I know I’ve been griping a lot about the struggles of dealing with Lilly’s recovery, but I have one odd-but-good behavioral change we’ve seen.
If we get through Lilly’s recovery without me or Tom stepping on and breaking one of Lilly’s feet or without one of us taking a nasty fall ourselves (after tripping over Lilly), it’ll be a miracle. Truly. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve heard mixed reviews / advice / responses to whether or not the company who made the vaccine should help pay for the veterinary costs of diagnosing and treating the resulting meningoencephalomyelitis / meningoencephalitis (inflammation of the brain and lining of the brain and spinal cord) that Lilly suffered after getting her 3-year rabies vaccine nearly 2 months ago. Today, I’m asking what you think. Please take our two-question dog blog poll.
Since Lilly doesn’t need another neurology exam for a couple of months, we thought it was a good time to recap of how much all this has cost us so far. Read the rest of this entry »
Nearly 2 months into this adverse vaccine reaction with Lilly, I’m still a wreck. At least once a day, Lilly and I have a conversation — brain to brain, heart to heart — that goes something like this.
Oh, the fun with adverse vaccine reactions and treatment side-effects continues. Poor Lilly. Always the dainty thing, while still being a rough-and-tumble mountain girl, Lilly now drools like you would NOT believe. Read the rest of this entry »
Once upon a time, Lilly was a delicate, agile, sure-footed border collie with amazing balance and strength. She could jump greats heights, seemingly without trying. She could land with grace and nary a sound. These days, she moves more like a little, black-and-white Frankenstein.
GOOD news, fans and friends. Our veterinary neurologist is quite pleased with Lilly’s progress — totebag eating and dog conflict aside. We’ll know blood test results later in the week, but we don’t have to go back for a recheck for 2-3 months. Can I have a whoohoo?
While we await news from Lilly’s veterinary neurology recheck appointment this morning, how about a little happy news … for once?
If your dog has never required medications that cause dramatic behavioral side-effects, count yourself lucky. Friday (3/9/12), we had another MAJOR scare with Lilly. <insert expletive here>
I’m doing my best to share the whole picture of what exactly went wrong in Lilly’s body and brain following her adverse reaction to a rabies vaccine nearly 2 months ago. My dog training / dog behavior friends will find this VERY interesting.
One of the things Lilly lost along the way — entirely for a while and now spotty? Canine calming signals. For example, typically when you kiss a dog (even one who is used to it), the dog will lick its lips as a way of saying, “I don’t like that” or “You’re making me nervous.” Calming signals can also be used to prevent altercations between dogs. For weeks and weeks and weeks, Lilly did not do that … at all.
Not a big deal to us, but to Ginko? Kind of a big deal.
Combine missing calming signals between dogs with her lifelong behavioral challenges and now poor body control, and you get a tense canine household.
One of the weird outcomes from Lilly’s ill-fated rabies vaccine that resulted in meningoencephalomyelitis (inflammation of the brain and lining of the brain and spinal cord) is that Lilly now makes CRAZY, new noises. Observe.
Remember, my sad bloody Valentine? We’re happy to report that Lilly’s nose now looks like this:
Cue the sports-training-montage music from the movie Rocky. In recent days, Lilly has shown marked improvement in her strength and body control. We still remind her to be “careful” or to “go slow” on stairs, but as you can see in this new video update, Lilly is getting stronger.
We’re really trying to get back on a normal blog schedule, but it has been tougher than expected to balance our must-do list with everything else. Plus, as Lilly starts feeling better, she wants more Mommy time … and in a world where the choice is spending time with my girl and writing a post … well, no offense. ;o)
