was.... interesting. the neuro vet was a nice guy. bedside manner is important to me, and he had it in abundance. he seemed to like harv, harv definitely liked him.
anyway, the bottom line:
"Harvey was examined today following a series of recent seizures in addition to recent behavior changes. At this time no neurologic abnormality was found. A tentative diagnosis of epilepsy is being made on the basis of recent history and current clinica signs."
he did recommend imaging but i'm not going to do that at this point. if things change in the future, i can always do it then. it just seemed like the cost ($1000) outweighed the potential benefits at this point, since he's well-controlled seizure-wise on the phenobarb.
as far as the incessant whining at night (not sure if i mentioned it here, but he wakes up around 3 am and paces and whines and will not go back to sleep. every single night. he's killing me.), he does not feel it's brain-tumory-neurologic or pain. he recommended anti-anxiety medication. harv can't take the clomicalm anymore (he did so well on it but it's contraindicated for glaucoma patients), so i'd like to try him on prozac. need to talk to bosslady tomorrow. i'm going to give him his last half pill of xanax tonight and see if that helps.
he said giving oral valium to a dog isn't worth the effort. cats and people, yes. dogs, no.
he said there's an outside chance that he's having a reaction to the phenobarb, but he doesn't think it's likely. he said if the anti-anxiety meds don't help, we can try weaning him off the phenobarb and onto potassium bromide.
(he did not feel that it was necessary to start him on potassium bromide for seizures at this time since he's so well controlled on the phenobarb. we did talk about it though, which is good.)
he also said that if i want to rule out a brain tumor without imaging, we can try several days of prednisone. if things change, it's a tumor. the opposite is not necessarily true: if things don't change it could still be a tumor.
i'm so glad i went. i'm glad that he's on board and accessible if things change. if harv goes downhill, i can just call or email him and he'll be there to advise. that gives me some peace of mind i didn't have before.
so, there it is. fingers crossed the prozac helps.
harvs and i are both exhausted from today.
anyway, the bottom line:
"Harvey was examined today following a series of recent seizures in addition to recent behavior changes. At this time no neurologic abnormality was found. A tentative diagnosis of epilepsy is being made on the basis of recent history and current clinica signs."
he did recommend imaging but i'm not going to do that at this point. if things change in the future, i can always do it then. it just seemed like the cost ($1000) outweighed the potential benefits at this point, since he's well-controlled seizure-wise on the phenobarb.
as far as the incessant whining at night (not sure if i mentioned it here, but he wakes up around 3 am and paces and whines and will not go back to sleep. every single night. he's killing me.), he does not feel it's brain-tumory-neurologic or pain. he recommended anti-anxiety medication. harv can't take the clomicalm anymore (he did so well on it but it's contraindicated for glaucoma patients), so i'd like to try him on prozac. need to talk to bosslady tomorrow. i'm going to give him his last half pill of xanax tonight and see if that helps.
he said giving oral valium to a dog isn't worth the effort. cats and people, yes. dogs, no.
he said there's an outside chance that he's having a reaction to the phenobarb, but he doesn't think it's likely. he said if the anti-anxiety meds don't help, we can try weaning him off the phenobarb and onto potassium bromide.
(he did not feel that it was necessary to start him on potassium bromide for seizures at this time since he's so well controlled on the phenobarb. we did talk about it though, which is good.)
he also said that if i want to rule out a brain tumor without imaging, we can try several days of prednisone. if things change, it's a tumor. the opposite is not necessarily true: if things don't change it could still be a tumor.
i'm so glad i went. i'm glad that he's on board and accessible if things change. if harv goes downhill, i can just call or email him and he'll be there to advise. that gives me some peace of mind i didn't have before.
so, there it is. fingers crossed the prozac helps.
harvs and i are both exhausted from today.
