Lola

Ten-year-old Beagle Lola is in the late summer of her life and is brought to Fitzpatricks by Sarah who is worried that she may have a spinal problem after collapsing on her back legs.

An MRI scan reveals that the pain from which she is suffering is associated with two diseased discs between her neck vertebrae which are compressing her spinal cord and nerves. In order to get Lola out of pain and try to stop her collapsing, Noel operates to remove the compressing disc material and fuse three vertebrae solid. He uses special spacers that he has invented to replace the discs and eight pins into the vertebrae, around which he packs bone marrow and cement to provide stability until the bone fuses. But it will be many days before Noel will know if the spinal cord will recover.