A Week in Hell

It started out pleasant enough, a long 2 mile hike on Sunday working on commands, but it was to begin a terrible week.

Sunday, July 10th

Bandit and I took another two mile hike today working on 'Over Gee' and 'Over Haw'. He is awesome with commands, and I'm so very proud. The bad news is he had his first break-through seizure today at about 3pm. It was a full Grand Mal, but only lasted about thirty seconds, and the ictal phase about a minute and a half. We believe he has a weakness to a chemical buildup from a certain treat, the same that he had before when he had the three seizures in a row (he stole one yesterday and another one this morning). None of the other dogs have had a reaction to them, so it is still a predisposition towards seizures when exposed to it.

There is still lingering doubt regarding whether this is complicated with exposure to exercise and/or the raw beef, however, the exercise and beef alone don't seem to trigger the seizures alone, so I must assume it was the treats.


Bandit also had a seizure at 12:30 am, another Grand Mal that lasted less than two minutes, and his ictal phase also was around 2 minutes. I've asked Jim to keep an eye on him and keep him indoors and out of the heat as much as possible today.
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Monday July 11th

Bandit had another seizure just before 10 am this morning. I did not witness the seizure. Jim had let him outside, went to the bathroom and came out, and when Bandit was at the back door, he had foam on his mouth and had peed on himself (signs of his seizure).

So, three in 24 hours. We will probably need to take him in to the vet for a blood test.

Has now had several more seizures, one at 2:45, one at 7:30 and now one at 8:30, all Grand Mal, all lasting less than 2 minutes, but he hasn't come out of ictal phase, still wandering around disoriented and drooling. I am really starting to worry. We took him to the vet for bloodwork, but we won't have results back until tomorrow. We upped his dosage via our vet's recommendation and it doesn't appear to have had any effect. I love my boy and worried that this is going to harm him permanently. He doesn't seem to recognize us or the other dogs. Fortunately he isn't aggressive, nor are the other dogs towards him. We are all very worried.

Monday night, Tuesday Morning

Bandit has gone through hell, and I have been with him. 11 seizures since last report and it doesn't look like he is going to get a break anytime soon. Will I ever have my Bandy boy back? He doesn't know me, exhaustion drags his feet, he can barely stand, yet the flight instinct keeps him pacing until he collapses again. Once he goes in to sleep, the beast strikes again, killing him slowly, and all I can do is cry, and try to keep him from breaking a limb. Two more hours until we can get him in to the vet, and he is sleeping again waiting for the beast to catch him.

seizure times: 9:15, 10:00, 10:15, 11:30,11:55,12:27,01:00, 03:00, 03:45,04:45,5:30 5:50

Tuesday on in to Wednesday

Bandit had a seizure just before we were going to pick him up from the vet (3:30), so we ended up taking him to overnight care. He had one more seizure there just after we left, (5pm) but hasn't had one since. We'll be taking him back to Tender Care first thing this morning.

Hopefully the Potassium Bromide addition to his medication has been helping, but we now have an emergency Valium kit to break the cycle of seizures should he start to have clusters again.

Thursday

So far Bandit has not had a seizure since 5pm Tuesday, however, he still appears to be in ictal phase, or there was permanent brain damage. He wanders around the house not knowing where he is, or even that he is a dog. Reintroducing him to the other dogs went well, they all accepted him readily back in the pack, but he no longer has dog social skills. Everything makes him jump, and his eyes are always wide in terror. He dociley allows himself to be led around, though it is obvious it's because he doesn't know what else to do. He is only just beginning to figure out his name might be Bandit because we say it to him at every opportunity. Early this morning, Velvet nipped him playfully on the nose and he completely freaked out and ran in to the bathroom, out of the bathroom, jumped behind the crate and tried to climb a wall. Only when he wasn't able to get anywhere did he sit down in a huge panic panting as fast as his lungs could go. It took me almost 30 minutes to calm him down enough that he would move again.

He doesn't sleep much, and when he does he wakes suddenly, looking like he might seize again, but it passes in a minute without seizure. He then paces for hours in a daze. He has forgotten how to use the dog door, and each time he tries, it scares him and I end up having to open the sliding door for him and gently lead him out. He is only just learning to like the yard again, but seems more comfortable and calm in the house. He has also forgotten his housetraining, or forgets why he wants to go out. It is terrible to see such an intelligent boy reduced to this state, and I pray every moment that it will pass and I will get my old Bandit back.

Today he very shyly licked me on the chin, so very briefly, so very lightly, and I almost cried. It is the first show of affection since Tuesday.