Saturday, February 9, 2013

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.