The Star: April 29, 2021

The Star Thursday April 29 2021
“Marlo” a 6.5 year old Border
Terrier was bought into see
me Easter Sunday for acute
hindleg paralysis. Marlo was
out on a usual daily walk 4
days previously, rolling on
his back for an itch in the
grass. Suddenly he stood
up and yelped, rolled again
and yelped again and
then walked slowly home.
That night he was restless,
seeking odd places to hide
and was not himself. He
was taken to his primary
vet the next morning as
he was stiff and stilted,
shaking and looked painful.
He was instructed
to be rested, given
anti-inflammatories
and pain medications
but returned the next
day completely off his
hindlegs and dragging
himself around. It all
happened very quickly
and he’d never had a
history of spinal issues
before.
When I saw Marlo he
had non ambulatory
hindleg paresis. He
could feel painful stimuli
in both hind paws
and could withdraw
his paws somewhat.
He could still wag his
tail when his owners
patted him and wasn’t
incontinent. He had
adopted a weird upright
sitting position with
both hindlegs extended
cranially. He found it
difficult to lie down
comfortably but he
was still eating well and
looked relatively happy.
I strongly suspected
an intervertebral disc
prolapse but we needed
to get Marlo to MRI
ASAP. Radiographs were
not performed as they don’t show spinal
cord compression and I didn’t want to
put Marlo through unnecessary stress
and movement. Fortunately we have a
great relationship with Gareth and the
team at Pacific Radiology, and due to the
urgent nature of Marlo’s injury, we were
rushed into Forte Health for an MRI within
48 hours of me seeing Marlo. Marlo was
sedated for the procedure, which lasts
about 90 minutes, and my suspicions
were confirmed. Marlo had a L3-L4
Intervertebral disc extrusion with marked
extradural spinal cord compression
coming from the left side and ventrally.
Other differentials were fibrocartilgenous
embolism, cord neoplasia or cord
abscessation/foreign bodies.
Marlo was booked in within 12 hours after
the MRI for spinal surgery with Dr Helen
Milner at McMaster & Heap Vet Practice. Dr
Milner performed a HEMILAMINECTOMY,
McMaster & Heap
Veterinary practice
SPINAL SURGERY
performed at McMaster & Heap Vets
Open 7 days
Cnr Hoon Hay & Coppell place
phone 338 2534, Fax 339 8624
e. mcmasterandheap@yahoo.co.nz
www.mcmasterheap.co.nz
removing the
prolapsed Disc that
was causing spinal cord
compression. Spinal
surgery isn’t a walk in
the park and requires
a huge amount of
skill and experience
from the surgeon, very
expensive surgical
equipment and a team
of very experienced
surgical anaesthetic
nurses to monitor Marlo
and scrub in and help
the surgeon. Marlo
was under anaesthetic
for 3.5 hours and then
transferred to the After
Hours clinic for over
night 12 hour care.
An indwelling urinary
catheter was placed to
make urinating easy for
Marlo.
Marlo has gone from
strength to strength
and is improving daily
with the help of a huge
team of professionals.
His owners have been
dedicated and capable
in making sure he gets
everything he needs in
the way of medications
and strict confinement. He has been fitted
with a special harness to help him mobilise
and be moved about carefully, avoiding
undue pressure on his surgical site. We
saw him daily to catheterise his bladder.
He is also seeing a physiotherapist. Fingers
crossed he makes a complete return to full
function
The most important take-home point is
don’t muck around with a dog that has
acutely gone off its hindlegs. You need
to organise an urgent MRI (McMaster
& Heap can organise these) and spinal
surgery needs to happen quickly if IVD
compression is diagnosed. The longer
you delay surgery, the least favourable
the prognosis. Time is of the essence and
very few vet practices can offer spinal
surgery in NZL. It is specialist surgery and
the success also lies in the hands of a
competent surgeon.
Dr Michele McMaster
McMaster & Heap
14
NEWS
Residents express views
on Long Term Plan
The consultation
period for written
submissions on
the city council’s
draft Long Term
Plan has closed.
Matt Slaughter
took to the streets
to ask people
if they gave
feedback on it
Annabel Jones, 42: “I
do remember that there
was an opportunity to give
feedback, but I never got
around to it.”
Jones put this down to
“just forgetting to look into
it.”
“I’m just not up to date at
the moment with the news,
unless it’s something that
arrives in the letter box.”
John Gallacher, 53: “No,
I haven’t heard of it.
“I think I might have
heard the rates were
creeping up.
“To think of how
many people live in
Christchurch, and only
2300 people have got a
voice. [It] doesn’t seem
right.”
John Fletcher, 68:
Fletcher did not make a
submission because, “It
[the draft plan] wasn’t
specific enough to get all
hot under the collar.
“I think it’s still early
days yet.
“I have heard sketches
[about the plan], like
probably in The Star. I
know they’re talking
something about rates
increases.”
Diane Timbobolan,
18: Timbobolan did not
know what the plan is and
would have liked more
information on it “so that
we will be aware of what it
is and we know what it’s all
about.
“I think 2300 people
[making submissions] is
too small.”
Tim Jefferson, 49:
Jefferson has heard of
the plan, but said: “I
didn’t go to the trouble
[of [completing a
submission].”
“My assumption was that
it was too long.”
Another reason he
chose not to give feedback
was he”didn’t have many
objections to it [the draft
plan].”
Jacinda Gilliand:
Gilliand had not heard of
the LTP.
She said 2300
submissions does not seem
like many, but she does
not think this was the city
council’s fault. Instead,
she believes this is because
people are “not engaged
enough” with local politics.
However, Gilliand trusts
the city council’s plan will
be beneficial to residents.
Raphael Rim, 17: Rim
did not know what the
LTP is.
He said 2300
submissions is “a very
meagre amount.
“I think that’s really
lacklustre.”
He would have liked
to see “a wider survey”
and more face to face
engagement with the
community, particularly
younger people,
encouraging them to make
submissions.
John McKenzie, 79: “I
don’t know anything.
“I don’t care [about the
plan]. I do my own thing.”
Metala Asomua-Green,
42: Asomua-Green did not
make an LTP submission
or know what the LTP is.
“I suppose I didn’t really
know that anything like
that was happening.”
Regina Shin, 54: Shin
had not heard of the LTP.
She said the number
of submissions giving
feedback on it was “not
good enough.”
Had Shin known what
the LTP was she would
have made a submission.
She thinks at the
moment “they [the city
council] spend so much
money on roads.”
She thinks this money
would be better spent on
services and took issue
with the LTP’s proposal
to cut the hours of some
libraries that are used less
by residents.
“Canterbury is so wide.
Even those small places
need service.”