MRI Results for Morris

Vivian and I went over to visit Morris after my back doctors appointment this afternoon. His neurologist called me and said he had some results from the MRI but I wanted to talk to him about it instead of just getting it over the phone plus I wanted to spend a little time with Morris. The doctor was still in surgery when we got there so we hung out with His Majesty until the surgery was  was done.

The vet tech put us in a visitor's room and brought Morris to us complete with his catheter. I was to let them know when we were done and they would take him back to his "room". The surgeon came in about the time Morris started getting restless so Morris went back and the doctor spent about a half our with us in which we talked about the results, he showed us the MRI and we talked about future plans. So........ there is no ruptured disk or breaks in the back which would have been easy to fix with surgery. Instead it shows that he probably either has massive inflammation in the spinal cord or lymphoma in the spinal cord. He is sending the MRI films to a radiologist for his opinion and they are doing x-rays and ultrasound of his whole body to see if any cancer shows up.  If nothing shows up then they will do a spinal tap tomorrow to check the level of inflammation. Treatment for both options will be the same - massive doses of steroids.  If it is the inflammation then it's 50/50  he will respond.  If cancer, then the steroids may buy some time. Unless the treatment is successful I will have to make a decision on what is an acceptable quality of life for Morris but I'm not going there yet.  Both vets say they will help me make that decision. Since he won't need to stay in ICU, I will move him to his regular vet either tomorrow or Thursday and he will be there for awhile until the catheter comes out and he shows some improvement. The fall did not cause any of this.  The opinion is that it was already there in the spine and he was weakened which is why he didn't clear the desk on his jump like he has done for years. The people at the hospital have fallen in love with him as have the other vets and are giving him special treatment, etc. I went to the regular vet's office from the hospital to fill them in and talk about boarding him which they are more than willing to do.  While there, I found out that Dr. Cain (regular vet) and Dr. Weinstein (neurologist) went to vet school together and know each other very well. We will see what tomorrow brings after the tests.

I'll write about my back tomorrow....one back at a time... 8-)