Another Grand Mal Tonight! 7/13/09 – Actually 2

I really hope this isn’t going to be a long year with the seizures.

Topaz had another 2 Grand Mals tonight. I believe they started at 11:30pm ish. it was kind of hectic and I wasn’t able to see a clock right away. It was 11:35 when I looked at the clock…

I was making my lunch for tomorrow (Salmon, if that has anything to do with anything…the possible fish connection I made a few months ago) and Topaz went running down the hall to see my husband, which was kind of odd. Not that he’s never done so before, but it was just odd. Then he came my way and kind of staggered near the dining room table and then I knew, this wasn’t normal…so I was prepared and called my husband down to help.

He definitely foamed a heck of a lot more than usual this time. The first was fairly short, he kind of came around and then went right into the second one. It was a little nosier than the first and he was really contorted into a horrible position. Seeing a dog seize is not a pretty picture! 

A few other things:

• he didn’t urinate on himself during either seizure
• more foaming than normal
• loud crying noises
• post ictal has been long, he’s still not ok (this was written over an hour later)

We called the e-vet and they suggested we bring him in. As you may or may not know, e-vets are super expensive and we only have xx amount of dollars available to use and well, it was definitely going to be more than that. They suggested we maybe bring him in and they could treat him outpatient.

We decided to keep and eye on him and call his vet first thing in the morning. If he has another one tonight, we will take him in for sure though.

I don’t know what else they can do at this point but up his medication. He may just need to be a bit ataxic in order to function with minimal seizures. Lots of epileptic dogs are like that.

I think we may have his thyroid tested again too, just to rule that completely out. Oh and we need to review the ice pack position. I am going to print that out now!

After the seizure we took him outside and I gave him some Bryer’s all natural vanilla which he loved, and also some Rescue Remedy. I also gave him 2 gr of PB tonight and we upped his KBr back to 1.5ml. I am gonna have the hubbs ask the vet about upping that back up anyways.

Hopefully this doesn’t continue. I hate to have to write these blogs…especially back to back.

*sigh* going to reset the ticker. My poor puppa!

7/12/09 Another GM

Tonight is not my Puppa’s night!!

Topaz had another Grand Mal seizure at about 11:10pm or so this evening.

He had been lying on the couch with me again and had been pretty restless…he had JUST settled down.

I noticed that ever too familiar way that seizing dogs have just before they seize and tried to get to him before he fell off the couch. Unfortunately, he kind of landed on his head a bit, I righted him as soon as I could, but it did take a few minutes. I hope he’s ok with that, he seems to be ok. My husband or I couldn’t get to him in time. It was horrible looking.

Anyways, this was so different than his other seizures. It wasn’t so much paddling as it was laying there all stiff with teeth chattering. He also didn’t urinate on himself again, but did foam a bit. He took a while again to get out of it too.

We tried the ice pack trick again, but we don’t have a crushed ice bag ready (note to self…we NEED one of these!) so we used green beans. I also need to have my husband look at the picture of where to put the ice pack and I need to look at it again. We also may need to ask for some Valium from the vet. Esp if this is going to be a new norm.

When he finally did come around, which took a few extra minutes it seemed…even longer than the first one earlier in the evening, we gave him another spoonful of ice cream and rescue remedy and my husband took him outside.

He wasn’t pacing, but was walking around and kind of staggering. Moreso than normal, to me anyways.

We called the e-vet too, to get their opinion. If he has another one tonight, we’ll bring him in. Hopefully all will be ok and we’ll call his vet in the morning. I am thinking we need to up his KBr again back to 1.5 from 1. I don’t know.

I have no clue on this one…just the disease I guess.

Anyway, I hope there won’t be anymore! Poor puppa!

7/12/09 Grand Mal Seizure - 8:35 PM

Topaz had a Grand Mal seizure tonight at 8:35pm. He and I were laying on the couch and I was woken up my him seizing. Didn't seem any better or any worse at the time and luckily he managed to stay on the couch for the entire duration. But him coming around did seem a bit longer to me. He layed there for quite a few minutes just staring, not breathing heavily, but just staring...which is unusual. But he did finally come around.

We took him outside and did the usual routine of Vanilla ice cream (Breyers, of course), Rescue Remedy (thank God I had just ordered some), and his PB for the night. I game him an extra large dose, so he will be out tonight.

We (well my husband) called the vet and let them know too.

So sad to be resetting the ticker at only 43 days, but that is better than some, so we'll take it!

Cannot think of any triggers...just that he's gotten a few more eggs than usual. Other than that, everything has been same ole same ole around here.

Will think on the trigger thing...sometimes things pop into my head later.

Off to reset the ticker.

Something’s Fishy

LOL cute title huh?

So I’ve been thinking about possible triggers and there’s one thing that my mind keeps going back to and that’s fish.

Before the last seizure in February I think it was, I had given the dogs Sardines. That was the only big difference I could think of.

The cats haven’t been eating real well lately, not sure if it’s a seasonal thing, or if they’re bored with the flavors or something (we feed them strictly canned food and generally stick to poultry or beef/liver flavors) so we got a case of fish flavored last time we bought their food, and we got another one this past time as well.

So, maybe that’s a trigger for Topaz, or something in the fish. I don’t know. Definitely an interesting coincident.

He commonly gets into the cat bowls and goes behind them on the floor and everything. We have one cat, Beans, our little female, who takes a mouthful into the bedroom or hallway and then eats it. Half the time she drops some of it and she always leaves crumbs, so the dogs go and eat what’s left.

So, maybe it’s something? Definitely something to watch.

5/30/09 – Grand Mal

Well, unfortunately this morning around 8:14 am Topaz had a Grand Mal seizure. I was home alone this time. Not a fun thing to handle alone, let me tell you.

The details: I was asleep and he came to me a few times, but I thought it was to go outside. I got up to let the dogs out and he was kind of stumbling around and I noticed one leg was twitching up like he had hurt it or something, so at first I didn’t even think seizure…but something else seemed off and not right, so I quickly got down by his side.

He went into full GM seizure right in the doorway of our bedroom. I am pretty sure he urinated on himself, and there was definite foaming at the mouth this time. (my husband said there wasn’t the last time)

It seemed to last longer than the others have, I don’t know if that is truly what happened, or if because I was alone dealing with this, it just seemed longer.

The end was pretty violent and he did make noise this time. He did not go into clusters.

I tried the ice pack, but we don’t have one handy, and I didn’t know the proper placement (although I’ve seen the graphic a million times) so I don’t know that I was doing it right. I’ll have to read about it again.

I took him outside, and thank God for his pool being out there, I helped him into that to cool him down. I left him outside for a few minutes and got a scoop of Breyers Vanilla ice cream and mixed that with some Rescue Remedy and 2gr (I believe) or else 1 1/4gr PB. We don’t have valium, but may need to get some. I definitely need to order more Rescue Remedy next pay.

I called my husband, who’s heading towards Ohio as I write, and explained the details. I was still outside at this point with him. He never did poop afterwards…something he generally does…and he really seems out of it. I predict a longer post ictal stage this time.

Right now he’s sleeping peacefully next to me. We have the air conditioning on, so hopefully he will stay cool…and he’s half wet too, so that may help.

He went 102 days and approx 18hrs. I have no clue as to a trigger…nothing has really changed. I’ll have to think about it.

I’m gonna reset his ticker and add this date to his timeline. *sigh*

And I need to call the vet too, in about 15 minutes.

KBr Test Results

The vet just called and let me know what Topaz’s KBr levels were.

I guess 1-3 is considered normal. He is generally low within normal range.

His result was 3.3 – so he was a little high this time. The vet wants us to get him down to 1.0ml of KBr (I have been giving like 1.3ml or so) and see how he does there. I agreed, he’s been doing really well lately.

We’ll probably have to check him again in a couple months.

Topaz’s Latest Adventures!

I haven’t updated in a while…which always means GOOD news! Which is still the case…thank God! No seizures since the last couple in Feb.

However…he has been getting into things! What else is new, right?

Shortly after the last oatmeal fiasco, he devoured ANOTHER whole box of oatmeal…Apples and Cinnamon this time though! Bad puppa!

And just the other day he ate a package of Knorr Chicken Rice. I scanned the ingredients for Rosemary, and although I didn’t see it anywhere, I upped his PB that night. All seems to be well.

Our neighbor was spraying his yard today, and I didn’t catch it in time…so we’ll see if that has any effect on him. It didn’t last year.

He also got into the trash in my office today. No clue what was in there food-wise…but I think it was ok. There’s always the risk of him getting into this trash so I try not to throw bad stuff in there.

He went to the vet today for his KBr blood draw, a CBC and to get some PB. We also need to get more KBr. We’ll order that after his lab results are back.

He weighs 59.4 lbs now too! At one time he weighed 73 lbs, so he’s lost a good amount of weight and is doing really well.

He’s also back into his little pool. I’ll take a picture this weekend. He loves it! He’s such a happy boy and a joy when he’s not being a total BRAT!