Wednesday, March 6, 2013

After the last Seizure Subsides

Hi,

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog about my dear dog Capone.

I view Capone as my furry child. He was a joy to everyone who met him. Looking back after all these months I can see there was a gradual change in him. He became more aggressive toward others after the first Grand Mal seizure and the attack by another dog.

When I first set on eyes on him at a Starbucks in Alabama, where we had gone to pick him up. He was not sure about us, but we were thrilled to get him from the Alabama Rescue Society. H weighed in at 24 lbs in July 2011, his foster parents handed me a bottle of Phenobarbital for seizures, told me he was deaf.

I quickly had to learn a few sign language signals to communicate with him. He knew about 20 hand signals. I just had to learn them by heart and teach him new ones. I taught him how to sit, the sign for hungry and a few other hand signals. He had survived the tornado of 2011 in Alabama and was found flea infested wandering the streets in Chilton County. We had him checked out and took him home to meet Rocky our small Rat Terrier.

He had some peculiar habits. One was the twirly dance, every time he had to go outside and do his business he had to find the right place. He sniffed out his spots, and yes there were favorites. He slowly began the round and round actions of the twirly dance, swinging his butt lower and lower to the ground until he defecated, he would delicately step away from his mess slowly. Leaving a circle of his "business."

He had an obsession with balls, taking them to you and daring you to take them from you, causing you to continue throwing them and he chasing them until he made a B-line for the water bowl and collapsed on the floor from exhaustion. He also chewed on everything, we had to keep a good amount of chew toys around for our dear little dog. He had the best set of teeth of any dog I have ever had, beautiful white teeth.

He loved pull toys. He was completely visual as he could not hear, we had to keep the lower portion of our blinds open so he could peer out. He loved to jump in the air. He loved to be carried and would throw his head back. He loved to go to bed early, barking at Stephen and I imploring us to go to bed so he could cuddle up to us.

He was a tough little dog, loved to go to the park, play with the bigger dogs. He never gave up on anything, played like he could hear, never backed away from another dog. Loved to go for walks and loved to smell the flowers in bloom. When he was fully grown, he weighed 32 pounds.

He was a carefree friendly dog up until the time he was bitten by a bulldog in Birmingham, AL. He became suspicious after that time of all strangers. He gradually became more aggressive, you could call it extremely protective. Perhaps it was the tumor in his head growing. He also paced incessantly, from window to window to door to rooms where ever he was..

We moved to New Mexico to check on our home there in 2012 and at the end of 2012 we moved to Texas for a job Stephen my husband had accepted. Capone initially wanted a loving family. He got one, I had retired and stayed home with both he and Rocky our Rat Terrier who weighed 9 lbs sopping wet. They were a pair. Both were always together as Rocky was Capone's ears, Rocky was losing his sight and at 12 he could not see well, Capone was Rocky's eyes.

The seizures grew more severe as time passed. This last set of Grand Mal or Status Epilepticus were the longest and I think the most damaging.

I noticed that he could not stand when I went to to visit him the day before at the neurologists offices, that was the day he was going to get released. The neurologist tried a third medication called Kaeppra on him, needed to load his system. The next day turned out to be the day he died. I woke up early to get ready to pick him up, waiting for the morning call from his neurologist with news of when I could see him and bring him home. She called, told me he had two Grand Mal seizures, said he needed the MRI because she needed to know how to treat him. Added a fourth mediation for epilepsy. I tried to call my husband who was in meetings. Finally reached him, he was going to come with me to visit Capone, agreed to the expensive MRI, the neurologist said she had time to perform the MRI in two days. I did not know that was going to be the last day Capone was alive.

We think Capone had a brain tumor, which the neurologist suggested as he had the symptoms and his health took a downturn quickly. He had a blood workup, Physical, and was going to have a MRI (cost was 2500 bucks) and possibly a spinal tap in two days. He passed away  before it could be done.

The end was sudden. The neurologist told me that Boston Terriers are known to have brain tumors. Probably a glioma. Capone passed away due to Cardiac Arrest.

We were devastated.

He had a series of rough days beforehand. Focal seizures peppered the last few days between the Grand Mal Seizures. Perhaps I should have acted faster upon the onset of his last set of seizures before taking him to the ER. There will always be things I think I should have done. After the first round of Diazapan he did not stop seizing. This last set of grand Mal seizures were by far the most severe I have ever seen, the Valium could not stop them completely, he was always skirting the fine line between too much medication and stopping the seizures.

Capone was 3 years old when he died. Three years and 8 mos.

Capone had a rough life the first year of his life. The first year of his life is unknown to us, we got him when he was about to turn two. Or so we thought, no one knew how old he was. The vet and the foster parents thought he was between a few months and a year and half. His first year with us was pretty much a learning experience in having an epileptic dog. The second year was a life of enjoying each other. He was given everything he wanted or needed. He as spoiled, but we think he deserved everything in life as we did not know how difficult a life a dog who was abandoned due to the horrific huge tornado in Alabama during 2011. We loved Capone dearly, he cannot be replaced. We will always treasure the time we had with him. Rocky our Rat terrier will also miss him.

Thanks for reading my journey. I was worried about caring for a deaf, epileptic dog, but he brought much more to my family. He was affectionate and we returned that affection in spades.

Capone will be missed.


                                                                Capone 2009 - 2013