Finally in FL. It's fantastic to be here, and things have finally settled down, but the first couple of days were very rough. I know I've already talked with a some of you, but figure this is the most current version of all the craziness -
We got in after our long drive from TX on Sunday night. Unpacked a few boxes, got some pizza and dropped into bed around 11. Woke up at 1 am to Dharma convulsing on the floor - literally flailing herself off the floor and back down again, head covered in foam, and muscles contracting rapidly. She stopped breathing, and Scottie (my hubby) leaned over her to try to see her eyes - as he did so, her eyes flew open, and she jumped up and snapped. We had to leave her alone to get to the hospital - kitties and Logan were fine - we left D in her own room and headed to the ER. : (
Scottie's fine - ended up with 8 stitches in his chin and 5 behind his ear - antibiotics, some pain meds, and two hours later, we were back home......of course, too much adrenaline for either of us to sleep. Couldn't get a hold of an emergency vet to save our life, but I had calmed down enough at this point to realize she had a seizure - granted, the worst seizure I've ever seen, but at least I had an answer to what had happened. Kept checking in on her - she was resting comfortably - woke up once about 4:15, but still wasn't back to "normal" - I can't remember the name of it at this time, but she was in the third stage of the seizure (or I guess after the seizure).....she was trembling all over and eyes couldn't focus - we let her rest some more until I could get a hold of my regular vet at 7 am - thankfully, we have a wonderful one down here from my time spent last year.
Got her into the vet for an exam and some bloodwork. Doc also felt she was very sensitive in her abdomen and wanted to do some x-rays. Left her at the vet and came home to Scott - he's doing amazingly well - says he doesn't have much pain, just a twinge now and then. Take Scottie to the doctor for a wound check - everything looks good, but she wants to leave the stitches in a few more days than normal since because of the wound on his chin (he gets stitches out next Wednesday).
Go in that evening, pick up Dharma - we go over her x-rays - everything looks fine, except that her stomach is tilted in an odd way, and he can't see her liver - he feels she may have a small liver (can't remember the technical term), and that it might not be filtering things properly.....wants me to bring her in the next day so they can sedate her and get the x-ray of her liver (they need her to be on her back to get the proper view, and she never, ever lies like that - i think it's because she's deaf and doesn't like to look at things upside down?? Needless to say, she wasn't impressed when they tried to make her). Take her in the next day, different doc on duty, but I knew that already. She calls me about three hours after I dropped D off - she has the bloodwork back, and everything save the red blood cell count and the CK enzyme are fine (both are a bit elevated, but after the seizure, she said that would be normal). Anything and everything the liver controls was perfectly within range. Soooo - she thinks it's just basic epilepsy, or possibly a one time thing from the stress of the long move. She doesn't want to put D under to do the x-ray, because the sedation lowers her "something" threshold if she is epileptic....which would mean she could seize more often, with cluster seizures or more Grand Mal Seizures (which is what she had Monday AM). Also mentioned that she thinks there may be issues with Dharma's vision - peripheral specifically.........not necesarilly important to the seizure, but just one more thing we have to be aware of. And, didn't really think that there was a problem with D's abdomen, but moreso thought that Dharma was just uncomfortable being examined by someone she didn't know, and obviously couldn't hear behind her......
So after discussing the pro's and con's of Phenobarbitol (the med they use most often to control seizures), and of starting her on something right away vs. waiting - we decided to carefully monitor everything Dharma does for the next 30 days. She said there was a possibility we had missed smaller petit mal seizures, and told us some of the things to watch for (extended, held movements, staring at one point for extended period of time....hard to explain, but at least I know things to look for). If she has another seizure, we just need to let her work through it and then proceed to the meds. If anything she does is any way out of the ordinary, we'll let them know, and go from there.
After finally relaxing a bit and realizing this is fixable, one way or the other - my first doc calls back to check on her. Tell him what the last day or so has been like, and of course he has the notes from the second doc about her re-diagnosis. Oh, also mention that after she got home, I rubbed and pressed all over her abdomen, chest, etc, and no reaction whatsoever....she didn't seem to care at all, let alone be uncomfortable. He said he can see how the second doc came to her conclusion, but that he still thinks there may be an issue with her liver. He urged me not to put her on Phenobarbitol without doing the liver x-ray, if something else is to happen. Made sure to remind me to keep up on her diary and to let them know of anything odd (not that I had done much other than think of Scott or Dharma anyway).
So - we still don't know what is going on, other than we have two different opinions, and both docs feel its ok to "wait and see". I'm waiting on a call back from one of the other vet's in the practice to see their conclusions on the bloodwork, x-rays, and both exams......
Of course, Dharma has no idea what happened or that she hurt Scott - this was a freak accident and has nothing to do with her personality (which is uber sweet, as anybody who has met her knows). From my understanding, dogs don't remember anything about the seizure - the accident was definitly our fault - but as Scott said, he is sure he would have done exactly the same thing all over again.....once she stopped breathing, we thought we had lost our baby girl.
Other than this craziness, FL is great - house still isn't unpacked, but we've had a chance to check out our favorite seafood place - haven't seen the beach yet (so sad about this!!) but Scottie can't go because of the open wounds mixed with the sand and saltwater, so I don't want to go enjoy without him - doesn't seem fair. A few more days of rest, though and I'm sure we'll be feeling more normal and can start to explore our new home!
I'll be sure to keep ya'll updated on Dharma, and of course how Scottie's doing too.