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.