Update

No real change in Solomon as of early this morning. He was pretty unwilling to get up and I had to help him outside to empty his bladder. (Lifting 90lbs of struggling GSD almost did in my back! )

I took a big risk and took him to a new vet. The one I've dealt with over the last ten years simply priced herself out of my reach (In fact, she's priced herself out of many people's reach here). I've heard a lot of good things about this guy from other animal people and they were all right.

This man went beyond what's "normal" for vets. He followed us out to the car when we went to get Solomon and watched him "walk" in. We expected to have to carry Sol, but he was able to get himself all the way to the exam room with a couple of rests (he was pretty wobbly--one leg isn't working well at all). The vet did a careful exam, checking reflexes, etc, and sat on the floor and fed him treats (teeth cleaning biscuits) while he talked to us.

Since Sol is walking some, he's optimistic that this will resolve itself with rest, anti-inflamatories and the shot of Depo-Medrol that he gave him. He hunted around and found a sample bottle of anti-inflamatory meds for us (much better than $3.00 a pill). We should see an improvement by tomorrow. If we don't see a notable improvement within 48 hours, we'll take the next steps--X-Rays, etc. He then walked us out to our car and stood and talked with my husband while I paid the bill.

Meanwhile, I'm supposed to keep Solomon pretty quiet (which shouldn't be hard) until he's moving more normally and then limited on lead exercise for a while.

Solomon was just thrilled to get to go for a car ride and he likes going to the vet because it almost always means cookies and lots of people "admiring" him (shots are a minor inconvenience compared to all of that) so he thinks he's had a pretty good day.

On the other hand, I'm exhausted, but I figure after all the times this dog has saved me over the last nine years, I can carry him for for two or three if I have to.