Amid all the worry about Lilly’s brain and the inflammation with the big scary name (meningoencephalomyelitis), I concentrated on the motor skills like walking and the importance of good balance. Lilly remains in a greatly compromised neurological state, and yet … it’s the side-effects and other issues that cause the most concern lately.
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.
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).
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.
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!
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
