Miguel during better times

Oh boy. Friday night, I arrived home to find Miguel, our 9-year-old collie, lying paralyzed and panicked on the second floor of our house. Who knows how long he’d been lying there but his barking was raspy and desperate.

It was about 8:30 p.m., so I scooped him up and rushed him to the Animal Emergency Clinic in Kirkwood. The doctor there suspected that he ruptured a disc and maybe even injured his spine. She recommended I take him immediately to Mizzou’s College of Veterinary Medicine in Columbia, where he could be closely monitored and get immediate surgery if need be.

I couldn’t bear to do that. Miguel is a nervous and timid dog under the best of circumstances so dumping him where I couldn’t visit several times a day was not an option. After discussing all this with my husband, who’s in San Antonio, and my neighbors, Paul and Eileen Gmerek (dog experts and Miguel surrogates), I took him home with lots of anti-inflammatory and pain meds.

Saturday morning, Miguel woke up and began walking around, albeit stiffly and sorely. I took him to his regular vet, and they recommended we watch and see what happens. Surgery is a last resort because it’s painful, traumatic and costly.  They said he’d need to be off his feet for an entire month.

Miguel has since improved to the point where he’s walking slowly, but not stiffly. And he’s eating again. I must, however, carry him up and down the stairs in our house several times a day.

So far, this hasn’t been a problem, but I do have scoliosis and have had back issues in the past. I’m worried that I’ll wind up in the same position as Miguel if I’m not careful.

So, here’s the plan: I’ll follow the dos and don’ts of lifting at Back.com. They’re a good reminder of proper body form. And I’ll finally start doing core exercises, which I should have been doing a long time ago.