40 Weeks...Still Here...Update on Darby

Well, truth be known, today I am REALLY 40w3d (based on retrieval date--Jack's original due date should have been January 24, 2003) but this has been my due date (January 27, 2003) since we first saw the heartbeat at the emergency room and little Jack was measured for the first time. Nothing much has happened during the last few days with respect to this pregnancy until this morning. In the car I felt an uncomfortable crampiness around my back and lower abdomen. It could be gas, but it is definitely something new. I think we are going to have the baby on our own...i.e., before we are induced on Wednesday. Don't ask me why, I just have that feeling. As far as our pup, Darby...he is home with us now.....and the news from his myelogram was not good. His little spine is being severely compressed at the sites of his former surgery. The myelogram shows that where the bone was removed during the last decompressive sugery, new bone, scar tissue, and ligaments have grown...compressing the spine even more than before. The outlook is bad. Dr. Dyce said that Darby will continue to deteriorate and that eventually, it will result in total paralysis. This could happen in a matter of weeks or months...but it will not be years.   He said that surgery is the only option that may slow the progression, but that there is a greater than 50% chance that surgery would result in immediate paralysis. He is on a medication that will relieve pain (as that is what caused us tot take him in to OSU in the first place....he had severe back pain all of a sudden). But this will do nothing for the condition. So there are our options. Let him wither away until he is paralyzed (which could mean paralysis of his diaphragm resulting in smothering as he would not be able to breath.) OR attempt surgery with less than a 50% chance for recovery, which could give Darby several years longer. Oh, God...what should we do.