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

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Friday morning (1/25/13) around 6:45 am, Lilly had her first seizure in about a year. Then, we found an absurd amount of blood in her urine, and our veterinary team found AIR inside the walls of Lilly’s bladder. That’s. NOT. Good. Potentially life-threatening, even.

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As I begin budgeting for 2013, let’s look at just how much it has cost to keep Lilly alive following the onset of vaccine-induced meningoencephalomyelitis (inflammation of the brain, lining of the brain, and spinal cord).

To recap … My perfectly healthy, brilliant, strong border collie girl received a rabies vaccine January 23, 2012, and she hasn’t been the same since. It hasn’t been cheap trying to save her. Before her massive relapse in August 2012 (after our 4th attempt to wean her off steroids), Lilly’s prognosis was good. Afterwards, her true prognosis became unknown. We just don’t know how this is going to turn out or how long it may go on.

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Last weekend, Lilly got her 3rd cycle of cytarabine injections (4 sub-q injections over 2 days). She handles it like a champ. Honestly, other than the fact that everything about her reeks of medications, you’d never know she was getting pretty aggressive treatment for rabies vaccine-induced meningoencephalomyelitis (brain inflammation). This week, we saw some improvements.

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In addition to continuing to chronicle Lilly’s treatment for rabies vaccine-induced meningoencephalomyelitis (brain inflammation), I’m trying to glean some valuable lessons YOU can learn from our experience. For example, do you know your dog’s “normal” vital signs? Trust me, it’ll help you know when something is wrong and when / if to worry about your dog. Read the rest of this entry »

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Monday dawned with a full-blown anxiety attack hovering. Seeking just an hour of quiet, an hour or solace, an hour of something other than work or worry, I headed out to the greenhouse. Big mistake. An unsupervised and steroid-fueled Lilly helped herself to a non-food snack. There went my day.

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Today is World Rabies Day, which is meant to “raise awareness about the impact of human and animal rabies, how easy it is to prevent it, and how to eliminate the main global sources.” Nine months into a life / death struggle following Lilly’s severe adverse rabies vaccine reaction, I look at things a bit differently.

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It’s official. I hadn’t added everything up since the end of June, but I did on Friday, and we topped $15,000 in expenses to treat Lilly’s severe rabies vaccine reaction. To be exact … $15,095.01. People have been asking, so I’ve again set up a chip-in, if you’re so inclined. No pressure. No expectations at all. Read the rest of this entry »

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There is a rant brewing about something that happened at the veterinary hospital today with a fellow dog owner, but for now … let’s only focus on Lilly’s recovery status. A tiny bit of potentially scary news today.

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Lilly made great gains in her recovery through about Wednesday. She hasn’t been as great since then. She seems weak, tired, wobbly, and droopy. I worry about her gums and tongue being pale. We’re not getting much sleep at night. BUT, Lilly can walk again — not well, but she can walk.

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We’re so sorry about not posting  Monday. Now that Lilly is home the demands on my time and energy have increased 10 fold, at least. So, that’s the headline … Lilly is home. She is still a neurological wreck, but she is improving.

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More good news today! Mentally, Lilly is so much brighter, alert, aware, and responsive. Physically, her motor skills still suck, but she can push herself up into a SIT. She needs help keeping her balance, but she can use her front legs to push up. There is a good chance she can come HOME tomorrow, so I have a boatload of housework and preemptive cooking to do. Just a few pix from today’s visit (Sunday, Aug 12, 2012).

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If Lilly was 5% of herself Friday (Aug 10), we’d say she is 20% of herself today (Saturday, Aug 11). Just talked to our neurologist, though, and he said I’m a “brutal Olympic judge” because he would have given her a much higher score. Some photos from today.

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Again, I’m mostly too tired to be coherent, but here is the top news about Lilly’s massive adverse rabies vaccine reaction relapse.

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I am exhausted at the cellular and spiritual levels, so just quick notes and one picture. The headline is this: Lilly is about the same, with 2 exceptions. Her fever is down, but so is her heart rate.

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Via a daily news brief of veterinary-related news, I learned of 12 dogs in Mooresville, North Carolina, who were put down after one of them — a puppy — contracted rabies. Many people were also exposed at a recent fish fry and are receiving treatment. The case raised a critical question: Is a current rabies vaccination “enough” to protect dogs exposed to rabies?

I’d always thought the answer was YES. Apparently, the reality is more complicated.

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