Scary Night!

last night was a scary night...

last night was a scary night
after a long evening of blogging that kept me up after my desired bedtime due to a late afternoon coffee that was ingested in an effort to be energized for the first DCCX Cyclocross Clinic
I finally fell asleep a little after One Am

come three am I was broken from my pleasant slumber by some excitement
Lisa was awake and our black dog Brutus was making some odd noises on the floor
I leaped from my side of the bed in a panic

Brutus was thrashing about in the same fashion that a dog often does when they are having that dream of chasing a rabbit
only everything was exaggerated... dramatically exaggerated
I tried to wake him

when Brutus was not spastically chasing that invisible rabbit his body was stiff and extended as if he had a leg cramp... or maybe a full body cramp
his head was cocked with his tongue hanging out with foam billowing out
unsure what was happening I tried to wake him from what appeared to be a nightmare
I pulled his body away from the side of the bed so his thrashing body would not strike a leg of the bed

his rigid body went from being locked in a stretching pose to an aggressive running pace
his face was emotionless
his eyes stared blankly at nothing
he did not respond to my words or my touch
it was all very scary

unsure what to do I grabbed a towel and soaked it with water
I cradled his head with the moist towel
calling out his name and trying to support his head I tried to wake him
I clutched his rib cage to see if he was having a heart attack

it was a scary moment
all I could think was my dog was dying... dying right in front of me, dying in my hands, and there was nothing I could do to stop the process
I raced downstairs to get a some food... maybe a piece of meat would snap him out of this fit
as I tore apart the fridge looking for the right piece of food I wondered if I had given him too much steak the night prior
I grabbed a piece of chicken and went back upstairs as fast as I had gone down

back upstairs lisa was trying to soothe Brutus
I waved the meat in front of his nose... nothing
I opened the bedroom door that goes to an outside porch
thinking fresh air would help

then it stopped...
dazed and confused brutus sat there
calmly he sat in place
lisa and I tried to call him forward... he would not come
I tried to get him to come outside... he would not come
finally he got up and started to wander about
disoriented he walked about
I am not sure how long this seizure went on for... but it seemed like forever

I rushed upstairs to Google Epilepsy in Dogs
sure enough... our dog had had an epileptic seizure
I scanned the internet for more information
going back downstairs to check on brutus and then back to the computer to search for more information
checking the dog then checking the computer
up and down the stairs wondering where my efforts would be best spent
Brutus was still acting weird... but weird is his default setting

then back upstairs to the computer to find confirmation that this is not an episode that requires a mad dash to the doggie ER
from what I read it was not... I felt better
it appeared that these things happen and then they pass

the information on the Internet made it seem that contacting the vet was a good idea
but that this was not an experience that merited a trip to the Emergency Room
we tried to go back to bed
we tried to get Brutus to come to bed
I moved the dog bed from lisa's side of the bed to my side of the bed
only by force could I have gotten him to go where I wanted him to go
I lifted Brutus to the space on the bed by lisa's feet
he got out of bed and went back to the floor
his behavior was appearing normal
we all tried to go back to sleep
it was hard to fall back asleep for the obvious reasons

it was a scary moment
a moment that gave me perspective into what my friends must go through with their son and his toddler epilepsy
they had told me about it... they had played it down
after they told me about it I read about it and it did not seem that bad
but I then realized it must be awful for them to see their boy go from playing normally to a short minor seizure
this is just a dog... not a person and I was still freaked out
imagine having this happen to your wife or child
I immediately felt bad for not being more compassionate to their situation

waking up
will take him for a walk
then call the Vet from work
and then see what we can do to prevent this from happening in the future

http://roscoeandbrutus.blogspot.com/
mention of my dogs on the gwadzilla page