More Seizures

Today started as a better day for Max... but he ended up having 2 seizures one after the other... He tried to stand through both.  His right side was affected by both, more so the 2nd one... and his right front paw is now curling under when he tries to walk (...some of the time.  I did catch him walking across my office a little while ago when he was supposed to be sleeping!)

He only had two but I think this qualifies as a cluster seizure... both lasting about 45 seconds.. his tongue turned blue - the whole 9 yards...  but he knew what was going on and was trying to walk out of both seizures. He could breath through his nose.. his mouth foamed up and he was gasping for air when he started to recover.. He pooped during his 2nd seizure... He was afraid during the 2nd seizure - I could definitely see it in his eyes... his tongue actually turned bluish grey on that one. 

Unlike his previous seizures where he got up and started walking around like a crazy man for a few hours.. he actually lay down and took a nap (which is what my other dogs and cat did when they had seizures)

After his nap I managed to get him to take 1000mg of keppra and 10mg of prednisone with a little raw organic pumpkin.  (I was able to talk with Dr. Bush, our original veterinary neurologist from http://www.bvns.net who was able to tell me what do to.. ( always check with your vets before administering any drugs!)  It took him 10 seconds and he passed out after that... and he's been asleep mostly since then..

Keppra & Prednsone and 5...4...3...2...zzzzzzzzzz

His right front paw still curls under when he gets up and tries to walk, but hopefully it'll improve some by tomorrow so he can at least walk on his own.

I was away over the weekend and Max didn't get any keppra while I was gone... I'm hoping that is all that is going on.. but I suspect there's a little more to it..

Shortly before the seizures I was emailing with Dr. Joseph about his thoughts on a repeat cyber knife treatment.  For anyone thinking about doing it.. he said they wait at least 1 year after the first treatment to do any follow up treatments. He said the results are typically 1/2 of what they were the first go around.. so if it worked well for 12 months, a 2nd treatment will typically give you about another 6 good months.  He also mentioned that there is the possibility that there could be some kind of delayed damage from the radiation to blood vessels and his suggestion was to increase the prednisone to deal with either issue (tumor growth or blood vessel issues).  The only way to tell what's going on is an MRI.  Max is scheduled for one on June 5th.  Depending on how he's doing tomorrow though, we may run him up a little early.

On an emotional front... UGGGGHHHH... I really don't want to deal with this again!  It's been a rough year between Max's tumors, Tulsa and Buster's passing, and assorted other health issues..  but as much as I've been hoping I didn't need to face it.. it's right in my face right now and it's time to get to work on dealing with it... and seeing what we can do.. whether we go the hydroxyurea route, stay the course with just the prednisone, look at alternatives... who knows.. I suppose first we need to find out what's really going on... is it tumor growth or is it edema or blood vessel issues.. or is he just not responding to the medicine the right way... or was it just because he wasn't getting the right dose of the right thing?!

Heck (I said heck.. that's right!) each time he's had a seizure I had just finished dremmeling his nails... maybe the stress from that is what triggered it... although.. in this case.. after I finished dremmeling his nails I actually was picking a bugger out of his nose when he started to seize (not sneeze... seize)!  That old addage about not picking anyone else's nose rings true here.. apparently it could be dangerous!