Not a Good Week

This week's not been great. Since the full seizure on Saturday I've been suffering with a lot of Tabasco's or "chompies" as mum calls them. They've been a bit bigger than the usual ones too. I'll be chomping whilst sat up and then begin to keel over, just like I'm about to go full seizure. But as I start to roll I catch myself and sit comping for a while.

Poor dad didn't realise I was going into a chompie the other morning. He was giving me my tablets which means holding my mouth open and dropping them in. Well in chompie mode I can't control my jaws so gave him a shock by accidentally munching on his fingers!

15:30 (yesterday) Being off school for the holidays Blaine was around to see me go into a full seizure. He cleaned up but obviously didn't let me out for long enough. When dad got home I'd poohed and did a huge wee on the living room floor. I looked all embarrassed when he found me.

21:25 (yesterday) This gave mum the fright of her life! I'd been upstairs with dad still having some chompies when I decided to go downstairs. Bad idea. As I started going down on came a full seizure. Luckily I don't remember what happened, but mum screamed out when I went sliding, bumping down the stairs and dad raced to me. I'm still here so no broken bones, but I do ache today. That's probably after the seizures though.

01:25 (today) I woke dad up with a big seizure. Afterwards was the usual routine of slowly downstairs for the toilet and a snack. Dad lay on the sofa expecting an all nighter, but I decided to go back upstairs to bed.

04:45 Well this wasn't a full seizure, but was certainly a big chompie. I woke dad up and he raced round to see if I was going full on, but it never happened.

This morning mum was worried. She even texted dad at work. I couldn't seem to stand up. My back legs wouldn't let me get up. I just wobbled and sat down. After a hour or so I got going and managed to get up. But it was scary. When dad got in from work it was like nothing had happened.

So not really a good week at all.

An Unwanted Visitor

We knew it was coming this week. For a few days I've been having Tabasco's and chomping away with lots of slobber.

21:15 (yesterday) finally I was lazing around down by mum when she thought I was stretching out in a big yawn. She thought it strange that it was taking a while and then I started off on a full seizure. I was all tangled up under the dining table so she shouted dad to come help.

Afterwards I was really sleepy, but as I came out of it all disorientated. When dad let me out I couldn't judge distances and walked into flower pots, the gate and then got stuck in a corner seemingly not realising I had to backup to turn around.

00:15 Again dad took me upstairs to bed so he could keep an eye on me. Right on cue I started chomping and into another seizure. Dad took me downstairs and I got some food and went outside. But when we went back up to bed I couldn't make up my mind what I wanted. Upstairs or downstairs? So in the end I went downstairs and only came upstairs early in the morning.

As dad's writing this he was getting ready to take me out for a walk. But I've just started chomping, so it looks like another's on its way.

Wet Weather

This past week has been pretty miserable. It's a typical British summer - raining every day. Which means I'm not keen on going outside at all. Brrr, get all cold and wet, no thanks. Wet weather also means no barbecue... and that means no treats at the weekend for me.

Friday night I had a few Tabasco moments whilst sat with Dad at the computer. I quickly snapped out of them and looked at him as if to say "What was that all about?" Other than that there's been no other incidents. Usually we'd be looking for the full seizures to follow. So far, so good.

Happy 4th July

Well happy for some... just not for me. I started the day with a seizure at around 11:30 this morning. So dad's had to give me a bath because I was covered in slobber and wee.

In the UK we don't celebrate Independence Day, but I certainly would if it meant I was independent of these seizures. But we'd like to wish all the American's out there a happy 4th of July.

Later this afternoon dad's going to fire up the barbecue. So I'm bound to get some treats from that.

Yesterday mum and dad went around to Jan and David's, with Ian and Anita for a barbecue... they left me at home. Still I heard it wasn't a proper barbecue because dad didn't get involved in the cooking at all! Having said that David did a great job as host and made some great food. The leftovers are around here somewhere.

All Alone

Sometime in the early morning I must have had a seizure. I was all alone in my bed and everyone else asleep in bed. Between Chris coming in late and about 7:00am this morning when I went upstairs into mum and dads room I'd had a seizure.

When Blaine got up he found I'd poohed on the floor in the kitchen and there was slobber everywhere. I obviously just got on with it and when I went upstairs there was nothing unusual going on, I just lay down and went back to sleep like nothing had happened.

Mum's having to redo the washing that was drying because I'd shaken my head and rained slobber over all the clothes.

I think this is the first time that no one has been around when I've had a seizure. I know dad likes to make sure someone it around when it gets to that time. But in all the time since I've had them and everyone being at work or school, I don't recall ever being alone afterwards.

Ggrrrrrr! Back Again

Well it's been overdue I guess. But we all know when it's going to happen. It's usually when things seem to be going really well and we're all happy, the weather's good, and dad's not at work again... well he is kinda this time. He's on a training course so he's not home.

You may have noticed by now that the pictures in the blog posts tend to depict some scary monster when we get a visit from the invisible seizure monster. Just like this picture of the monsters from The Decent, we knew something scary was gonna happen, and soon. But not exactly when. So it's very relevant to the seizures I have.

20:40 This past week it's been unusual for me to be lying on the floor in the bedroom. It's been so hot upstairs that I've spent most nights lying on the cool tiles downstairs. I'll only venture upstairs in the early morning when things have cooled off.

So tonight when I was laying behind dad as usual off I went into a full seizure. It was followed by, what seems to be the norm right now at least, a period of complete tiredness. To the extent I appear to be snoring and won't wake. My eyes are open but for a minute I'm completely out of it. Dad then wakes me and can tell I'm coming out of it because I shake my head to clear the cobwebs. Then I'm up and about. No pacing or disorientation, which is good.

I got a bowl of my current favourite food. It's like a big meaty paste in a plastic sausage. Dad thinks it's horrible, but it's cheap and I love it.

What a Fantastic Weekend!

Wow, for the past week or so the weather has been truly great. Bright sunny days and temperatures of 30 degrees. Not that I like the heat that much, but I do like to be out in the sun.

This weekend dad took me to the woods as usual. Only this time he'd forgotten to take my lead with him. That meant getting out of the car and walking with him on the street and across the road without it.Now it's not a busy road as it's in a residential estate and is not a main thoroughfare, but all the same I showed just how good I can be. There were two ladies with dogs just coming out of the gate to the woods as I was getting out of the car. I didn't even pay them any attention even though they barked hello at me. I just stayed close by dad as we walked over and into the wood.

Once in the woods I did all my usual tearing about in the trees until I was too hot and breathless. Then I found one of the known watering holes. It had dried up into a sloppy muddy mess, but that didn't stop me from dashing in for a cooling lie down. That meant a great swim later at the big pond to get the, by then, dried and caked on mud off.

On Sunday we had an early barbecue. Mum and dad don't usually light up until 5-6pm. But Sunday meant going next door to Guinness and Tiger's house. They're a couple of house cats that like to be in the garden in the good weather. I'm not sure they like me too much though. I went over to say hello to Tiger and she hissed at me. So I pretty much left them alone and just kept an eye on them both.

Dad took this picture on his phone (click for full picture). He reckons I looked so cute he couldn't understand why the cats can't just be my friends. It was so hot dad made sure to hose me down every time I dried out - you can see I'm still a little damp. But even though I was dripping wet I behaved myself and didn't do my usual trick of sharing all my water with everyone else by shaking or trying to lie on them.

Empty Wallet... Again

Things have been going pretty good this month. So far the daily Tabasco's have stopped and I've been back to being myself.

Following the messing about at the vets we finally got the blood test results and they showed the KBr levels were actually below what they should be. Not that I fully understand what it means but it came back as a 6 but the range it should be in is between 8 and 20. So that means upping the KBr. Instead of 3 x 325mg tablets twice a day it now increases to 4 x 325mg twice a day.

Now to many this might not sound a big change. But when you consider that each KBr tablet averages £0.25 each. I say average because we have to buy 720 tablets for 3 months - this is made up of 1 x 500, 2 x 100 and 20 individual tablets. The 500 pack is obviously cheaper per pill that the 100 pack, which again is cheaper than the individual ones.

So £0.25 per pill adds £0.50 per day, £3.50 per week and £14 per month. Even though we use the cheapest on-line pharmacy we could find this month sees a bill of £252 for the pills (including Epiphen) for the next 3 months.

So cute, I'm so Jealous

Dad took me out for a walk round the park late on Sunday night. It wasn't dark as we're supposed to be near the middle of summer - you wouldn't think so from all the rain we had today!

As we were on our way back a guy with a young rottie on a lead walked up to us. Dad didn't put me on the lead or anything and the guy came over and asked "How do you get her to walk so well off the lead?" - as if he has anything to do with it! I'm just good all on my own.

So dad and the guy got talking and turns out that "Maisy" was 9 months old and was going to the same school I went to. Now I'm not an unfriendly dog, I just don't really get all the bouncing around and chase me games. Sure it was nice to say Hi, but Maisy just wanted to bounce around and play - kids huh!

Dad said Maisy was a very nice looking dog and gave her some fuss. They talked about training techniques and I just sat there being good as they talked. I get a bit jealous when Dad pays attention to anyone but me - it's not just dogs. If he talks with mum I have to put myself in between the two of them just so I'm not ignored.

Hopefully we'll meet up with Maisy again. They said I might be a calming influence on her young exuberance.

As it's prescription renewal time dad phoned the vet and they explained that the last blood test for KBr levels didn't work out and they wanted to retake them. So we did that trip to the vets last Thursday. Just as before I sat there the vet jabbed me with a needle and I didn't even show that anything was going on.

So they said call us on Monday for the results. Dad didn't do that as he was busy Monday, so called on Tuesday - only to be told to call back on Thursday as they're not returned yet. More delays. Good job dad planned a little ahead and planned on getting the prescription two weeks before the tablets ran out this time.

If they aren't ready Thursday that means we get into a pickle about ordering on-line and allowing shipping time. I'm beginning to think that because we don't pay the vets extortionate drug prices they decide to make our life difficult.

No Fair!

19:45 I'd been lazing behind dad whilst he was on the computer. He noticed me have a couple of Tabasco's, so when one turned into a full seizure he didn't expect it.

Turned out to be another draining one. Afterwards I didn't want to get up. I just wanted to lie there and sleep. Dad wouldn't let me though. He makes sure I get up and go outside for some air and to walk about a bit. I'm not sure what he thinks is going on, but all I want to do is sleep.

I think we'll need to up the dosage of the KBr to see if that helps. We'll give the vet a call in the Morning.