Degenerative Disk Disease

This is the disease my poor pookie has been diagnosed with. Just a short explanation on what this means: two disks in his back had punctured his vertebrae, in doing so causing paralysis to his lower extremities. There are 5 stages to the severity in this disease: 1- mild pain, self-correcting in a few days, 2- moderate to severe pain, 3- partial paralysis but ability to get around, 4- paralysis but ability to feel, 5- paralysis and loss of feeling. Duke is in stage 4. What this means for us as parents is...VERY tough choices. The vet said that she is 98% confident that he will heal through medication, however it is not a permanent fix. After reading the book that she provided me I realized he has a less than 20% chance of recovery without surgery and a less than an 80% chance of recovery with surgery. I know it is probably best to have the surgery, however we really do not have the money to send him to a neurologist for doggies. Not to mention the recovery period, I would have to take off work for at least 2 weeks because they can not be left unattended until the dog gets complete feeling and control over bowl/urine movements back. We are trying the medical treatment first (3 pills every eight hours & 'kennel rest' and absolutely no heights) we are in hopes that this will heal our precious little pookie, however as of right now we can not see any improvement. We ask that you please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. He is our little man, this is the dog that has the best personality of any animal I have ever met. To leave for work one morning with your little man running around carrying your shoes like he does every morning then coming home from work to a sad, teary-eyed doggie who can not get up or walk, it is one of the most heart breaking things I have dealt with in a while. When people are injured or not feeling well we can talk and explain that but he can not and to look into his eyes and see the pain and him all tense and unable to move just breaks my heart. I apologize for the long blog, but I needed to get this off my chest and my hubby and I have cried together until we can not cry any longer. We appreciate the thoughts and prayers and love from our friends and we will keep you posted on Duke's recovery.