Seizures, seizures, seizures!

Seems like all I do is write about seizures, but I guess this is a good a place as any to keep track of them.

Last week was a bad week. Mylo had a seizure on Thursday--his first since April! They're always awful, but at least it didn't last very long (20 minutes or so). He's doing really well since being on potassium bromide AND his thyroid pill.

Next... Truman had two seizures on Friday--his first since June 11. That's really good for him! We thought he was over his first one because he was up and staggering around, but then he went into another one.

Actually, I was really pissed at Brian because he was in the garage smoking, drinking coffee and playing solataire on his stupid Blackberry when I woke up. I went out there to tell him good morning, and he said "Truman's on the couch recovering from a seizure." WHAT???!!! I cannot believe he left poor Truman alone to recover from a seizure! What if he'd fallen off the couch? What an IDIOT (Brian that is; not Truman). I ran back inside and cuddled Truman.

ANOTHER Seizure!

Yesterday, the doorbell rang. Of course, the dogs all rushed the door. Before I could get to it, I heard some flopping and skidding on the hardwood. I immediatley knew it was a seizure so I rushed into the kitchen (rather then the door). Imagine my total surprise to find STUART in mid seizure! I scooped him up and got him to the couch (screw the doorbell!) and held him while he convulsed. It didn't last long, but it was a hard one. He threw his head back and his eyeballs looked like they were going to pop out of his head. It was horrible.

I hope he doesn't start having them regularly. His last one was January 14.

I never did find out who was at the door.

Another Truman Seizure

Poor Truman. I took the dogs out yesterday afternoon, but he didn't want to go so I left him inside. 15 minutes later when we came back in, I found him staggering all around with his eyes twitching like mad. I picked him up and cuddled him for about 10 minutes while he recovered. Poor little guy I hate this for him.

Another Truman Update

We've had Truman for 3 weeks, and he's had 3 seizures during that time. Poor dog. I feel so sorry for him.

I got an e-mail yesterday from the Rescue Rep. July is 1/2-price month for senior and special needs dogs. I don't know how I feel about that. I know they're doing everything they can to encourage people to adopt these dogs, but Truman IS NOT a half-price dog!!! And, I wonder because he's both old AND special needs if they'll make him a quarter-price dog? That makes me sad and possessive. Do I really want to turn him over to someone who's only willing to pay half price??? That just doesn't seem right to me.

Truman's Second Seizure

Yesterday I wrote about being nervous every time I heard a noise. Well, Truman had a seizure yesterday afternoon. He didn't make any noises, but he did come and stand right next to me. I was a little aggravated with him because I was doing laundry, and he was right under my feet and wouldn't move. Then, I looked at him, and he started to flip over on his side. I scooped him up and got him to the couch before he had a full-on seizure. I held him there until Brian got home with my Mexican pizza, and he could watch him.

Unfortunately, right as I finished eating, he threw up his guts--I don't know where all that food came from, but it was ALOT--and he was laying on Brian's chest (who was lying down on the couch) when it happened so Brian was covered in vomit, and it was dripping everywhere. Yuck. I had to clean up Brian and Truman because the poor dog got it all over himself. Good thing the couch is slip-covered.

After I got them cleaned up, Brian left me to take care of him while he went to the gym. He is so damn clueless it's not even funny.

Truman wanted down, and he stumbled and wandered all over the place. I was afraid he was going to fall down and hurt himself so I made him get back on the vomit couch with me and sit still. Altogether, the seizure, from start to finish, lasted around 45 minutes. Poor, poor dog. It just breaks my heart.

Seizures

Everytime I hear a funny noise, I quickly track down all of the dogs. I'm scared one of them is having a seizure, and every little bump I hear sends me running after them.

Truman's Vet Visit

The vet wants to have Truman's phenobarbital levels checked. I have to go back this afternoon at 3:00 to have his blood drawn. She's very concerned that he is having as many seizures as he's having.

His teeth are so covered with tarter that she can barely make out the fractured molar that he has so she definitely recommends a dental.

And, she could pop off both of his knee caps with no problems. At which point I told her to STOP! because it was making me queasy! Anyway, she recommends joint supplements to help him out because she suspects he has some arthritis in his back legs.

This poor, poor dog. I feel soooo sorry for him. He was petrified while were were there, too. I had to hold him close, and he put his head on my shoulder and clung to me for dear life.

He's in my lap sound asleep right now. I need to get up because he's making my legs go to sleep, but I hate to bother him.

Another good night...

No seizures and no midnight potty trips.

However, Truman wandered in circles in the living room yesterday, barely able to control his hind legs. I picked him up and put him in my lap. He was very alert and stayed there until the other dogs started barking, and then he jumped down and took off running like nothing had happened. I don't know what was up with that? Was that another kind of seizure? Or was he just tired? Who knows? He has a vet appointment this morning so I'll have to see what they say about it.

Oh dear... Truman/Carlo...

Just got an e-mail to see if we'll take 9-year-old seizure dog, Carlo (AKA Truman). Brian said yes, but he's not the one who's going to be here to take care of the dog. I told the rescue rep that I was very reluctantly saying "yes", but that I'm afraid at his age and with special needs he'll never be placed.

It's going to be a l-o-n-g day...

We found Mylo in the floor having a seizure at 12:13. I don't know how long he'd been having it before we found him (and we only found him because Iggy Pop "alerted" and barked her silly head off).

Brian laid in the floor with us for about 10 minutes then said "can you handle it from here?" which I knew meant he wanted a cup of coffee and to smoke a cigarette. I asked fora cup of coffee, which he brought to me. He put it on the nightstand--just out of reach! I was drooling for that coffee.

Anyway, he (Brian) would occasionally call upstairs: "how's he doing?" which made me FURIOUS.

An hour later, I finally carried Mylo downstairs, found Brian camped out on the couch watching TV, and screamed "WHY COULDN'T YOU CHECK ON US!" At which point Mylo threw himself into another violent seizure. Boy! Brian really pissed me off.

So... we decided to call Emergency Pet Services because Mylo kept slightly recovering and then going back into another seizure. They (of course--cha ching) told me to bring him in. He had five seizures on the way there, but once we got there, he miraculously recovered! We took him in and told them we'd like to watch him for a little while before they did anything to him and charged us $350. The tech took his temperature, and it was normal. They went ahead and filled out a chart for him in case we needed to bring him back, but they didn't charge us anything (thank goodness!).

We got back home at 2:00. Sigh... it's going to be a long day...

Mylo's Second Worst Seizure Ever

So... Yesterday, as I was sitting typing away, Mylo came into the office and immediately fell onto the floor in a seizure. I got on the floor with him to hold his head and try to keep him from thrashing around too much.

Poor dog. He's had seizures since we first got him (which is why, I'm sure, he was turned in to the rescue program). The vets in Terre Haute didn't think he had them often enough (every 4-6 weeks) to put him on medication. The vets here think he needs to be on medication.

Anyway... he kept slightly recovering and then going into violent seizures again. I lost count, but after an hour, I called the vet and they had me bring him right in. He had three seizures in the car before I could get him there.

They put an IV in his arm and gave him diazapham/valium intravenously to calm his brain down and stop the seizures.

Because phenobarbitol is hard on their livers, the vet suggested we try potassium bromide instead. Which I agreed to, but then found out it's $40 for 30 days and has to be compounded by a special pharmacy! He's definitely worth it, but that's on the heels of having to pay $125 for yesterday's vet visit (because it was an emergency they got to charge me more). Dang!

I picked up the pills this morning. They're capsules I have to shove down his throat which didn't work so well. My other option was liquid which I'm not sure would be any easier to administer. The first 3 days he has to take a "loading" dose (3 pills a day), but then after that we switch him to one pill a day. Maybe it will get easier... I sure hope so. I finally got all three pills down him, and he's completely zonked out on his little couch. I hope he's okay.

The phenobarbitol is #1. cheaper, #2. smaller, #3. easier to get at Wal-Mart pharmacy. The downside is the potential liver damage. I guess we'll just have to weigh our options and figure out what's best for Mylo.