What a beautiful Saturday it was in San Francisco. The weather was perfect for taking our two Beagles out for a much needed romp in the park. Little did we know that less than 24 hours later, our beloved oldest girl, Lucy, would be in excruciating pain with potentially permanent neurological damage in her lower back and both her hind legs.

The warm afternoon sun shone brightly on the lush green field, and the ball flew fast across the grass. Lucy and her sister, Hannah, were in Beagle ball-playing heaven, whipping back and forth and scampering like obsessed maniacs after their favorite blue racquet ball. "Aaahrooo!" they happily sang with ears flapping. We played for a long while until I noticed Lucy lagging as she returned with the ball. "C'mon Lu, go get it!" I shouted as I threw the ball once more. But she just watched it go by as Hannah ran past her. It was getting late anyway, so we packed up our things and headed home.

The girls got their dinner and we left for a couple hours to meet a friend. When we returned, Lucy greeted us at the door. She had that, "Heh-heh, who me?" look where she was slightly hunched, walked cautiously, and cowered slightly as we went to pet her. I thought she had gotten into the garbage again, but no evidence was found, and she hadn't even touched her dinner. I then realized she was still hurting from our afternoon at the park. So we got the heating pad out and cradled it around her until she fell asleep.

I awoke at 5:30AM to the sound of Lucy whimpering at the foot of the bed. I thought she had to go to the bathroom, so I opened the door, but she wouldn't move. I picked her up and carried her downstairs out to the yard. Again, Lucy sat there and did not move. As took her back inside, I heard her breathing get louder, not a normal breath, but a wheezy sort of grunt, and then she started shaking. Something definitely was not right. We got dressed immediately and took her to the emergency veterinary hospital.

The doctor on duty said Lucy appeared to have a spinal injury with neurological damage. Her hind legs did not support her, her back was now very arched, and she could not stand on her own. This posture, I found out, is known as a "down dog."

Lucy was given an injection of hydro-morphine for immediate pain relief and Metacam (meloxicam), a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. They took an x-ray and saw some calcification on one of her vertebrae, which means she had previously injured that area - not a good thing. She also had a squished disk (excuse my lack of the medical term for "squished disk") which was adding to her discomfort - again, not a good thing at all. She was prescribed Metacam, Robaxin (methocarbamol - a muscle relaxant for treating spasms), and Tramadol an opiod for pain. All activity was restricted for at least a month - "basically she can go out to pee and poo, but that's it." If this didn't work? Surgery. Ugh. Our poor ball-loving happy pup Lucy. She was "down" and so were we. "But," the doctor said, "you could try acupuncture. The holistic doctor may be in today and she has had good results with back injuries." Hmmm...

With it being 6:30AM on Sunday, we took our drugs and our dogs (Hannah came for the ride) and went home. Lucy was loopy on the morphine and snoozed comfortably.

A few hours later, we were back at the hospital, this time to see Dr. Molly Rice, who lucky for us, works there every other Sunday when she's not at her own practice. Although separated upstairs, the atmosphere of the Holistic Department wasn't too different or new age-y, as one might imagine. Just a bit quieter. We found out that Dr. Rice had studied traditional veterinary medicine before adding animal acupuncture to her expertise. That was great because Dr. Rice was very familiar with the drugs Lucy had been given and how they affected her. Dr. Rice also said human acupuncture is very different and it's important that a veterinary acupuncturist be specifically trained to treat animals.

Dr. Rice sat Lucy on the examining table and ran her hand over Lucy's spine. She immediately felt heat at the point where the injury was located. Dr. Rice explained that the upper vertebra in dogs hold the ribs in place and do not move much compared to the lower portion of their spine, which moves more freely. The point at which the non-moving and moving vertebra meet, is the most common place for injury to occur. And that's where Lucy's injury was.

Dr. Rice said applying a heating pad was not a good thing to do immediately after an injury, but instead, ice would have helped reduce the swelling. On the other hand, it was great we had brought Lucy in right away, because immediate treatment produced a better rate of recovery.

She then "needled" Lucy at specific acupuncture points, not only on her spine, but her head and all four legs. Lucy didn't mind much at all. Little wired clips were attached to the ends of four of the needles on Lucy's spine. The clips were hooked up to a small box that sent an extremely low-level electrical current to the needles which stimulated circulation at the acupuncture points. The lights were dimmed and Lucy had to chill out with the needles for about 20 minutes.

When Dr. Rice returned, she gave us some Traumeel and Resinall E Tabs for Lucy to take twice a day. Traumeel is homeopathic remedy for reducing inflammation and also an analgesic. Apparently Traumeel has been a known treatment for injuries due to acute trauma for over 30 years and is included in the Physicians Desk Reference. Resinall E Tabs are an herbal supplement used to improve blood flow and tissue regeneration, and is a treatment for pain and swelling due to traumatic injuries.

We were also instructed to rub in a bit of Zheng Gu Shui liquid, which is like an Icy Hot or Tiger Balm type solution, on Lucy's spine and apply an ice pack for 10 minutes to reduce swelling. All of the treatments recommended by Dr. Rice were compatible with the prescription drugs prescribed by the emergency doctor. But unlike the hydro-morphine and Tramadol, which are known to have side effects such as constipation, herbal and homeopathic remedies are gentle to the system.

I later found out that Zheng Gu Shui is also used by the regular section of the hospital as a mild topical anesthetic for injections. After rubbing some on Lucy's spine, Dr. Rice also performed aqua puncture on Lucy, where she injected a syringe of liquid Traumeel, B-12, and an injectable pain medicine, into the acupuncture points near Lucy's spine. It was also recommended that Lucy return for acupuncture and aqua puncture treatment in a few days. Restricted physical activity for several months was also prescribed to allow healing and prevention of re-injury, including no stairs or jumping on couches. This is a huge undertaking to monitor in our house, but the other alternatives were repeated trauma and injury, surgery, or possible permanent neurological damage and paralysis of Lucy's hind legs.

Upon our return home, Lucy's posture was looking a bit better. A day later, her walk was still wobbly, but she was not in as much pain and even managed to shuffle her butt over to the treat closet so quickly that I had to slow her down. Needless to say, her appetite was back. Luckily we already had a comfortable, supportive orthopedic bolster bed which properly supports her frame, unlike a floppy, unstable cushion bed. The only difficulty is being able to get Hannah's exercise in without Lucy getting excited.

We're glad the doctors were open to a mix of both traditional veterinary treatment, as well as a holistic approach. The blend seems to have worked and if we can avoid surgery while achieving good results, then that deserves a round of "Aahrooo's" from all of us.