue towards his ideal weight.  I feel we will be able to get into the 13-15 pound range within the next 6 weeks.

Akiva will be going into Great Lakes Vet in the next week or so to get a follow up test to confirm that he does not have a toxo infection.

A big thanks to everyone invloved in Akiva’s Care including;

Dr. Jeff Kresal at Great Lakes Vet clinic in Neenah

Dr. Karen Strickfaden at Country Care Animal Complex in Green Bay

Dr. Sophie Petersen at UW Madison Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital

Dr. Bruce VanEnkevort at Fox Valley Animal Referral Center in Appleton

The wonderful Vet Techs and other staff members that have been a pleasure to work with at all of the vet offices — Every single one of you has been wonderful to work with.

Also, My family and friends for their emotional and financial support.

The members of various support groups that have been very supportive; Canine Central, K9 Addisions (wonderful helpful group of folks even thought Akiva turned out not to have Addisions), RawChat, as well as members of various other support groups that lended assistance, support and guidance.

I’ve placed numerous orders for specialty supplements for Akiva from KVVet.  With 5 orders over the past 8 weeks, I have been very pleased with the service.  Every order has been delivered on time, and without a single error.  There prices have been consistently very fair and they have never been out of stock on a item I needed.

Thank You!

I look forward to continuing to work with you on Akiva’s continued recovery.

Jamie Dolan

I am quite behind on updates here and have many things I would like to write about and photos to share. The month has gone by very quickly with lots going on. Akiva has been to Madison twice, we are still working to figure out what is going on, but feel a bit closer. He has seemed to feel well today.

All the plants in our yard are taking off and I mowed the lawn for the first time of the year tonight.

Jamie

Standard recessed lighting:

Part 2

Next Monday we see the Neurology Specialist

3-31-2010
11:41 p.m.

Akiva has been doing about the same for the past couple days. The Tramadol that he is on does seem to help him a little bit, making it a little easier for him to move around, but he is still far from normal. He still can’t climb steps, but is walking around a bit more now that he is on the new medicine (Tramadol).

Akiva Goes To Madison

We still need to figure out what is actually wrong with Akiva so we can get him the proper treatment, not just pain management.  There is a doctor in Appleton that I would have taken Akiva to for an consultation, but I called today and found out she is out on maternity leave.

I ended up making an appointment with the neurology department in Madison. His appointment is on Monday.  It is a hour long.  I just plan to have an evaluation / consultation and possibly draw blood for tests.   I hope that the consultation with the Neurologist will give us some more information or at least send us looking in the right direction.

We may end up being told they want a CAT or MRI next, that is basically the only thing the orthopedics doctor in Appleton knows to do at this point.  However there are so many things that could be going on that would not show on a scan, I think it is well worth it to get the consultation with the neurologist before we do more testing.  It is nice they can get him in so quickly.

Send Akiva lots of Love and wish him good luck in Madison!!!

Jamie with Akiva & Vasco on the Patio - 3-31-2010

Petting Akiva while out on the patio on a warm spring night.

Jamie & Akiva on the Patio

Jamie sitting on the patio with Akiva. (I look pretty bug eyed in these photos)

Akiva looks Left - Vasco looks Right

Cute photo of Akiva (chair) and Vasco (ground) out on the patio on a nice spring night. (3-31-21010)

A short video I made using Picasa of my favorite photos of Akiva from March 2010.  Sound track added from YouTube.

100 Blogs Posts Old!!!

In just over 5 months since I started my blog on JamieDolan.com I have made 100 posts (counting this one). Some are mainly photos and a couple are movies.  Even the photos take a lot of time and effort to adjust, crop, upload and write captions for. I’ve written a number of articles on a variety of subjects and even made a couple how to videos.  All of my content is my own, nothing stolen or borrowed from others.

This past month I have made the most posts, far and away, but have overall been pretty consistent with keeping the blog updated. I’ve changed the look of the blog a couple times, refining it making it look a bit more professional.

I’ve submitted my blog to many search engines, and put links to it on all the sites and forums I use. I also have used the social bookmarking sites to promote my site.  I’ve used twitter and facebook.  Despite all my promotion and all of my efforts, the amount of readers remains fairly low. A photos here or there will get shared with 100 or more people, and that is mainly because I will mention it to people I know on a mailing list.

However, the average number of readers is a much different story, many time a post only sees 2 or 3 views, then it is buried to be forgotten about. I’ve learned that it is really very hard to make a nice web site and to attract visitors / readers, much harder than I expected (not that I even thought it would be really easy).

So far keeping a blog has been a interesting experience, with fairly limited rewards. A few of the articles that I got some real comments and feedback from people on were fun, but that has only happened a handful of times. I’ll keep going, keep writing, and posting photos / videos for the world to see. Maybe some day the search engines will decide to send me more traffic. I guess the Internet is pretty full of blogs already and you have to really work at it to get people to your site.

Maybe someone with a big popular site will one day take pity on me and link to my site, sending me boat loads of traffic. (or one day someone will tell me the secrets of mastering the search engines)

Jamie

My Favorite Photos of Akiva from March 2010.

That is not my favorite photo of myself, but Akiva
looks the best in that one.  Enjoy.

Jamie

Jamie and Akiva -- March 2010

Akiva and Froggie in a stare down contest.

Akiva playing with a Ball of Yellow Yarn while wearing his Yellow Sweater

Akiva and his Puppy in his stroller.

Akiva in his Stroller

Akiva laying on the edge of the table.

Akiva and his Puppy in the Chair (this photo is actually from the very end of febuary, but it was so cute that I had to add it in with my favorite photos of the month)

Akiva Looks UP!

Akiva with his new Birthday toys on his 7th Birthday 3-25-2010

Akiva with the Turttle