Bram's Epilepsy Story
Until January 1998 canine epilepsy was not something I was aware of. Sure I'd heard of it and being a nurse had an understanding of what it entailed but it was not something I'd ever thought would affect myself or my dogs.
That January I got my baptism of fire. I remember watching the television one evening and Bram suddenly falling hard against one of the walls, going rigid, foaming at the mouth and starting to paddle with his legs. My first thought was that he'd been poisoned and was dying and that it would take 20 mins to get to the emergency vets which would likely be too long. I vaguely remember calling the vets for advice at which time the seizure had stopped.
The next day I went to my vets and had Bram checked out. He was fine and the seizure was attributed to hydroxyzine a drug he was taking for his allergies which he had started earlier that day. All then went quiet until June 23rd 1998 when again he had a seizure, this time first thing in the morning. Having survived the previous seizure I was reasonably calm as I took him to the vets, although I started to stress somewhat when he seized again then vomited in my car.
At the vets they took blood and urine samples as well as giving him a thorough physical exam. All the tests came back negative so the vet said it was likely that he had epilepsy and decided to start him on an anticonvulsant (phenobarbital). There was a concern that at 7 years of age the seizures might be being caused by an underlying disease or brain injury/tumour, however we determined to take a wait and see approach. So began our battle which you can read in Bram's diary.
Over the following months our lives were turned upside down as Bram had to fight for his life. Thankfully we hadgreat resources available to us, Dr Santilli our veterinarian, Dr Karen Munana our neurologist and especially the members of the Guardian Angel mailing lists without whose help we would have lost Bram on more than one occasion.
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