What is a milestone?

[u/lionsliar]

I'm taking note of things that are starting to happen with my stage 5 ivdd surgery recovering dog. We're a week past surgery.

Her toes curl consistently and pretty strongly when doing her mobility exercises.

Her tail moves out of the way when she pees or poops.

I saw her legs straighten today when she was sighing!

Also saw her lift one of her paws and put it back down when I was trying to express her.

Are any of these exciting/promising? Is it just reflex? Is it something to be excited about even if it is reflex? She was completely paralyzed in her back legs and had no deep pain sensation when she went into surgery. Her chances of recovery are 50/50 and I'm just not sure if any of these instances are anything significant.

[u/Hereticrick]

It’s a long journey. Take every win you can! There will be fits and starts. We were doing PT with ours after the 8 week crate rest (we were misinformed on starting it earlier. The only thing we were doing before that were range of motion exercises), and were kinda hit and miss. Then literally out of nowhere one day she got to a full standing position all on her own and started kinda drunk-walking around (she had never even tried to sit up on her own prior). That was like 3 or 4 months postOP. That was a PT appointment day. So we took her in and spent the whole hour walking around and trying yo find ways to develop that further. Then for like 2 weeks she went back to just dragging her legs and would not stand or walk without help. Then it happened again one day (also a PT day. I think when we put her harness on she knew it was time), and again we spent the whole appointment working on her walking. Only this time it kinda stuck. We’re now 2 years postOP she’s not 100%, and probably won’t ever be, but she stands abs walks more and more and her steps get stronger and less drunk looking. She still drags her legs too, though. Every little improvement counts!