Foster
This diary was inspired by Roxy’s Diary. We’re wishing her and her human mum and dad all the best.
Last Seizure: 1 month, 17 days ago
Overview
Event Log
Posts
Comments
Overview: Foster was adopted from a rescue organization in January 2007. He’s a Basset Hound/Golden Lab mix and was born on October 23th, 2006– 3 years, 4 months, 26 days ago.
He seemed to be a perfectly healthy happy puppy and young dog until he had his first cluster of seizures on May 25th, 2009.
Foster has been diagnosed as having Idiopathic Epilepsy and this is a diary of Foster’s and my journey trying to cope and find solutions to his reoccurring seizures.
Perhaps someone’s going through a similar situation will find some solace here in knowing they’re not alone.
Background: I had one puppy for a short while growing up but there were issues severe enough that my father ended up putting him down. My father wasn’t a hard hearted or cruel person, but in those days it was a different situation and often dogs with issues were quickly dealt with. I tried adopting a couple of puppies from a pet store when my children were young but they both died from Parvo. It appeared to be an issued with the store but it took me a long time to get over watching those two little guys die.
So here I am in my second half of life with Foster being my first “real dog.” I’m sure you can understand my huge level of attachment to Foster–he seems to return that sentiment.
That doesn’t mean there’s not hardships or conflicts and we (I) hesitate to leave him along. I’ve (we’ve) already cancelled out of a number of events/vacations this year–adding another level of stress.
I’ll be updating the major events and making individual posts below as new events occur. Hopefully one day soon there will not be any new events to report and we can resume a more “normal life.”
I’d love to hear from others who are having or have had similar experiences…feel free to comment!
Major Event Log:
| Date | Event | #Days Since | ||
| 20100131-20:15 | Single Grand Mal Seizure (Medium severity) | 59 | ||
| 20091203-15:30 | Seizure (unknown severity, did not observe) | 18 | ||
| 20091115-20:21 | Grand Mal Seizure | 0 | ||
| 20091115-20:10 | Grand Mal Seizure | 0 | ||
| 20091115-20:04 | Grand Mal Seizure | 0 | ||
| 20091115-19:36 | Grand Mal Seizure | 28 | ||
| 20091018-17:30 | Grand Mal Seizure | 38 | ||
| 20091012-08:00 | Reduced Pheno. to 180mg/day, KBr still at 1440mg/day | |||
| 20091005-08:00 | Reduced Pheno. to 210mg/day, KBr still at 1440mg/day | |||
| 20090924-11:00 | Vet-Stable Lvls—Phen. 240mg/day & KBr 1440Mg/Day | |||
| 20090923-09:00 | Vet-Blood Test-Liver Lvl & KBr Lvl | |||
| 20090916-08:00 | Potassium Bromide (KBr) Loading – 1440MGx3/day -5 days | |||
| 20090911-18:00 | Begin Natural no-grain dog food. | |||
| 20090910-11:00 | Call Vet. | |||
| 20090909-20:15 | Grand Mal Seizure | 0 | ||
| 20090909-20:00 | Grand Mal Seizure | 0 | ||
| 20090909-17:30 | Grand Mal Seizure | 7 | ||
| 20090901-08:43 | Grand Mal Seizure | 9 | ||
| 20090825-10:00 | Vet-Phenobarbital to 240mg/day | |||
| 20090824-09:20 | Vet. Visit and Blood Test | |||
| 20090822-18:45 | Grand Mal Seizure | 0 | ||
| 20090822-18:30 | Grand Mal Seizure | 0 | ||
| 20090822-18:20 | Grand Mal Seizure | 9 | ||
| 20090812-06:30 | Two partial seizures | 2 | ||
| 20090809-18:00 | Vet-Phenobarbital to 180mg/day | |||
| 20090809-11:55 | Grand Mal Seizure | 0 | ||
| 20090809-11:30 | Grand Mal Seizure & Partial Seizures | 0 | ||
| 20090809-11:15 | Grand Mal Seizure | 18 | ||
| 20090721-2340 | Grand Mal Seizure | 0 | ||
| 20090721-2315 | Partial Seizures | 0 | ||
| 20090721-2300 | Grand Mal Seizure | 37 | ||
| 20090629-0900 | Vet. Visit and Blood Test | |||
| 20090613-1300 | Started on Phenobarbital – 120mg/day | |||
| 20090613-1040 | Grand Mal Seizure | 0 | ||
| 20090613-0930 | Grand Mal Seizure | 18 | ||
| 20090526-0920 | Vet. Visit and Blood Test | |||
| 20090525-1900 | Grand Mal Seizure | 0 | ||
| 20090525-1400 | Grand Mal Seizure | 0 | ||
| 20090525-0930 | First Grand Mal Seizure |
.
Posts (descending order):
January 31, 2010 – We had a record going and I thought we’d break 60 days but it didn’t work out that way. Foster had a single Grand Mal Seizure of medium severity while sleeping beside my chair in the family room. At 59 days it’s by far the longest he’s went between seizures since he began having them last May — I’ll take it!
January 08, 2010 — Foster’s Vet. did the full workup on Foster blood. KBr levels were good and Pheno. levels were at the lower effective limits. Liver readings look good so we’ll stay with the current 180mg pheno., 1440mg Kbr dosages for now. It was discussed possibly reducing the pheno. lower down the road — it’d be great if we could get him off the pheno. eventually. All the other blood test looked normal/healthy as well. Foster also had all his annual shots and all.
December 03, 2009 – Foster had some type of seizure event this afternoon. I did not observe the seizure but did witness the after effects of constant pacing and disorientation.
November 09, 2009 — We boarded Foster and Maggie at a local Vets and got away for a short weekend. Foster was fine and didn’t have any seizures while we were gone. This is the first time the wife and I have gotten away together overnight since the seizures began this past May.
October 23, 2009 — HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOSTER…3 years old today!
October 18, 2009, 17:30 — It was a nice run of 38 days but Foster had a seizure this evening. He was laying beside my chair and I looked down and he started doing the strange muscle curl to one side he does and then quickly went into a full Grand Mal Seizure. The seizure lasted a minute or a little less and it took him another 30-45 seconds of laying still before he raised up. He did the walking/pacing thing for close to an hour before he finally laid down and rest. However, he seemed to have full awareness for this hour, which is a good sign. As far as I know he didn’t have any further seizures during the night. I’m not going to raise the Pheno. dosage at this time. It’s about balance and quality of life as well as Foster not having seizures.
October 15, 2009, 2300 — Over the last two weeks I’ve backed Foster’s dosage of Phenobarbital down from 240mg/day to 210mg/day and then to 180mg/day. I’ve not conferred with my Vet. on doing this as I know he’d want to play it safe and keep Foster at his previous max. dosages. However, I spend most of my days with Foster and I can see what this high dosages was doing to him. Foster at 240mg/day of Pheno. is not Foster and the data in the table above supports that in Fosters case the Pheno. wasn’t that effective in dealing with his seizures anyway. The KBr is what finally broke the seizure cycle. Since reducing the Pheno. dosage the old Foster is back and he is both mentally and physically more alert and active. I’ll not reduce it any further for the time being and we’ll hope the seizures don’t return. I also wonder what part the no-gran holistic dog food has played in this.
September 25, 2009, 11:00 — Foster is on maintenance doses of both Phen. and KBr. He seems to be recovering from the loading dose of KBr. We’ll have to wait and see the final results.
September 21, 2009, 8:00 — Thank goodness the 5 day loading period of KBr is over…now Foster reverts to one 1440MG capsule a day and I hope back to his old self. For the last three days of the loading period Foster didn’t play with Maggie and yesterday, the last day, he could barely walk and was drooling. When he needed to go out I’d have to physically help him get his hind quarters up. Update: Foster went into such a deep sleep yesterday morning that I honestly thought for a moment he was dead. Once I found he was still breathing it was like he was in a coma–it took me 5 min to wake him to the point where he could open his eyes. I believe he was nearly overdosed with the KBr on top of the Phenobarbital.
September 20, 2009, 7:30 — With this loading regiment you’ll find your dog drinking a lot of extra water and having to go out (in the middle of the night) more often. Don’t expect any full nights of sleep.
September 19, 2009, 8:30 — Day four of the KBr loading dose regiment and Foster is “drunk,” dragging his feet and is weak in the hindquarters to the point that sometimes his rear falls over. Also, with his short little basset legs, he’s having trouble standing on slick hardwood floors. This is all “normal” and I was warned about the effects, but it’s heartbreaking, especially since I’m still stuffing those KBr capsules down his throat three times a day. 
September 17, 2009, 8:30 — The second day of the five day KBr loading dose regiment–so far so good. Below is a recent photo of Foster. There is also a photo of Foster and his adopted sister Maggie. Maggie and Foster are extremely close. Maggie looks out for Foster and will come get me when Foster starts having a seizure. The seizures upset Maggie some because she can’t understand what Foster is doing. But after getting me, she usually watches quietly until Foster is okay again. (As usual, you may click on the images for larger versions)
September 16, 2009, 12:30 — Foster seems to be able to tolerate one capsule of KBr at a time–it’s one capsule 3x a day for five days now.
September 15, 2009, 08:30 — Yesterday, Foster threw-up a little after his dosage of KBr but it was a small enough amount that I still felt he got much of the medication. Today after about 10-15mins he completely emptied his stomach. He didn’t get the KBr and I’m worried he also got rid of his morning dose of Phenobarbital. I’ve called the Vet to see what I should do…waiting for a call back.
Foster didn’t seem too affected by the KBr yesterday, just a little stoned looking, but now I’m wondering how much of yesterdays dose he got.
Heard back from Vet: Starting tomorrow…splitting loading dose to 1 capsule 3x/day– 8am, 4pm, 10-11pm, plus the normal twice daily dose of Phenobarbital-this will be for five days starting tomorrow.
September 14, 2009, 08:30 — Foster began his loading dose of KBr this morning. It’s in capsule form so I was able to get him to swallow three capsules (plus two Phenobarbital tablets) this morning without major difficulty. KBr is often given as liquid but I’ve hear that due to it’s extremely salty taste some dogs don’t like taking it that way. The loading dose (3x’s his normal dose) is given the first five days to get the levels up quickly in the bloodstream. Reported side effects for loading doses include, weakness, drowsiness, drunkenness and upset digestive tracts–I’m anxious about what we’re going to experience.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Earl,
Hang in there. You are not alone either.
Mary and I will keep you and Foster in our prayers.
Rest assured, Mary is in tight with Saint Frances.
Todd
@Todd: Thank-you Todd and Mary! I appreciate you thoughts and prayers.
Hi there. Sorry to here you’ve met up with the blasted seizure monster. It’s a whole world of frustration, confusion and fear. Having been going through this for only a year myself I have a lot of sympathy for all us dog lovers who are going through this experience. It’s not at all pleasant but the periods between each event and the friendship of such a trusting companion go a long, long way to justify the continued battle. Because that’s what it is. I hope you find a balance or some trigger to stave off the seizures.
Going away and leaving them behind is always a worry. Now my kids are at the age were they can be responsible and have been witness to the seizure and the clean up process a number of times it does make it easier. But every time we get to 28 days life kinda goes on hold and sadly you look forward (probably not the right wording) to getting through the next one because you know you at least have another 28 days or so without one.
I’m pleased you found my site worthy of mention. Goodl uck and drop by any time.
@Roxy the Rottie – Thank you for the comments. There are so many varying views on seizures and what possibly causes them, as well as possible treatments, but it was wonderful finding a personal journal sure as yours that gives an insight into living and fighting them on a day-to-day basis. It let us know that everything we were experiencing was not unique. Just knowing that was a great help. Best of luck, Roxy. We will continue to follow your status.
Was glad to hear you got away even for a weekend. What’s even better is you found a someone that would take Foster. It seems as soon as you say the word epilepsy most kennels think its contagious.
I’m helping veterinary tech student with a school assignment about canine epiliepsy and am interested in Foster’s story. When you visited the vet on 5/26, what blood tests did the vet perform? Did s/he provide a diagnosis? If so, do you remember what it was? Did the blood tests reveal a problem that resulted in the prescription of phenobarbitol on 6/13?
hankyou for sharing this infrmation. We hop Foster is doing well.
@Will Hutchinson – Hi Will, I don’t know exactly what was tested on 5/26 via the blood test. As far as the results I was told that everything looked normal. The prescription of phenobarbital was the result of Foster being young and there being no other obvious causes of the seizures. It was decided it was Idiopathic Epilepsy. A little background, this vet. has treated Foster since he was a puppy and has 20+ years experience including many cases of Idiopathic Epilepsy. He also conferred via phone with another local vet. who specializes in these type of cases and his recommendation was to start the phenobarbital. Sorry, it’s not much specific information. That’s one of the more frustrating things about this issue.
In my experience it’s very easy for a vet just to say idiopathic, because it means nothing. The blood tests initially are to rule out the obvious stuff general liver function, white cell count etc. Unless you have access to funds, such as insurance a vet isn’t going to dig too deep into the cause and waits for another symptom to present before proceeding.
I know if I had insurance the vet would be “kerching!” let’s do a £3k MRI, then call in an epilepsy expert at £250 per hour. Without the depth of diagnosis the easy answer is treat the symptoms with epiphen and/or potassium bromide.
I’m betting the vet didn’t even talk about alternative foods? You found that out yourself, right?
@Roxy the Rottie – You’re right on all counts! It was through research on the Internet that I switch to a no-grain natural food source. I can’t say in Fosters case it has made any difference in his seizures but some have reported success.
What strikes me is just how close together you get your seizures. With ours we can go 24 hours between them, but usually 3-4 hours apart. I’m not sure what is best. Getting them over and done with quickly in one day or not. But with them so close together you don’t get any chance of a propper recovery from the last one.
Either way it’s a particularly cruel ailment and I really hope the change of diet helps. A guy I work with said of it’s monthly occurrence “seeming like some chemical build up over time that needs release” whilst not medically based is a fair description of how it seems. Hopefully if it is something in the food the change will prevent the build up.
@Roxy: So far Foster has never had a cluster last longer then about 12 hours and usually will only consist of 3 Grand Mal seizures with perhaps some partial seizures in between. Also, Foster has only lost control of his bodily functions once. The worst we normally have to clean up is foamy saliva. I’m very thankful for both of these things but I know these patterns could change anytime.
The hardest part of having the seizures so close together is that the after-effects build. After the last major cluster, and the last seizure, Foster was for all purposes “blind” for close to an hour. He couldn’t stop pacing and was walking head first into walls, chairs, etc. I followed him around the house for that hour physically guiding him around obstacles until he regained a bit more sense of himself.
I like the analogy or the chemical build up. I’ve often thought of it like a coil spring that is slowly being wound tighter and tighter until it finally reaches a breaking point and wildly unwinds. I’ve noticed on several occasions that Foster seems fullest of energy (most like his old self) a day or so before a cluster begins.
And a merry Christmas to you and yours. We had a great day and hope you all did too.
I’d take every day without as a bonus. Hope you break 60 days next time.