Champion of My HeartA real-time memoir about life with a fearful border collie, by Roxanne Hawn

Whew! Long day, so just a quick note about Lilly’s recovery from meningoencephalomyelitis (inflammation of the brain and lining of the brain and spinal cord) after having an adverse rabies vaccine reaction. Today, Lilly had her first recheck appointment with the team at Rocky Mountain Veterinary Neurology (housed inside the Veterinary Referral Center of Colorado).

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For the last 24 hours, Lilly has dramatic tummy troubles every 2-3 hours like clockwork. The diarrhea came on quickly Tuesday (2/7) afternoon and got worse overnight, despite the piles of rice I fed her to bulk things up. Our veterinary specialty hospital discharge instructions warned us this might happen as a side-effect from (primarily) the steroids Lilly is taking, but also as a consequence of the immune-mediator drug Lilly needs.

It is NOT a sign of her primary disease, but instead … just an icky outcome from the now 7 medications Lilly now takes as part of her recovery from meningoencephalomyelitis (inflammation of the brain and lining of the brain and spinal cord) after having an adverse rabies vaccine reaction.

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All of us at Chez Champion of My Heart remain in awe of the outpouring of love, support, and prayers in the wake of Lilly’s near-death experience with meningoencephalomyelitis. We have one more request … in addition to sending mojo for NO seizures and FULL recovery, please add SLEEP to our wishlist. We are tired!

Lilly has monster insomnia from the steroids (we assume). She only sleeps for 15-30 minutes at a time. Of course, it doesn’t help that she is crazy thirsty and needs to pee all the time — day and night — as well, but it breaks our heart that she hardly sleeps.

She cried, whimpered most of last night. In other words, no one around here is getting much sleep.

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I’m sorry it took me so long to post a blog update. Lilly’s hospital discharge on Sunday, February 5, 2012, took longer than expected, so we didn’t get home until around dinnertime. All of us were / are exhausted. The headline, however, is that Lilly is home … and as of this second has been seizure free since Friday, February 3, 2012, in the late afternoon.

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Words cannot convey the exhaustion all of us feel as Lilly remains hospitalized, with new symptoms cropping up each day this week (so far). Thursday (2/2) was another long day, so just a few pix and notes and another video … before we tackle whatever comes up today (Friday 2/3).

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A massive snowstorm kept us pinned on the mountain Friday. We had about 20 inches of snow when we awoke, and the local weather folks are saying we might get another 20 inches of snow before this storm is over Saturday morning. As much as it broke my heart, we did not risk making the drive down the canyon and over to the veterinary hospital. So, this update comes from phone chats with her neurology team. Not great news.

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We were prepared to share moderate news (not worse, not better) about Lilly from Wednesday afternoon (and we will below), but a crushing early morning call brought a report that Lilly began having seizures overnight. Our neurologist called about 6:20 am with the news. He was en route to the hospital. While it wasn’t unexpected, we’re still devastated and worried 10 x more Thursday morning than we were Wednesday afternoon. Photos and video below from that visit. We won’t be able to see Lilly until about 1 pm today.

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We have a diagnosis: meningoencephalitis. That simply means inflammation of Lilly’s brain and the lining around the brain. We do not, however, know (yet) the root cause of Lilly’s rapid decline over the last week or so. Here are some pictures and a short video from our visit with her Tuesday (1/31) afternoon and more details that we can share.

I know this post is likely WAY too long, but there is a lot of information to share.

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Lilly and I apologize for the sudden, unexplained absence from blogging these last two weeks. Due to a new and difficult stage in our eldercare responsibilities, we cannot promise it won’t happen again, but we’ll do our best to keep afloat and provide some entertainment.

If you’ve not yet LIKE’d our Champion of My Heart Facebook Fan Page, where we sometimes report on such life events, we’ll catch you up on the backstory behind our absence:

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The whole New Year thing bugs me. I’m not big on resolutions because the truth is that every day could be considered an important threshold — not just December 31. So, this little reflection takes root in one dramatic realization that came with the onset of truly cold temperatures.

Here’s how it went down.

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Earlier, I shared some new dog behaviors that cropped up after we dropped Lilly’s evening dose of chlomipramine. Others of more concern began to worsen as the levels of meds in her system dropped for real after 6 weeks on a lower dose. So … we’ve decided …

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So, remember how much I loved my claw pooper scooper? Well, I’m adding a caveat …

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For about 6 weeks now, Lilly’s chlomipramine dose has been just 75 mg ONCE a day (in the morning). We’ve dropped the nighttime dose. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, but some new behaviors have cropped up. Now, I’m having doubts about the dog behavior meds decision.

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Starting in spring 2009, life around here got increasingly complicated with medical / health worries and looming grief on several fronts. The changes to my daily reality often feel beyond grim. I wade through life with a conscious bubble of gratitude around me. Yet, while tossing and turning the other night, I compiled a list of things I miss.

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The fact that Lilly lets me trim all of her toenails in a single sitting each week remains one of my greatest dog training victories. We call it Turkey for Toenails, but these days we typically use cheese. Alas, once in a while, I botch things and cause Lilly to bleed. It turns out dewclaws really gush.

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