So the last week has been a bit rough... Hurricane Sandy blew through and I don't know if it's because of the low barometric pressure, the fact that I missed one dose of Max's Keppra or a combination, or the stress of the storm but he ended up having a focal seizure. The day after the storm hit I ran out in the morning to get some fencing (to keep the other dogs in after a tree crashed through the fence). When I got home, Max was in the same spot in the house that I found him when he was having the cluster seizure (needless to say he will no longer - ever - sit in that spot if I can help it.. a little superstitious) His face was twitching - in particular his left eye kept blinking repeatedly...
I thought it was a full seizure, until I realized he was moving his arms and legs because he was trying to get up. If I pushed on a leg or arm, he'd push back, he would grunt, he was just all around irritated at the situation. Having had a twitching eye myself (from eye strain) I can only imagine how frustrated he was. I called his holistic vet and she came over to do acupuncture, and we decided to up his prednisone and keppra doses (at this point in the game we know what we're doing - normally I'd suggest calling your neurologist). Once the focal twitching of the left eye stopped - we saw his eyes were circling.. Not a good sign. That meant there was some kind of pressure on his optic nerve or in his brain.. could be another bleed, a tumor, or related to the airpressure? or who knows - maybe just stress from the storm (we did have a tree fall 1 ft from the house (again)).
So.. his prednisone has been upped to the dose on the label, and his Keppra is right where it's always been. The circling has just about stopped but it's still there is a little. The first time his circling was bad it took about a week for it to go away - so in remembering that - we're ok.. but something is still going on (and I have to remember there's another storm approaching - another N'or Easter - if it does have anything to do with the barometric pressure..) I mention the barometric pressure because we know 4 other brain tumor dogs who were in the way of Sandy and ALL of them had seizures. I also know 2 kids who are prone to seizures in the way of Sandy and they also had seizures. Who knows.. but something to consider.
The other thing I noticed was Max's gums were a little paler than normal. Pale gums can be a sign of pain (which could be from the circling or something else) or can be a sign of anemia or internal bleeding. The last time Max had that bad cluster seizure his gums were paler than normal.. So... to combat that I upped his yunnan Biayo dose to 1-2 capsules / day ( I had him down to one every other day)
ON THE POSITIVE...
While we're still trying to combat and figure out what is going on with that part of his brain.. Max has started to use his front legs more and more to walk. He's actually been able to start dragging them and putting them into the correct position when he's full of energy. Back legs he seems to prefer to knuckle walk right now - no matter how hard I try and work with him.. however if he's on the hardwood - he'll walk flat footed becasue he gets better traction..- go figure!
He has started to grunt when he wants to be picked up , or moved, or wants something - so something is going on in his brain where his speech - or noise maker function - is coming back slowly
And the most annoying thing that he's doing now.. if he doesn't want to eat, he will grit his teeth really tight and if you pry them open he WILL bite you and bite hard and grunt.. He is making it perfectly clear he will eat on his terms... He also has made it pretty clear he prefers sweet food to bitter or anything else for that matter, so I've discovered that if I add honey to his food he's more likely to eat it (honey does have some good properties - natural antibiotic)
Anyway - Max is definitely more cognitive than he has been . He's doing some problem solving which is all good.. We just have to figure out what caused the googly eyes and see if there's a way to stop it and keep it from happening again... (which probably requires another MRI.. )
Anyway - that is the latest from Max land.. I have some videos I"m going to need to get up shortly for your viewing pleasure. I did not take any of his googly eyes - which looking back - I should have for others dealing with this.. but I really didn't want to face what could potentially be going on..
OH - and because we upped his meds.. he's more sleepy and lethargic (that's not the brain thing going on.. it's the drugs if anyone else is dealing with this too. ) And since he's more sleepy and lethargic, he falls asleep while he's eating so we added Sub Q fluids to his diet since his tube was taken out.. (This is something you can do at home if your vet is willing to show you..
It helps keep Max hydrated.
I thought it was a full seizure, until I realized he was moving his arms and legs because he was trying to get up. If I pushed on a leg or arm, he'd push back, he would grunt, he was just all around irritated at the situation. Having had a twitching eye myself (from eye strain) I can only imagine how frustrated he was. I called his holistic vet and she came over to do acupuncture, and we decided to up his prednisone and keppra doses (at this point in the game we know what we're doing - normally I'd suggest calling your neurologist). Once the focal twitching of the left eye stopped - we saw his eyes were circling.. Not a good sign. That meant there was some kind of pressure on his optic nerve or in his brain.. could be another bleed, a tumor, or related to the airpressure? or who knows - maybe just stress from the storm (we did have a tree fall 1 ft from the house (again)).
So.. his prednisone has been upped to the dose on the label, and his Keppra is right where it's always been. The circling has just about stopped but it's still there is a little. The first time his circling was bad it took about a week for it to go away - so in remembering that - we're ok.. but something is still going on (and I have to remember there's another storm approaching - another N'or Easter - if it does have anything to do with the barometric pressure..) I mention the barometric pressure because we know 4 other brain tumor dogs who were in the way of Sandy and ALL of them had seizures. I also know 2 kids who are prone to seizures in the way of Sandy and they also had seizures. Who knows.. but something to consider.
The other thing I noticed was Max's gums were a little paler than normal. Pale gums can be a sign of pain (which could be from the circling or something else) or can be a sign of anemia or internal bleeding. The last time Max had that bad cluster seizure his gums were paler than normal.. So... to combat that I upped his yunnan Biayo dose to 1-2 capsules / day ( I had him down to one every other day)
ON THE POSITIVE...
While we're still trying to combat and figure out what is going on with that part of his brain.. Max has started to use his front legs more and more to walk. He's actually been able to start dragging them and putting them into the correct position when he's full of energy. Back legs he seems to prefer to knuckle walk right now - no matter how hard I try and work with him.. however if he's on the hardwood - he'll walk flat footed becasue he gets better traction..- go figure!
He has started to grunt when he wants to be picked up , or moved, or wants something - so something is going on in his brain where his speech - or noise maker function - is coming back slowly
And the most annoying thing that he's doing now.. if he doesn't want to eat, he will grit his teeth really tight and if you pry them open he WILL bite you and bite hard and grunt.. He is making it perfectly clear he will eat on his terms... He also has made it pretty clear he prefers sweet food to bitter or anything else for that matter, so I've discovered that if I add honey to his food he's more likely to eat it (honey does have some good properties - natural antibiotic)
Anyway - Max is definitely more cognitive than he has been . He's doing some problem solving which is all good.. We just have to figure out what caused the googly eyes and see if there's a way to stop it and keep it from happening again... (which probably requires another MRI.. )
Anyway - that is the latest from Max land.. I have some videos I"m going to need to get up shortly for your viewing pleasure. I did not take any of his googly eyes - which looking back - I should have for others dealing with this.. but I really didn't want to face what could potentially be going on..
OH - and because we upped his meds.. he's more sleepy and lethargic (that's not the brain thing going on.. it's the drugs if anyone else is dealing with this too. ) And since he's more sleepy and lethargic, he falls asleep while he's eating so we added Sub Q fluids to his diet since his tube was taken out.. (This is something you can do at home if your vet is willing to show you..
It helps keep Max hydrated.
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