Snow Days!

Hooray! The snow has returned. I love snow. Dad took me out today and I bounced and played around like a spring deer. I just really like cold weather for walkies.

With snow I love to eat it as I run along. I'll scoop my mouth in it and come out with it all over my nose - only picking the freshest and powdery snow of course. Dad said if I'm not careful I'll get brain-freeze. I'm not sure what that is, but he said I probably shouldn't worry about it with my tiny brain... I don't know what he means by that!

After mum took me out the other day she gave me a bit of a wash as she caught me rolling in something smelly. That wasn't good enough, but what with it being so cold it would be cruel to hose me down outside. So dad decided to put me in the bath. I think he regretted it afterwards. I shed so much hair he spent an hour cleaning up after me.

We're having a very good run so far. Maybe the cold weather has something to do with lack of seizures for a while. Well whatever it is I just hope it continues.

No News...

... is definitely good news!

It's been a relative age since the last seizure. If only we could put a finger on something to attribute it to. Nothing's changed. I'm still on the same tablets and food. It's just a break from the norm. And we're all very gratefull for it.

Now the cold weather is here mums frustrated with me as I won't go out to the toilet in the cold mornings. That means there has been a few days when she's got home from work to find a puddle or worse. I've also been caught out a few times when she's come home from work at lunch time and found me sleeping on her bed, that's not good.

The diet is going slowly. Dad's the taskmaster, but mum gives in a feeds me for the easy life. Sunday is far the best day as that's left over day, yummy. If I'm not fed on time 8am and 5pm then like clockwork I'll remind them what time it is. I'm certainly a little more trim and mobile, but now I love my food so much I've become a bit of a scrounger. I'll take any opportunity to steal a bit of left over pizza - my favourite.

Happy Samhain Everyone

Sam who? Yes, we know 31st October is traditionally celebrated as Hallowe'en these days. Particularly in the USA. This is turning into a hugely commercial event where everyone buys sweets for handing out at doorsteps as "Trick or Treat" gifts.

Well this just isn't right. In my dads youth they celebrated Hallowe'en, but not as a some commercial festival for corporate gain. It was about simpler things.

I think the old Celtic festival of Samhain should erase this capitalist "Trick or Treat" cash cow.

Samhain (pronounced saowen) marks one of the two great doorways of the Celtic year, for the Celts divided the year into two seasons: the light and the dark, at Beltane on May 1st and Samhain on November 1st. Some believe that Samhain was the more important festival, marking the beginning of a whole new cycle, just as the Celtic day began at night. For it was understood that in dark silence comes whisperings of new beginnings, the stirring of the seed below the ground. Whereas Beltane welcomes in the summer with joyous celebrations at dawn, the most magically potent time of this festival is November Eve, the night of October 31st.

So say to all, a Happy Samhain. Let us celebrate the beginning of the darker half of the year, a celebration of autumn and winter and the end of the harvest.

I Predict a ...

Well not wanting to tempt fate, but so far things are going pretty well. No sign of that nasty of seizure monster and no Tabasco's or chompies. Things have just been going really well!

50 Days without event is something to be really pleased about. We can't say why we have the good fortune, but simply welcome it with open arms.

There's not so much to say really. We're well into autumn and it's getting cold. That doesn't bother me at all. I prefer it when it's cold and when we go out for walks it means I can run about a bit more. When mum puts the heating on and the radiators get warm I have to move away from them and find somewhere cold to lie down.

You Know What Comes Next...

I would say it's obvious really, as it's been a while and posting something is bound to be the kiss of death. But so far so good. It's been a while since the last episode, but we're expecting a visit anytime soon.

We were thinking "Today's the day" a couple of times this week. I haven't had a full seizure, but I've had a couple of new small episodes of "falling". By that I mean episodes that resemble the moment when you're asleep and for no reason you suddenly jump awake trying to grab onto something as if you're falling. Well there's been a few times when I've startled dad with similar sort of actions.

After some "falling" I've been a little off. Not quite right and one day just seemed to forget about how to go down stairs! It was like I just thought you walked straight out over them, not focussing on the fact they go down as well as forwards, yikes! I ended up in a heap at the bottom after sliding down quite a few of the steps. So mum and dad are extra vigilant when I'm not looking quite right.

Unfortunatley it's not as easy as stopping me going upstairs. I'm pretty strong willed and when I want to go upstairs I will. Mum's even put stuff on the bottom of the stairs in my way to stop me going up, but that proved just as dangerous as just letting me go up anyway.

One good thing though. We went to the vets for a blood test, to update the prescription... again. Thankfully the results show the epiphen and KBr are within the range required. Money's real tight at the minute, so adding more tablets is always hard. September saw a £60 vet bill for the blood test, £253 for the drugs (epiphen and KBr for 3 months) and another £30 for Glucosamine and Milk Thistle (for a year thankfully).

My diet's taking too long. I got weighed whilst at the vets. It came in at 56kg, so mum and dad have cut my food down quite a bit. From the 2 meals a day I'd get out of 1200g of food they've now made that equal to 3 meals, so I'm down to 800g per day. Now I don't get chance to eat half my breakfast and save the rest for later in the day whilst they're out at work. Now I eat my breakfast and dinner in one go and eagerly want more. Totally different when a few years ago I didn't want food at all.

Way to Go Mum!

20:00 (Monday) Last night I managed to go off into a full seizure whilst downstairs with mum watching TV. I guess mum's now taking it in her stride as she didn't even bother to call dad from upstairs. She just made sure I was safe and wiped up all the drool afterwards.

20:30 (Tuesday) Well almost the same time as last night, only this time I was all alone. Dad only found out about it because I went to say hello with my face covered in goop! Yeuch!! So dad went looking around and sure enough there was a puddle of slobber... and the sofas had great big smears of it all down the arms. Good job they're leather and like so many other things in the house, wipe clean!

Earlier in the evening dad noticed me mooching around suspiciously. I was just having a sniff at mums orchids and they smelled so nice, well I just had to see if they tasted as nice as they smell. So I gave one a pretty good munch and decided I didn't like it. No real harm done.

The Strangeness Continues...

Today dad thought I'd still got "that" look about me. So sure enough at around 7pm I started to go off on one. Mum was there too so saw for herself. I was well past the chompie stage and dad started calling me and trying to get my attention with some gentle rubs and I popped out of it again. It's really very strange, but if you can catch it in time it looks like the full seizure can be at least postponed.

Afterwards it's like nothing happened, but sure enough five minutes go by and the chompies start again. Dad then distracts me again and away they go. This carries on for half an hour or so with varying little chompies to the stage where you'd think I was going into full seizure, but then all is calm.

It's all just very strange. It really is like over time the seizure builds like a coiled spring. Then it needs to release full force, but if you can catch it just right you can slow it and let it release a little more gradually.

Dad's Got Some Time Off... Again

And we know what that means. Dad's got the next few weeks off work to use up some of his vast number of holiday allowance. As usual that's the trigger for me to get a visit from the seizure monster. He was still at work on Thursday and Friday though, so we thought it a little too early when the first full seizure struck.

21:15 (Thursday) No yelling or anything, dad just heard mum putting me outside. Normally mum gives a yell when I start fitting and dad comes running to the rescue. Looks like mum just took care of me herself for this one. Well done mum!

14:30 (Friday) As I'd had a seizure and they usually come in clusters dad was a bit brave taking me into work with him. But he wanted to keep an eye on me. He was on the phone when I started fitting. He didn't notice but Bev, one of his co-workers, did and dad slammed down the phone and came to look after me.

It's the first time Bev would have seen this and must have looked really quite distressing. But actually this was a relatively mild seizure. There was the cramps and chomping but no real twisting of the head, it didn't even go into the paddling so much. Just a bit of trouble waking up and disorientation afterwards. Dad took me straight out after and I had a bit of a wander around the car park.

20:30 (Friday) Dad noticed me starting to go off into one, but again it turned out to be a relatively light one. Still big enough to get frustrated with and big enough to tire me out for ages afterwards though.

03:30 (Saturday) I woke dad up in the night having a seizure in the bedroom. But it was another mild one. In fact their was no pacing afterwards, or the need to go out, or to desperately eat something. I just went back off to sleep.

14:30 (Saturday) Dad took me along to act as mascot at one of his car meetings again. I'd been on my best behaviour all day. After we'd been home for an hour or so I started to go into one. It'd gone way past the chompie or Tabasco stage and I was all ready on my way into the fitting, but somehow dad managed to snap me out of it. He was holding my head as usual and calling me to try to get me distracted and the seizure just stopped! I'd not been into it long enough for any disorientation or tiredness. It just went away and was like it never happened... well almost.

Keeping Dad on His Toes

Been a much better week this week. I'm still having the chompies every so often, but it's not as regular as it was.

Just to annoy dad I've started playing up with taking my tablets lately. I'll let him drop them in my mouth, but then I'll either shake my head sending them flying, or just hold them in my mouth for ages making him think I've taken them. But I've also realised that if I wait for him to go to work I can sick them back up before I've eaten my breakfast. So mum will find a pile of slobber and bile with tablets in.

So dad's getting sneaky. He puts a bit of butter (well vegetable based spread) on them first as he know I can't resist the taste of butter.

Not Really Getting Better

Since the last seizure things have stayed around the same. I still have regular chompies, probably 10 a day. It's just very frustrating as I don't know when they are coming. They tend to be when I'm relaxing, but that could just be a coincidence, because I do a lot of relaxing! Mum and dad are worried that I'll get one on the stairs and that'll mean me being disorientated and possibly fall. The house isn't geared to deal with me falling downstairs, no carpet on the stairs and tiled floor at the bottom.

11:00 Dad was off work sick. He really wasn't well yesterday at all, so we make a great couple. I was just having a chompie when it just carried on too long. Next thing dad realises I'm going into a full seizure. Mum sticks a towel under my head and dad clears the table and sofa away from me so there's plenty of room.

21:15 We thought we'd gotten of lightly today. Was exactly the same deal as this morning chompie that didn't stop.

It's strange how throughout suffering epilepsy how it has changed subtly over time. Each seizure is somehow slightly different than before and the effects somehow a little different. Well maybe it's not so strange, I think we're getting used to just how life is just different and we just cope with whatever comes along. So on a positive side, things may not be getting better, but they're not getting any worse - just different.