Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Don't ask if you don't want to know...

So we've been to the vet and I have to say, GETTING to the vet is as stressful, if not more, as anticipating what the vet will say. Gracie does NOT like riding in the car. If you even try to pick her up in the front of the house, she goes immediately into her 'defensive stance'...front legs braced straight out with her entire body leaning as far back as possible (plus she is completely dead weight at that point). With her not being so tiny anymore (60+ pounds!), it makes for an interesting show for anyone watching. You also can't leave the car running because she automatically thinks you are going to put her in it and will assume the 'defense stance'. For a dog with neuro damage, she's pretty smart! :o) I finally get her in the car, all the while stressing because I'm now running late due to her antics, and we are on our way. She used to just lay wherever you put her, which was great. Now, however, she thinks she should stand up and rearrange herself. This isn't the best idea when you can't see and compensate for things like turns and braking/accelerating. I had put the seats down so she could be behind me and I could reach around to pet her. Not a good idea. She nearly fell between the seats. Mental note to self...put seats up for ride home; she can get all the petting she needs at home. Safety first! :o)
We get there and I'm trying to wrangle her up the steps to the vet's office (not the best plan for a vet's office, but it's in an old house, what can you do?) and almost fell myself because of her flailing around. I'm sure when I got in the door, people in the there were wondering why I looked so winded. If they only knew.

Anyway, after giving the vet all of the dirt on what's been happening, he says he's not surprised that she's started having seizures. He also said that for every seizure we see, there is one that we haven't seen. That breaks my heart. We had gotten Gracie her shots the weekend before and he said that would be her last set of yearly shots. Apparently, stress can bring on her seizures and the vaccinations are stressful to her system, especially when they are given all at once. From now on, she will get rabies every 3rd year. On the other 2 years, she will get distemper in one and parvo in the other. Bordatella is safe for every year as it goes under the skin and not directly into the bloodstream. Apparently, depending on where you live, the rabies vaccination can be good for 3 years and luckily, we are in a safe area. Plus, he is willing to write us a letter about the reasoning behind this if ever needed. Of course we have considered the pros and cons of not vaccinating her regularly. Without yearly vaccs, we can not take Gracie to dog parks and other dog-frequented places as she will be immune-compromised. Plus, we won't be able to foster any other Weims while she is with us (not a problem now, as 3 dogs is our limit, but would have in the future). Not sure how this will play out but the risk of increasing the frequency and severity of her seizures isn't something we are willing to do. We won't be starting any medication now as her seizures are relatively mild. She doesn't lose control of her bowels or become incontinent (a blessing!) when she seizes and they last under 2 minutes. They are also spaced well. The meds given have side effects and one of the main ones is liver damage. Given her age, barely 2 years, we do not want to start damaging her liver now. So, we wait. He said eventually we will have to start medications but we are hopeful that that will be on down the road. For now, we are to keep her as stress-free as possible. (Really, he obviously doesn't know how good the Walker Weims have it!!!) Gracie would be happy to know that she now only has to get in the car to go see the vet! Unfortunately, she won't be able to attend any more Weim Rescue events since there are so many dogs there (not to mention the stress that puts on her). I'm sad about that because I love to show others just one of the awesome happy endings that organization makes possible!!

So that's that. Which brings me to the title of this post... In my infinite (or dumb) curiosity, I asked him if Gracie will live a normal lifespan for a Weim. He said no. He said with neurological damage, it will start to show itself in different ways as she gets older and basically get worse. At some point, we will have to make a decision regarding her quality of life. NOT what I wanted to hear. But, for now, her quality of life is damn good and we are going to keep it that way for as long as possible! Prayers are always welcome for Miss Gracie. Thank you so much for all your well wishes and comments. She is truly lucky to have all of you behind her! God Bless! :o)

Monday, April 18, 2011

The Way It Works...

Isn't it funny the way it works? We reach out to those who care in times of trouble or need. We don't call or write (or blog) when things are going great. We get caught up in 'life' and stay wrapped up in our day to day patterns until something throws a curve ball at us. Well, Gracie's pitching up a storm at our home! She has started having seizures. We were told by the neurologist that the further out we got from her 1 year birthday, the more chance she had to live her life free of seizures. A little background, in case you forgot, Gracie had a seizure shortly after being strangled by a wire and had oxygen loss to her brain. She bit off a little chunk of her upper lip on either side of her mouth during the seizure. You can see it if you look closely at her pictures. To us, it's just a part of what makes Gracie look like Gracie. Anyway, we were thinking we, and more importantly, Gracie, had finally had some good luck and weren't going to have to deal with seizures. This was obviously not part of God's plan for Gracie and, as usual, we will take His plan and work with it the best we know how. Now, for the details. David thought she might have had one in November (hindsight always brings more to light) but he hadn't seen it so he wasn't sure. He told me she came into the living room and seemed disoriented and acted strange. It passed and with so much of Gracie's behavior, we chalked it up to the 'Neuro Damage' (we pin alot on that! :o). Nothing happened again until March. On March 13, she was sleeping on Sydney's bed with her and at about 11pm we heard a loud crash. When we got to Syd's room, Gracie was on the floor but was not seizing. She had fallen off of the bed. She was foaming at the mouth and panting. She was also pretty disoriented and restless. We got her in the living room but she wouldn't lay down. She wanted to walk around and kept panting for about 5 more minutes. I documented this on the calendar and prayed she had just been dreaming and managed to fall off the bed. On April 2nd, I was in bed reading at about 11pm and heard muffled thumping through the wall. I immediately thought she was having a seizure and ran to Addie's room where she was sleeping on the bed with her. David was already there with her and had witnessed the end of the seizure. She had managed to move from the foot of the bed up to the head of the bed. Again, more foaming at the mouth, panting and restlessness. After we get her calmed down, she sleeps hard for the rest of the night. There was no denying this one had been a seizure and definitely made us think the other incident had been one, too. Again, I was praying it was a fluke since we had only witnessed one true seizure but this weekend she seemed to have something happen. It was late at night again but she actually came out into the living room. She didn't seem nearly as disoriented as before but did have some foam around her mouth and was panting. The decision was made then to take her to the vet today. We are going at 2pm so keep us in your thoughts and prayers. I will let you all know what he says. More thank likely, she will need to be on meds for awhile, if not for the rest of her life. David and I look on the bright side...we don't really have to go through testing to find out why she is having seizures. With her health history, it's a wonder she hasn't had them sooner. I was just really hoping our tiny gray girl (who isn't so tiny anymore!) wouldn't have this additional issue to deal with. But, we know she is in God's hands and that he has a plan for her. This picture is of Miley and Gracie. Gracie is the one in the top of the picture. She has gotten big...about 60 pounds now. They are always together. Miley looks after her and Gracie seems to take alot of cues from Miley. They are a pair!