Do You Kiss Your Momma With That Filthy Mouth?

This week has been frustrating.  Can I show you one of the reasons why?

Front

Holey Spinal Defect, Diaperdog!

This week brought an interesting discovery with Matilda, our diaper dog.  If you missed the last blog about Matilda, her special medical needs, and how she was acquired, see the last blog post, Lost and Found.  Over the recent weeks we found her tail to be a particularly problematic thing.  Cutting holes in the diapers to put her tail through resulted in feces spilling through the hole at times.  Placing the diaper over her short little tail resulted in feces caking to the underside of her tail, which is in a fixed position in close apposition to her perianal skin.  This made the equivalent of a feces pocket and was quite difficult to thoroughly clean.  So after much consideration of the unmovable tail which, by the way, had no feeling, I decided the tail should be removed to make diaper hygiene more healthy and efficient for the rest of our lives together.

On Monday, I spayed Matilda and removed her tail.  When we clipped her for the tail amputation we found a dimple with a small white scar just over her lumbosacral junction.  Palpation of this area revealed a firm attachment from the skin to the vertebral area beneath.  Also palpable was the large "dimple" in the center of the dorsal aspect of the vertebra associated with the attachment.  These findings taken together leads to the probable diagnosis of spina bifida with a closed meningocele or myelomeningocele (also called spina bifida cystica).  Diagnosis would require a myelogram, which I will not subject her to, as it will not alter our course of treatment or the prognosis for her.

The Lost and Found

My wife and I recently celebrated our sixth anniversary.  My parents offered to keep our kids for a week so that we could get away.  We chose to spend the weekend in a cabin in Georgia.  We stayed in a town called Blueridge.  It was quaint and peaceful.  The folks we met were so very friendly.  We ate apple pies from the orchard there and fresh trout from the river.  We shopped at the Amish food stands and charming shops on Main street near the train depot.  We recommend it.  The owner of the cabin had a notebook full of local attractions and restaurants.  Each one had a small handwritten note such as "try the pies" or "nice shop but the owner is kind of uppity."  But the best part was just being alone for two days in a cabin with my bride and feeling the connection that gets lost amidst the clutter of daily life and child raising. 

Sadly, we came home that weekend to a disaster.