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

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In a year when many times it looked like Lilly might not survive to celebrate, I officially declare the start to the HOLIDAY at our house. 12 glorious days of togetherness begins in 3 … 2 … 1

P.S. This photo was taken last year, about a month before Lilly suffered a rare / severe adverse rabies vaccine reaction. 

I’m too tired after a month sprinting to finish work so that I could enjoy the holiday, but Lilly is mostly OK. She has been more tired than normal these last 10 days or so, and she has been a little wobbly the last couple of days, but she had chemo injections again last weekend. Typically, we start seeing a real boost from that any minute now.

We hope to resume a more normal blog post schedule in the new year, but for now … we’re just a couple of grateful girls on a mountain in Colorado.

You have our eternal thanks for your love and support this MOST DIFFICULT year.

Happy holidays!

Roxanne and Lilly Hawn

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This week marks 14 weeks since Lilly’s massive brain inflammation relapse in August. This recovery streak eclipses her previous record of 9 weeks without a setback from earlier in the year. I went into today’s neurology exam expecting we’d continue to wean Lilly’s steroid dose. I was wrong. Here is an update on what we’re keeping, what we’re dropping, and what we’re adding to her treatment plan.

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Poor Tom. As soon as I headed to town to see my mom Tuesday afternoon, things went to #*!!. When I returned a couple of hours later, I saw signs of things amiss. Here is the sad, sad tale.

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Miss Lilly and I hauled our silly selves across town for her veterinary neurology recheck appointment this morning, in advance of this weekend’s third round of cytarabine injections. It has been 6 weeks since her last neuro exam and 9 weeks since her major adverse vaccine reaction relapse. Here is today’s news.

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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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Monday, we showed you some agility highlights as Lilly recovers from her neurological troubles. Today, we prove that it isn’t always pretty.

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At our last veterinary neurology appointment, Lilly got the OK to do agility and other more strenuous tasks so that her brain can start figuring out how to rewire certain movements. I convinced myself that Lilly jumped differently and weaved weirdly, but after looking at old agility videos, it seems more like Lilly exaggerates her movements following her “brain injury.” Videos, ahoy!

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Blame it on the steroids and other medications required to treat Lilly’s eningoencephalomyelitis / meningoencephalitis (inflammation of the brain and lining of the brain and spinal cord). Two weeks ago today, Lilly ate 1/2 of a canvass totebag while I was away at a work meeting.

We, of course, induced vomiting in our wayward dog, and we felt pretty confident we’d gotten all / most of the canvass totebag to come back out before it could cause major trouble for Lilly.

Well, 10 days later …

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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.

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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 »

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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.

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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?

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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>

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Lilly had a rough, rough Friday in her recovery from meningoencephalo- myelitis (inflammation of the brain and lining of the brain and spinal cord) after having an adverse rabies vaccine reaction. The diarrhea continues, and her originally minor nosebleeds hit the big time. I spent hours and hours and hours trying to stem the tide each time her nose broke loose.

Our clothes, the dog beds, our floors, and (alas) part of the loveseat look like a crime scene.

Long story short … we ended up in the ER (again).

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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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