Gemini is a sweet sweet 7 year old mixed girl.

TIMELINE

On Friday she was "walking weird, like her back is tight". At this time she wouldn't lay on her back to roll over.

I took her to the park, walked her, rubbed her back (we previously had a dog with muscle spasms and this helped) and she returned to normal activity.
She jumps off a bed that is above hip height, and I think this is the culprit.

Saturday she began circling the kitchen when no one was home from 4-7. Sitting for about 30 minutes at some point. Around 7:30-8 she sat herself by the door and wasn't moving her back legs. My parents returned home and found her at 8. They took her to the ER at 9. At 10/11 she still had light pain sensation. We were discharged after getting Xray confirmations at 1am.
We returned to the er at 6am. She had no deep pain sensation.
I honestly had held it together aside from crying a bit before sleep but this was completely devastating. 5 hours and she had loss all feeling? I could've driven to LA if that meant her being seen sooner.

She had been given a 50/50 chance of recovery, surgery estimated at 12-16 grand. She had herniations in her c13-15. She was operated on around 10:30am.

The next day, no deep pain sensation. I visited her twice, the first time she sat herself up upon seeing me but remained laying down. The second time she was already sitting up and tried to move towards us. This is equally devastating, seeing her not moving her back legs. I'm happy she is alert and trying. I'm currently convincing myself that it's just the swelling from surgery, but also preparing for her to be without leg function for a year. I've only now started reading on this thread.

HOME SITUATION

She is being kept for tonight and we're going to hopefully get her in the morning. I got a larger crate than what fits her size to help us getting her in and out for bathroom breaks. My mom works from home and I generally freelance with an occasional 9-5 stint and have a separate living area in the backyard.

I'm constantly bouncing between complete hope for her and feeling like I'm in a living nightmare. My boyfriend has disc issues and that itself felt hopeless and he has full mobility, just a lot of pain and numbness. I am so so afraid.

QUESTIONS

I've read a bit on posts here. I have some questions for opinions.

I have a separate living area from the main house. The main house has multiple animals, another dog and 3 cats. I'm not worried about leaving her alone, but I am so worried about other animals stressing her out. I can keep her in the separate area but I am in the middle of a 9-5 gig and freelancing and DEEPLY worried about hurting her when moving her between spaces. Is it worth trying?

I want to get a top loading crate to make sure it's easy getting her in and out. Any suggestions? I've seen people say they prefer an open top entirely but I want to make sure no other animals will bother her.

When I visited her in the er she was sitting up with her legs underneath her. She is curved like a C because her legs are so short in comparison to her torso. Is having her spine curved like this detrimental to her healing? She would roll up like a "cinnamon roll" when she was healthy.

This also is probably the worst thing I've ever typed. I am chronically ill and it's for good and bad. The good thing is I am limited to being horizontal or laying down quite often and I can just lay with her when I have episodes. The bad thing is having insufficient or poor sleep makes me significantly worse. I haven't been in danger as a result before however as I've aged I don't trust that I won't faint in some sort of dangerous manner. But when I've fainted in public it's worked out so far! Should I suck it up for a year and sleep with her or leave her in the main house with my parents? Both are extremely regulated with their schedules and love her equally as much as I do. I feel like a piece of shit considering this but now that I'm typing it maybe they also want to be around her. I just want what's best for her.

What are the odds that I'll hurt her? I'm scared to carry her. How do I support her back? What if I bend her wrong? Am I just having anxiety or is it a high chance I fuck something up?

I want so deeply to walk around with her. My boyfriend says to prepare for the worst to save myself the heartache. What do I tell myself? That maybe it'll happen with time? Should I not think about it at all and just try to function? My heart feels like it's constantly breaking.