Merry F*$king Christmas :(

Christmas day was the start of a week off for dad, so you can guess what happened next. Not just a visit by Santa Claus, but also a visit from the Seizure Monster.

Fortunately on Christmas day they only appeared very early in the morning at around 2:00am and then late in the night about midnight. So we at least got a free day. But Boxing Day turned out to be the worst day. Quite a few really big ones and as per the "no pattern" to this kind of seizure it's been a bit of a change again.

After the paddling and twisting seizure I go into a state where I'm still in the seizure, but having shocks like electricity hitting me every couple of seconds. Then it's an urgent fight to get on my feet and go who knows where. Takes a lot of effort to restrain me so I don't go off and hurt myself. After that dad can calm me down so I at least stay lying down... mostly. A good half hour of attention and I'm then relaxed enough to be left alone.

So far today hasn't been too bad. One in the morning, but now of course this will have jinxed it.

What's Going on with My Ear?

This week I decided to keep dad up all night on Sunday, but not with the usual seizure goings on. I just wouldn't leave my ear alone. I spent all night scratching at it. So dad put some socks on my feet to at least prevent me hurting myself with my claws.

But then when dad tried to clean my ears I was having none of it. Usually I don't mind them being cleaned, but I wriggled and wrestled away from him every chance I got. When he did manage to get a cotton ball in it came out clean so they didn't need cleaning. So why were they driving me crazy?

Then early Monday morning off I go into a seizure and sure enough the cluster follows. So here we are again into a cluster of seizures, same old routine, thrashing and paddling, but not so much of the charging around afterwards. More a tired and exhausted rest to recover. Then an hour later I'm all starey eyed and hyper active, not knowing what I want.

Dad's had to take a couple of days off work as he's not much use without sleep. Not that I'm letting him rest as I'm hyper between seizures and want attention constantly.

Glorious Summer Weather

Too hot for me lately. Mum has a fan setup on the floor that I can lie in front of, but it's way to hot for me. I know mum and dad are loving the weather though. It's a bit strange as one minute it's blazing hot sunshine, the next hammering down with a monsoon.

Last week saw a one off seizure again. So we're all waiting for the big one to happen.

Dad just took this photo as last week whilst camping he forgot his pillow. So had to use a boot to lie on. It's also how I like to sleep.

Bouncing Back

Well after last weekends nightmare cluster things are turning around. Been a tough week and mum and dad have had to mop and clean up after me for a while, but I've just started making it known I need out to the toilet - so it's getting there.

I'm nowhere near as confused and clumsy as I was earlier in the week. I've even managed to sleep in my bed the right way up lately.

Dad took me round the park on Friday and I was off the lead doing ok, but got distracted by some kids and decided to follow them and ignore dad calling me. Not that I'm bad behaved, just a bit confused. But we're getting there.

Weekend from Hell

This weekend saw a really big long lasting a frequent cluster. Things actually started a couple of weeks ago. I had a single seizure and bounced back like nothing happened twice with a week in between each. There were also the occasional chompies which we thought we'd seen the back of. We thought it was the impending sign of a cluster and sure enough last Thursday evening it started.

Around every 4 hours through Friday they kept coming and then on Saturday it got worse to about every 2 hours and Sunday even worse, almost every hour. The only break I got seemed to be between midnight and 5am - which was the only time dad got any sleep.

With everyone out at work and college today I pretty much stabilised but there was no way I was getting up onto my feet. When Blaine got in there was plenty of mopping up to do as I just went to the toilet where I lay feeling sorry for myself.

Dad went to the vet to get some 10mg Diazepam tablets to see if this could help break the cluster. When he got in tonight he made sure I got up and got mobile. I walked like I was on ice for a while and out in the garden got a good hosing down in the sun to get me smelling nice again.

I was starving hungry and ate my dinner and went through a couple of bowls of water, and still looking for food now.

So now I'm up on my feet we've yet to see the Diazepam kick in and then no doubt I'll be super sleepy. Let's hope the seizures are done for this round. It's been a bad one.

Me and My Big Mouth

You couldn't plan for it... I make a post on here and then within an hour off I go into a seizure on my new bed. Dad had to come and mop up which was pretty easy with the new bed. Then he prepared the living room so if I went into one at night I wouldn't go crashing into stuff.

Just typical.

Walking my Legs Off

Well things are going well since the last round of seizures. I guess we're waiting on the next cluster as it's over due. But let's not worry about that until it happens. A bit of a medication increase in the KBr to 5 x 325mg tablets twice a day and still with 180mg Epiphen twice a day - that's 8 tablets! Then dad's also got me on 1500mg of Glucosamine HCL too - and that tablet is huge.

Now that Blaine's found a girlfriend who also has dogs in their family he's always taking me out for a walk with them. Sometimes I can be gone all day when he's away from college. I then have to sleep off all the fresh air as soon as I get home. In fact sometimes it's taken a couple of days for me to recover. But I can't complain I getting out an having fun with other dogs.

Since getting the new bed I'm now able to stay on it without sliding off. I still use all my other places for naps around the house, but the bed is still for my main snooze.

Seriously... WTF?

Well we're not having a good few weeks :( After the last horrible cluster we thought we'd get some time to recover. Seizure monster has other plans though. For the past week or so I've been having chompies - they've returned! Haven't seen them for a while and now I get them about every 4 hours. Afterwards I am a bit disorientated and have done some daft things like run under dads desk and the ironing board and kitchen table.

We were also running low on KBr so dad called the local vet as the one near home had treated me last. No way could he get through. So he called the vet near his work and they were under the impression we'd moved vets. What they didn't understand was that when dad's at work it's easier for me to go to the vet with him there, but the last big cluster happened at home so a closer vet made sense.

With that finally resolved they then had to get my notes from the local vet and they had as much difficulty getting in touch as dad did. They called dad on Friday and explained a few things that gave him more reason to question the way vets practice.

Turns out that the local vet who we paid for blood tests did a standard blood test for trying to find a physiological reason for the seizures. Not a test for Pheno or KBr levels in the blood. Huh? So the vet said this didn't make sense, we did that several years ago and it's in the notes that they sent to the local vets.

By now you may realise dad makes vets earn their money - we have to as we're not wealthy. We do research and ask questions - so when dad specifically asked the local vet for the results of the Pheno and KBr serum levels and they said they were well within the tolerance range to be able to increase the dosage, they weren't referring to the results of the blood test they had just taken, but to a previous one that was in my notes from the vet near work.

Well that's just not on. We just spent £80 on a blood test that told us nothing and the vet didn't use to base an accurate opinion on. Suffice it to say we won't be going back.

But onto lighter things. Dad bought me a new mattress to keep me off the cold floor and give me some comfort. He bought a waterproof one from Tuffies so it could even be hosed down following a messy seizure. But the trouble is that it's a bit big - it won't fit in my oval bed and it's a bit slippy. After I've been on it a while mum and dad will find me on the floor with my paws on it after I've slipped off it. So dad went and got creative. Bought some wood and made a frame to help me stay on it. It's a bit "industrial" but it'll do the job.

Bouncing Back

After a terrible weekend it looks like we're through the worst of it. I'm still a bit hyper and my toilet training hasn't fully returned - a mop and bucket always on stand by. But the usual signs of getting it together showing themselves. The biggest tell of them all is going upstairs, which I did at 5:30am this morning, after I'd woken dad up with a bark to let me out to the toilet. I followed him up about five minutes later.

Start the New Year with a Biggie

Well the first cluster of the new year turns out to be big and nasty. Started on Thursday with a few seizures, then into early Friday morning with a couple more overnight.

Again there's something different going on. After the thrashing and weeing and dribbling I'm still in the seizure but now my teeth are chattering like I'm cold. I'm all stary and the muscles on my head are pulsing like I'm chomping without opening my mouth. I'm sure if Dad had let me up I'd go off all pacing around, but he makes me sit and lie down until it's over and I calm down enough to pretty much sleep it off.

But on Friday we got big seizures about every hour and they were usually triggered by some event like the kids or mum coming in and I'd stare at them and go into seizure. Early Saturday morning I must have had one in the night as the kitchen was covered in wee, poo and water from my bowl. A lot of tidying up needed. But on Saturday they seemed to have stopped, but left me with quite some issues.

I couldn't stand up easily and when I did it was like I either didn't know how to walk or it was like trying to walk on a ship in a big storm. Legs all star-fished out and trying hard to keep my balance. So most of the day dad left me lying down in the front room. Every so often he'd make me stand and go to the toilet in the garden, which wasn't easy with the ground all moving about.

Sunday things are definitely better. I can stand and walk around much better, but it's like everything is new and strange to me. Dad took me down the park for a bit of a walk. I spent the time sniffing the grass like I'd not seen it before or standing just catching the wind in my face. We didn't walk far, just enough to get some air and get my legs moving.

I'm still far from being myself, but I'm sure I'll get there over the next week or so.