Right after Thanksgiving Egon celebrated his 4th birthday. We had a big day, picked up special dog treats, took him shopping for a new fleece pullover (since quite a bit of his hair fell out with his immune disease) and had cake.
Two days later he went into static seizures(back to back, non stop seizures), by the time we got to the Emergency Vet he was almost twenty deep and his body temperature was way too high. Thankfully, the vet was able to stop the seizures without putting him into a medically induced coma and he had no brain damage from the temperature spike. Shoutout to Chad, who was at dinner with Andrew when the seizures started at home. He had to come with us to the ER, since there was no time to drive him home after they got home to me frantically trying to get medication into Egon. He got to see the worst of it, the struggle. I guess its fitting that we call him "Uncle Chad" regarding our dogs.
New Years Day at 6am he had a second bout of seizures, again nonstop and back to back. We had a game plan (we had to figure one out after the first set) and were out the door and in the car en route to the E Vet in about ten minutes, made it there in good time. Seizures stopped on their own (and possibly from the medication we give during seizures?) and he stayed there for a day to be watched. Seizure watch at the Emergency Vet means your lil buddy wears a jingle bell collar, so every move alerts the ears.
Here's the deal. With each seizure episode, the propensity to have more is greater. So one seizures paves the way to the next, one type of seizure paves the way to more of that same type. Not that they will all be this way, but the likelihood of him going into static state is now greater than it was. When they have back to back seizures, their body temp quickly rises. If you are not at the ER for injectibles within thirty to forty five minutes, the brain starts to die. Permanent brain damage ranging to death, all dependent on how fast you get your dog to meds.
His seizures follow no pattern and have no triggers. In the year of "egon's seizure diary" that i've dutifully kept, I can find no consistency EXCEPT for the fact that they tend to happen between 8pm and 6am. That just basically means that we have becomoe dog hermits, trading off dog watch when one of us wants to socialize. There is no more going to dinner past 7pm together unless we have a dog babysitter. Its been a weird shift, but honestly, I don't mind spending my time with him. I'd like to get as much in as possible, I feel like any work day we could come home on our lunch break to great sadness.
Not to be morbid or depressing, the situation is just really sad. I will say that over the last couple months, the last bit of the Bromide he was getting has gone from his system and his snappy attitude is back. He's less tolerant of Dottie pushing him around, and is happy to use his refined skills and muscle to hold her down and boss her about. It has been great to see.
Hoping things continue to get better. For now, daily dog pics and life stuff are going here:
less words, simpler things
Staying posi.
