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Yesterday was a great day for Spike.  He helped me bake cookies by making sure that anything spilled on the floor was cleaned up, he wrestled with Scott and chased the tennis ball, and curled up next to me on the couch.   I knew it was too good of a day,  I just knew.

Just as we were getting up to go to bed, Spike started to look around in a dazed sort of way.  He started to have a small seizure foaming at the mouth and shaking.   It only lasted a 20 seconds or so.   Then he had a grand mal seizure, which Scott was able to stop with a dose of valium.  His body stopped convulsing but he was unresponsive.  We thought he might be dead.   I wanted to get him to take a dose of clorzapate, but he  did not recognize the piece of chicken I placed in front of his face.   He eventually became aware of his surroundings, but went into an another seizure.  This was a vocal seizure where he just yapped without awareness for about 7 minutes.   Scott loaded him into the car and we took off for the animal hospital.   

On the way there Spike came out of all the seizures and was just back to normal.  For me, this is the hardest part of epilepsy how he can be normal minutes after a seizure.  We got him booked into the hospital and left him overnight.  I knew when I left him that would be the last time I ever saw him again.  

The neurologist called this morning and said that Spike had another seizure overnight and after talking with her we decided to let Spike go.   Scott went to the hospital to be with him, but I could not go.  I stayed at home and cried.

He was a great dog and will be missed by everyone who knew him.

Refractory Epilepsy

I have consulted with our regular vet and the neurologist.  I am slightly cautiously optimistic.   Both vets said that Spike is in a difficult spot, he has what is called refractory epilepsy, which means epilepsy that is resistant to drugs.  There is still hope that the Zonisamide might help.  However, the neurologist was honest and said that if the Zonisamide does not help that the likelihood of another drug combination  working is slim.  Scott and I are determined to focus on making sure Spike enjoys the life he has.  Every minute we have with Spike is a gift.

Spike standing by in case Scott does not eat his burrito.

Zonisamide

Spike came home today, which was not at all certain.  Scott and I had come to terms that Spike might not ever come again.  

Our regular Vet and the Neurologist were both unavailable due to the holiday weekend.  We have so many questions and no one to really consult with except with the ER vet, who is so busy that he really does not have the time to coddle us.  I really need some coddling right now too.

We have added 3 Zonisamide 3 times a day.   Spike is wiped out. He has been asleep almost all day.  I could not take being at home any longer and went did a little retail therapy. I bought a new couch and ton of new Christmas decorations.  

We had plans to get together with some friends tonight, but had to cancel when Spike had a 20 second focal seizure.  We called the ER Vet and he said that he not really concerned about focal seizures with most dogs, but Spike is not most dogs.   The focal seizure just made us even more nervous.  

I read a bunch of studies about Zonisamide and it does appear to be effective for many drug resistant dogs.  Crossing my fingers that Spike is one of those dogs.

Hopelessness

Spike has had 2 more seizures since being in the hospital.  We are losing hope.   If there is a treatment that will make him better, we want to give it to him.  However, we cannot continue like we are now.

A Thanksgiving Status Seizure

Progress, maybe not.

This morning at 10:44 AM, I noticed that Spike had that pre-seizure look about him.  His head was up and he was holding his body still.  He head started to shake and foaming at the mouth.  The seizure lasted 30 seconds and he never lost his feet.  Two minutes later he had a Grand Mal seizure that we stopped with Valium.   Once it was over Scott took him outside to go to the bathroom and while I was cleaning up, I saw Scott carrying Spike towards the house having another seizure.  We stopped that one too Valium and gave him 3 Clorazepate.  These seizures were not as violent as the ones in the past but they were coming close together.  Minutes later he went into a focal seizure and we loaded him in the car to head once again to the emergency hospital.

He had 2 more focal seizures in the car, he just barked constantly but he was not aware of his surroundings or of me holding him.   He is going to spend the night again.  The Vet hinted that we may need to think about whether we can keep this up.

It is so hard on Scott and I, but I have to believe that we have done everything we can.  They are adding Zonisamide to his treatment.

Focal Seizure

Last night, Spike had his first focal seizure.  It was not bad, we can deal with this.   I woke up about 3:20AM to hear Spike making this weird coughing/gasping sound.   I have since learned this is called a reverse cough.  We could not get his attention and he was not aware of us.  This lasted 2 minutes and when it was over Spike went right back to sleep.  Progress?

Potassium Bromide

The MRI and Spinal Tap came back normal, which is good I guess.

I am back in Louisville and Spike came home today.  He is a little tired, but back to normal for the most part.  We have started on him Potassium Bromide (KBr) 1250 MG once a day in additional to PB.

A Trip to the Horse Hosiptal

Overnight Spike had 2 more seizures.

Today Spike went on a trip of his own to Lexington to go a state of the art horse hospital that has an MRI machine for animals.   The Neurologist is concerned because Spike is so young and healthy to be having such serious seizures, because most dogs do react well to the PB.  He is going to have a spinal tap as well to look for a potential underlying cause.  I know this an expensive long shot, but I almost hope that Spike has something else wrong so we can treat that and have our boy back.

Seizures in Seattle

One of the worst things about epilepsy is the not knowing when a seizure is going to happen.  Every time we come home, we don't know what we will be walking into.  We have annual trip we take to Chicago for our anniversary, this was the first year we did not go.  We could not leave him.

However, I occasionally have to travel for work.  I had committed to present a conference and needed to leave.  Part of me wanted to be able to get away and leave the stress behind for just a little while.

My husband came home today to find the house a disaster with 3 different places in the house showing evidence of seizures, urine and foam.  Spike was agitated and would not stop pacing for hours.  I was on the other side of the country and completely powerless to do anything.

At 9 pm, Spike had a 4th seizure.  Scott gave Spike Valium rectally which stop the seizure immediately and loaded him into the car to take him back to the hospital.  They placed him on a Valium IV drip to stop the seizures and we will have to wait to hear from the Neurologist in the morning.

12 Days

We made it 12 days seizure free.

Spike had 2 seizures today.   He had mini 30 second seizure while still in bed this morning.   It was not bad, but 20 minutes later he had full Grand Mal seizure that lasted 3.5 minutes.

The animal hospital is down the street from where I work, but it is 20 - 30 minutes away from our house depending on traffic.  Too far away when your dog is seizing.  Because we live so far away, we decided to take Spike to the hospital just in case.  He seemed to stabilize by the time we got to the hospital, we probably did not need to go in, but we would rather be safe.  

The Vet increased Spike's PB dosage to 1 1/2 tablets twice a day and I stayed home with him so I could watch him.  No more seizures.

The Neurologist

Spike had no more seizures over the weekend.

On Monday, we met the Neurologist.  She was very nice and emphasized that we just started treatment and there is a lot that can be done.   She wants to start Spike on the 1 tablet twice daily and that we need to get his blood tested in two weeks to make sure that the drug is working and that it is not hurting his liver.  I am cautiously optimistic.

Spike spent the entire day sleeping.  He could not go up or down the stairs on the deck, so we had to take him out the front door where he had no obstacles.  It is suppose to take a few days for him to get back to normal.

Clusters

What a horrible day!

Spike had 5 seizures today and is in the ICU at the local emergency animal hospital.   It started off like the first seizure, but only lasted a mere 3 1/2 minutes.   I thought 'I can deal with this'.  It was scary, but I knew what to expect.

Scott and I continued to plan our day like normal thinking the worst was over.  Scott went out and I stayed at home doing chores.  I had just sat down to check my email when Spike had his second seizure.  This was the first seizure that I had to deal with alone.  It was another 3 1/2 minute grand mal seizure.

I called the Vet but he had gone to lunch, I was unsure what to do.  Spike took a long time to calm down.  He panted and paced for a good hour.  Just when I thought he was calming down, I started to go down to the basement to change the laundry.   I had not gone down 2 steps before I heard a thump.  I ran to the dining room and Spike was having another seizure under a chair.  During the seizure, Scott came home.  We decided to go to the Vet, so I called them and told them we were coming and would just sit in the lobby until they could see us.

Thankfully, we were seen right away.   The Vet said it was time to start medicating him and that once we start this was a lifetime commitment.  Spike was prescribed 1 Phenobarbital (PB) every 12 hours.  It is extremely important to give the on an exact schedule.  We were suppose to give him 2 tablets as soon as we got home to try to stop the seizures from getting worse.  The Vet also let us know that there is a Veterinarian Neurologist in town at one of the emergency hospitals.

I had not had a chance to take a shower, so as soon as we got home I gave spike his PB and hopped in the shower. I was not in the shower 2 minutes when I heard thump. I hopped out and Scott was holding Spike while he had another seizure.    Two minutes later spike had his 5th seizure of the day.

We took Spike to the emergency hospital where they gave him PB intravenously and put a catheter in case they need to hook him up to a Valium drip.  He is going to stay at the hospital until Monday when the Neurologist can examine him.

The worst part of the day was that the last 3 seizures Spike had occur right after I left the room, I am scared that I can't ever leave him now.

A Potential Seizure

My husband and I both work full-time.  Laura, our dog sitter, comes everyday which makes me feel better that someone is there to check on our boys while we are away.  However, they spend 6 to 8 hours alone each work day, that is a lot time for seizures to happen.

My husband came home today and Spike was acting weird.  Normally, Spike greets us   at the door wiggling like mad.  Once he greets us, he runs to his toy box to get a toy to present to my husband.  Today Spike did not greet my husband at the door, but was pacing and agitated, he did not want to sit still or be touched.  Scott searched the house and found foam and urine on the carpet in the office.  We suspect Spike had a seizure.

By the time I got home, Spike was back to behaving normally.  I talked to Laura who said that Spike played extra hard today, he went on 2 play dates.  Spike is a great player, he runs and wrestles.  He has never met a dog that he does not like.  I wanted to think positive that he did not have seizure, maybe he just played too hard.  I know that he had seizure, but I hate to think about him being alone and seizing.

The First Seizure

The first seizure is always the worst.

I had never seen a dog have a seizure, so when Spike had his first seizure I thought he was dying.  Spike got up like a normal morning and curled up next to me on the couch while I read, but he never really settled down.  He kept moving about trying to get comfortable.  During one of these moves, he froze and his started twitching.  Before I knew what was happening he had fallen over on his side and his whole body started convulsing.  He peed himself and then his legs started paddling.  He foamed at the mouth and his eyes rolled back into his head.  My husband and I thought he was dying.  

This seizure lasted 4 1/2 minutes, which is seemed like hours.
We tried to call our vet but the office had not opened.  We are fortunate to have a dog sitter who comes by daily to take Spike and his brother, Pasha, on play dates with their dog friends.  She was in the neighborhood and came over just as the seizure was ending.  We were besides ourselves with terror, but our dog sitter explained this was "just epilepsy".

Spike recovered quickly and when the dog sitter arrived he thought he was going to play.  He jumped up and wiggled like mad.  We learned that after a seizure dogs often need to go outside to the bathroom and very hungry.  We did take Spike into the Vet's that morning and once again were told this is not a big deal.  Lots of dogs have epilepsy, it can be bad but for most dogs they may have a couple of seizures a year.  The vet recommended that we hold off on medicine unless he needs it.  I left the vet's office feeling better and then talked to a few people at work whose dogs had epilepsy.  Everyone was positive and told me stories of their dogs who lived long happy lives.

Spike was tired the rest of the day, but for the most part his normal self.