Duncan

As if Reyna's troubles aren't enough to keep me stressed, Duncan decided he needed to send me into a total tizzy this morning. We got up at our usual 6am (thank you, Kodiak), went outside a couple of times, had breakfast, and were enjoying our after-breakfast coma. Around 7:30 I heard Duncan moving and I looked over to see him frothing at the mouth. I got up to check on him and he started seizing. He had a full-on grand mal seizure - muscle spasms, falling over, urinating on himself, etc. The seizure eventually stopped, of course, and I got him on his feet. He was clearly disoriented, but I managed to get him to his bed where he rested until John came over.

During Duncan's seizure - which certainly ranks at the top of my "Most Terrifying Things to Witness" list - I called John. The only clear thought I had was that I was going to need help getting Duncan into the truck to get him to the vet. Unfortunately for John, I was somewhat hysterical and incoherent and all he really heard was "I have to get him to the vet." It crossed my mind at one point that John probably thought Reyna had died. He's such a good friend, he came straight over without really knowing what was going on. At 7:30 on a Saturday morning, no less. After calling John, I started calling vets, trying to find one that was open - none were, of course. I figured that by the time we could get to any office they'd be open, so I really wasn't all that inclined to go to emergency clinic. Once the seizure stopped and I got Duncan settled on his bed, I called John back. He confirmed we were at the house (and not in a car accident somewhere else) and arrived within a few minutes.

Duncan was acting more himself by then, so I decided the best thing to do was call our regular vet when he opened at 8am and get his opinion. For whatever reason, they didn't start answering the phones until after 8:15 (more stress!). It was decided I'd go ahead and bring Duncan in, so off to Durham we went.

While all of this was happening, I realized that Duncan had very likely had a mini seizure yesterday morning. I saw him frothing at the mouth yesterday, but I thought he needed to be sick, based on the way he was moving his head. I got him outside just in case, but he never threw up. He seemed okay afterwards, other than being a little anxious. I also find a lot of dried spit on the kitchen floor after that, so was apparently frothing quite a bit. Dr. Lapham agreed that it sounded like a mini or partial seizure. He also commented that its possible Duncan's had more of those than I know.

Dr. Lapham ran a quick blood test on Duncan, just to make sure there wasn't any obvious cause of the seizures. The blood work came back clean, which means we really have no idea what caused the seizures. Duncan's a little old for epilepsy to suddenly show up, but its possible. Its also possible this was just a one time thing that'll never happen again. Or, it could be caused by something that we won't find without spending way more money than I have. At this point, we're in wait and see mode. The worst thing, of course, would be for Duncan to have another seizure today. If he does, Dr. Lapham wants us to go straight to the emergency clinic, rather than make the drive to Durham.

Duncan's been Velcro Dog since it happened, but he did finally settle enough to take a nap.

Crap! He just had another one! On the way to the emergency clinic!