Body by Jake.

Jake had his sixth therapy session last week.  The first few sessions we did laser and acupuncture. Even with an every-other-week schedule, I wasn’t really seeing a difference in the monkey-man.  He has what I call ‘uptime’ on his legs, which is about 75% of the (awake) day and ‘downtime’ on his legs, which is the other 25% .  While he was not worsening, therapy just didn’t seem to be doing anything.

There are a few goals with Jake in general — bulk him up and build as much muscle mass as possible.  Also, keep his hind legs working as much as he’s able to so that they don’t atrophy.  For all we know, a cure for spinal scarring could come one day and we won’t have that option if his legs atrophy.

So on our fifth session of therapy we decided to mix things up a bit and swap out acupuncture for B12 shots (injections given at the same points the acupuncture needles go in).  While there was no shift in the uptime versus downtime, I did notice that during his uptime, he seemed much stronger, even after just one B12 treatment.  That continued with the last treatment as well.

When you have a dog who has paralysis in his future, little victories like this are HUGE.  Like I may get him a trophy. And a theme song.  Also, little man is much beefier now and you have no idea how cute he looks.  I keep expecting him to say ‘I’m da terminator’.

Look at those rolls!3 31 14a

His waddle is now so epic it can hold his head up while he sleeps. 3 31 14b

13 thoughts on “Body by Jake.

  1. Hopefully the new treatments keep working – he’s lucky to have you keeping his legs as strong as possible. Nice to have a friend to cuddle with during downtime too!

    • Hahahhahaha! As awesome as that would be, I feel like Jake’s version needs to have some clown zoink and bops in it! He’s the comedian version of Rocky!

  2. It sounds like you’re on the right track towards the treatment combo that will be the winning one. I love what the laser was able to do for Dottie. Sending lots of loves in the mean time!

    You know I got a B12 shot once and woah, did I ever have a ton of energy afterwards!

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