Tue 9/5/2000
9:45pm first seizure
Occurred while laying down sleeping. lasting about 1 minute.
--------------------------------------------
Wed 9/6/2000
Rudy at vets all day blood test/urine test/EKG/XRAYS
Blood work done before and after eating.
Liver bileacid level high after eating (129 should be 20)
10:45pm second seizure. Occurred during sleep lasting about a minute. Much wandering around afterwards.
--------------------------------------------
Thu 9/7/2000
called vet in morning... scheduling an ultrasound on liver for next day.
No seizures acting normal.
--------------------------------------------
Fri 9/8/2000
Rudy at vets all day Friday for ultrasound liver no seizures during the da
11:00pm third seizure. Vocalized with this one. Short.
--------------------------------------------
Sat 9/9/2000
2:30am fourth seizure
called vet early am
9:42am fifth seizure, occured while awake found him in bathroom on his side.
Put Rudy on canned special hills science L/D dog food. And give him calulose. Diaherra occuring as result. First dose of calulose 10:30 I was gone between 11:45am and 1:45pm left Rudy alone confined in a room returned he had deficated and urinated. May have had a seizure. He was very disorientated. Behavior not good stumping acting as though blind. Hearing also off.
6:35pm six seizure, occurred while awake, came to paw at him, slide on his side and seizured.
10:45pm seveth seizure, occurred while asleep.
Went to emergency clinic they could do anything, took him home and monitored. He was scheduled to go the vet next day for liver scan.
--------------------------------------------
Sun 9/10/2000
Rudy at vets all day Sunday... liver scan... no seizures. Liver scan results showed no problems.
His hearing is still off... startled by sounds and doesn't know what direction sounds are coming from. Vision seems ok.
Take off L/D dogfood and calulose since liver not the problem.
--------------------------------------------
Mon 9/11/2000
Rudy at vets all day Monday... MRI... no seizures
MRI showed brain abnormalities. No "well defined" tumors but swelling of brain and fluid build up.
--------------------------------------------
Tues 9/12/2000
Charlie home all day. No seizures. Rudy moving slowly, sleeping mostly.
--------------------------------------------
Wed 9/13/2000
Charlie home all day. No seizures. Hearing still off though seems to be getting around better though.
--------------------------------------------
Thru 9/14/2000
No seizures. Seems much better. Greeting me when I came home. Nagging for milkbones. Hearing seems better can tell direction.
--------------------------------------------
Fri 9/15/2000
00:30am eighth seizure. Occurred while asleep Short about 30 seconds. Seemed milder did not do post wandering went to sleep afterwards.
Called vet in a.m. got Prednisone.
1:30p.m. first dose of prednisone.
--------------------------------------------
Sat 9/16/2000
Prednisone given at 7:30am and 7:00pm
Took Rudy for walk... a new behavior he flinched while walking as though someone was behind him or somehting about to hit him. Did this 3 times. I carried him home... it was hot out perhaps the heat. Tried to walk him again around 3:30pm and same occurence of flinching.
Got spinal tap results back
1) High protein found
2) no viruses or infections found
No conclusions still have possiblies of
1) a typical tumor which would not be detected by MRI (high protein would support this)
2) GME although spinal tap did not support this
3) Infarct (stroke) although red cell count not high
--------------------------------------------
Sun 9/17/2000
Prednisone given at 7:00am and 7:00pm
Early morning walk he did not flinch... normal walk which he enjoyed. Diaherra gone.
--------------------------------------------
Sun 9/17/2000
Prednisone 7:00am and 7:00pm
Afternoon walk short around block... started flinching near the end of the walk. Stools still loose.
--------------------------------------------
Mon 9/18/2000
Prednisone 6:20am and 6:20pm
6:50am ninth seizure after breakfast. Diaherra back.
--------------------------------------------
Tues 9/19/2000
Had an animal healer come visit us. He told us he saw tumor but Rudy would be ok. Rudy needs more onhands contact... work with him and create a miracle. He said Rudy misses Nick and he sometimes thinks about where he came from, misses something there. This made me sad that he felt Rudy was sad.
--------------------------------------------
Thurs 9/20/2000
Walked to end of block... Rudy started flinching on the return. Stools still loose.
--------------------------------------------
Fri 9/22/2000
Off Prensidone
Start Flagna for diarrehea
--------------------------------------------
Sat 9/23/2000
Early morning walk... did not go far, 1/2 block Rudy flinching alot so we returned home.
--------------------------------------------
Sun 9/24/2000
Early morning walk... went around block, did not flinch til almost home.
--------------------------------------------
Wed 9/27/2000
Diaherria gone
--------------------------------------------
Thru 9/28/00
Trip to he vet for checkup. Rudy was looking good. Scheduled an MRI to see that his brain is back to normal. Scheduled for 10/16/00
--------------------------------------------
Tue 10/03/2000
11:54pm tenth seizure... 15 days since his last known seizure. Very thirsty afterwards... also hungry. He was ducking in and out of dining room bar stools and chairs.
--------------------------------------------
Fri 10/06/2000
10:15pm eleventh seizure. mild.. not wandering.
--------------------------------------------
Sat 10/07/2000
Took Rudy to St. Francis Church for animal blessing. It was nice service, afterwards we went to an outdoor resturant with Rudy. We sat next to a couple that had a 17 year old schnazer (at home).... I was envious.
--------------------------------------------
Monday 10/09/2000
11:05pm twevelth seizure. I looked for him because it was bedtime... heard thumping... I found him by the entry way to the garaged (which lead to doggie door for dog run where they did business). He must have come in from outside. This was very distressing as it was the first seizure he had that I knew about where he was not already laying down.
--------------------------------------------
Tues 10/10/2000
Went home at lunchtime to see my boy... I did not think he was doing well... he was moving slow. He also was leary of me petting his head like it hurt.
By nighttime he seemed himself.. we went for a walk and he was fine.
--------------------------------------------
Wed 10/11/2000
Noticing new behavior of him pressing his head against things... this worries me as this was a question I was asked several weeks ago.. head pressing can indicate tumor
Vet advised moving up his MRI. Friday October 13 was the earliest we could get in. I was leary about Friday the 13th.... but I made the appointment anyway. Knowing the problems meant we could medicate him sooner and get it resolved.
--------------------------------------------
Thur 10/12/2000
Rudy seems good... following me around nagging for milkbones. I think he may be ok... we just need to get seizuring under control
Food cut off at midnight
--------------------------------------------
Fri 10/13/2000
Rudy thirsty at 3:00am, I got up to give him water... he was to be cut off from water at 6:00am.
Took Rudy in for 2:00 pm MRI. Its was an hour drive to Tustin.... our scheduled pickup time was 7:00pm, we decided to go out to dinner, a Friday night pizza ritual which we had not done since Rudy got ill. I packed a baggie full of milkbones so I could give him some, as he missed his normal morning milkbones since he was cut off from food because of the anetheisa. We drove to Tustin... I was anxious and afraid of the test results but unprepared for what I would hear. We went into the room for consultation... the vet told us Rudy had a difficult time recovering from the anethesia, he could not breath on his own and was on a machine (the vet had tried to contact us before we left). He asked if we wanted to review the pictures first or see Rudy... I wanted to see my boy. There he was on a table looking very sad it was easy to see he was already gone, his eyes did not blink. I talked to him he could not hear. We decided we had to let him go as we were told there was no chance of recovering. We reviewed his MRI picture with the vet.... his brain inflamation had double in a month which was what the vet attributed his inability to recover from anethesia. The prognosis is he would have been gone in several weeks... they felt it was GME the acute version which progresses very rapidly. The vet told me it may have been for the better as he could have died because of a severe seizure in the not too distance future.
My regret is giving him the second MRI... mostly because I could not give him his morning milkbones and say goodbye to him properly. I feel we did all we could for him, I am very sorry it wasn't enough.