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Posted by: tony on 08/17/2006 01:35 PM
Updated by: tony on 08/25/2006 10:54 PM
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Expires: 09/17/2006 12:00 AM
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 Would prayers to St. Francis be in order? I'd hope it would be appropriate. With the number of people dying daily in the Middle East, and untold thousands a day dying from abortion, my request seems almost trivial.
Tuesday night at 2:30am, my wife awoke to our 14 year old dog, Missy, thrashing on the ground in the throes of a convulsion. This lasted for over 10 minutes, which makes it dangerous and necessitates a visit to the vet.
After the fit was over, she had a hard time gaining her feet, and was wandering around confused. We tried to get her to settle down, but she'd have none of that. After about a half hour she seemed more herself. She was drinking some of her water, and my wife gave her her biscuits.
I took off on a business trip, and a half hour down the road, my wife called me to tell me that the dog was convulsing again, and she was taking her to the vet.
She's been in the "hospital" for two days. The vet has run blood tests, and can't find anyting wrong. The nurse told me that "well, she's an old dog..." as if to blame old age for their inability to find anything wrong.
The dog is coming home tonight with anti convulsant medicine. My wife mentioned that we should talk about "what we want to do about Missy". I'm not ready to think about that kind of stuff yet. I know that her fate, as the fate of all of beings both mortal and immortal are in the hands of a loving God. I don't want to "give up on her" before her time, and euthanize her unnecessarily, nor do I want her to suffer.
I have read that the dog is "out" for the seizure, and when they "come back" they really have no knowledge of what happened to them. If this is the case, the seizures are more frightening for us than for Missy.
Please say a quick prayer for her, and for us. And if you've had experiencing with a dog who is prone to seizures, please let me know.
Update: Missy is resting comfortably, and the few seizures she's had are very minor (a little trembling and foot "paddling") and of short duration (less than 5 minutes). She is on 60mg of phenobarbitol per day (30 mg twice a day). She trying to get up, and not having a lot of success.
We're going to give it three weeks to see if the medicine stabilizes her, and gets her quality of life to a reasonable level (at least so that her tail will wag occasionally, and she seems to enjoy her food).
I'll keep you all posted.
Update 2: Missy's alert, and she is going outside (with a towel under her belly slung around her somewhat holding her up). She's walking for a bit, and when she tips, I pull up on the towel and straighten her up. Her tail is wagging more, and her back feet aren't curling under when she tries to walk. So the prayers seem to be working. Thanks to all pray-ers. :)
Update 3: Missy is up and walking around. She appears to want to walk around more than sleep. Her tail is wagging all the time now, and there are less "accidents". She likes to go for small walks outside. I've posted a picture of her from today.
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