Daisy Doodlebug
Donation protected
Dear friends, Daisy is a 7.5 pound, almost 2-year-old mini-dachshund who on the morning of Aug 12, 2020, woke up a completely different dog. As she stood frozen in one place with her tail in the air, and saliva dripping from her mouth down to the floor, she appeared to be straining to go potty. Shaking, blowing bubbles out of her mouth with her spit and seemed completely distressed. I picked her up, at which time, feces fell from her and made me suspect that she was having a bowel obstruction or constipation. I immediately called the vet. Took her in and on physical exam, she appeared fine. No fever, vitals all good, bowel sounds great, no bloating in the abdomen, rectal exam fine. Except, she had a full anal gland which was expressed and we took her back home. She still was not acting quite right after getting her home. Still dazing off into the distance and pacing the house. She was acting like she had never been in our house before. Acting like her surroundings were new to her.
Trying to sleep that night, of August 12, she could not, as she kept pacing the entire night. Pacing and searching the air, sniffing the walls, the corners as if she had lost something or could not find her way.
The next morning, she seemed a little less distressed and almost more like herself. We thought she had finally gotten past the issue and was back on track and getting back to her normal fun loving self.
She slept good on the night of August 13, she burrowed herself under the covers like she normally does and got as comfortable as she could. Acted more like herself and seemed to be happy and content. Giving kisses and acting like the Daisy that we know and love.
The morning of August 14, she woke up completely different again. Her ears were pinned back to the sides of her head. She was drooling so much from her mouth that her neck and chest were wet like a baby teething. Her eyes were completely matted as she just seemed to be straining to do anything. Once again I alerted the vet. I emailed them and sent them a picture of how she was looking and that she was not acting herself. They wanted to see her. As she was sitting on the couch and we were getting ready to take her, she started to make strange movements with her face that appeared to be a seizure. This was a snarl appearance that had a twitching and side jerk of her nose and blinking of her eyes. This caused her to appear as if she was biting or nipping at the air and saliva was foaming and pouring out of her mouth. Probably the scariest thing we have ever seen. (will post videos below) At this time we did not capture the seizure on video. Once we got to the vet we tried to explain as best we could. Her vet took her temperature and Daisy was running a fever of 103.6 which let us know she had an infection somewhere. The doc wanted to keep her and run some blood tests to see what was going on.
Blood tests came back normal. So we started Daisy on antibiotics, anti-nausea, anti-inflammatory and were trying to give her some relief at home to get her through whatever was making her feel bad. Once we got Daisy back home with us later that day on Aug 14, Daisy had another facial seizure which we were able to capture on video. I sent the video to the vet who then quickly responded that she was worried this was meningitis as these seizures appeared to be neurological and that the only specialists were 2.5 hours away in Columbia, MO. This was Friday night and we were pushing it if we were going to get her there if we needed to.
After she had at least 2 or 3 more facial seizures, we couldn't stand by and waste time. We ran her to the ER Vet in Springfield, thinking we could stand a better chance of them calling in to the Columbia Hospital and letting them know we were on our way, which they did.
We drove that night Friday, August 14 at 11 pm 2.5 hours to Columbia, MO, and arrived at the Columbia Hospital that next morning the 15th. They took Daisy in and due to the COVID crisis, we were not allowed to enter the building which was heart wrenching but we understood. We handed her off at the door with her history and showed her videos of seizures, then we sat in the parking lot and waiting until they were able to let us know what was going to happen via phone call.
An hour later they were able to call and give us an update. At that time, they wanted to do an MRI and spinal tap as they too were thinking meningitis. Since this was the weekend, they could not do the MRI and spinal tap until Monday or Tuesday depending on the schedule and the emergencies that came in. So Daisy needed to stay in the hospital for the weekend. But, before we could go, we needed to set up payment for at least half of the bill. This is always the worst part for anyone on either side of this situation. Money is horrible and I hate that it always comes down to money, but really it has to. There is a lot involved in this. The MRI, the anesthesia, the spinal tap, the doctors, etc, etc, etc, the expense is definitely justified. We needed to supply them with a credit card for at least $1,200 of the bill because the estimate was like $3.500 and they wanted so much percentage down before you leave. Well, I was not prepared for that. Plus I had not slept in days. So my hubs, the wonderful guy that he is, took care of this for me. He loves Daisy just as much as I do. The hospital had a loan program, we will be paying them back, but at least we didn't have to think about the expense while this was going on.
Once that was all settled, we headed back home. We got back to Springfield at 8 a.m. on August 15th (Sat) and slept for a couple of hours before the hospital called and gave us an update on Daisy. She had, had no seizures all morning. All her vitals were good. No fever. She looks great. They need to rule out systemic issues before they start addressing neurologic because they do not see signs of neurologic, which I am kind of relieved thinking, oh thank goodness, she's healthy. But, if anyone has dealt with seizures at all, you know this is how it goes. They are the hardest thing to detect and get diagnosed.
So, we were told we could pick her up and take her home on Aug 16, Sunday morning. We are so excited. We headed off to Columbia, MO, to get Miss Daisy and love and get kisses from her. She is discharged and brought out to us. She seems out of it to me. She's not real excited to see me. She keeps putting her paws on me as the girl is holding her and ready to hand Daisy over to me, but Daisy is almost trapped in her head. Her eyes seem glazed and distant to me. But, I figure, she's tired, hungry, scared, confused and she needs to get home in her surroundings.
We get her home, she's doing fine. She won't eat, only drinks water. She is still confused about the house. She does not know where her pee pad is at. She does not want to be touched by anyone but me, (mom) only wants me to hold her. We are not getting Daisy kisses which is very strange. She seems depressed. Standing in one place for long periods of time with her tail between her legs, glazed eyes, staring off into the distance. Sniffing the house like she doesn't know it anymore, everything is new.
Then 4 pm August 16 (Sun) she has a facial seizure! We as sick to our stomachs. This can't be happening. We start trying to think if it's something we have done. We are getting her too hot. She's freezing and shaking, we keep wrapping her up and trying to warm her up, maybe she still has a temp and we are overheating her so we are causing these seizures. No! Because at 6 pm, she has another one, this time it is a facial seizure that leads to a full body seizure (I did not get a video of this because it scared the crap out of me). She urinated all over herself and she was completely as stiff as a board. This lasted at least 1 to 2 minutes. She was gasping for air. Her little body was fighting for her to regain consciousness. Drool and spit going everywhere and we were in a panic. I thought we completely lost her. But, luckily we didn't lose her, she came out of it, she was so tired. But, she developed an appetite and finally ate some of her kibble. I stayed up with her that entire night and called the vet first thing. They suggested we run her back to Columbia. We called the Columbia Hospital and let them know what had happened and they said they would be watching for us to bring her back.
She was again admitted on Monday Aug 17. On that day, the seizure was witnessed by the neurology doctors. Also, I had sent them some of her videos of her seizures via e-mail. I had also sent videos of her normal behavior versus her behavior after having seizures. On Tuesday August 18 in the evening, they had performed her MRI and spinal tap, this was then we found out she had meningitis, immune-mediated which is steroid responsive.
Daisy will be started on aggressive steroid therapy of Prednisone and a chemo drug to see if she responds to the treatment like they need her to. If she does, then she can come home with us while we are finishing up the treatment.
This fund will help us continue treatment as this will last for one year for aggressive treatment. We know everyone is struggling at this time. You do not have to donate, it's definitely appreciate if you can. But, we really want everyone to be aware of the disease. We had no clue about it and this has been the scariest thing for us. We love our little fur baby and we know you love yours too. We want to make everyone aware of the signs and symptoms so you can get the help you need.
You can follow Daisy Doodlebug on her Facebook page if you would like to see her progress. I will be posting videos of the seizures and the first warning signs that we had with her.
Trying to sleep that night, of August 12, she could not, as she kept pacing the entire night. Pacing and searching the air, sniffing the walls, the corners as if she had lost something or could not find her way.
The next morning, she seemed a little less distressed and almost more like herself. We thought she had finally gotten past the issue and was back on track and getting back to her normal fun loving self.
She slept good on the night of August 13, she burrowed herself under the covers like she normally does and got as comfortable as she could. Acted more like herself and seemed to be happy and content. Giving kisses and acting like the Daisy that we know and love.
The morning of August 14, she woke up completely different again. Her ears were pinned back to the sides of her head. She was drooling so much from her mouth that her neck and chest were wet like a baby teething. Her eyes were completely matted as she just seemed to be straining to do anything. Once again I alerted the vet. I emailed them and sent them a picture of how she was looking and that she was not acting herself. They wanted to see her. As she was sitting on the couch and we were getting ready to take her, she started to make strange movements with her face that appeared to be a seizure. This was a snarl appearance that had a twitching and side jerk of her nose and blinking of her eyes. This caused her to appear as if she was biting or nipping at the air and saliva was foaming and pouring out of her mouth. Probably the scariest thing we have ever seen. (will post videos below) At this time we did not capture the seizure on video. Once we got to the vet we tried to explain as best we could. Her vet took her temperature and Daisy was running a fever of 103.6 which let us know she had an infection somewhere. The doc wanted to keep her and run some blood tests to see what was going on.
Blood tests came back normal. So we started Daisy on antibiotics, anti-nausea, anti-inflammatory and were trying to give her some relief at home to get her through whatever was making her feel bad. Once we got Daisy back home with us later that day on Aug 14, Daisy had another facial seizure which we were able to capture on video. I sent the video to the vet who then quickly responded that she was worried this was meningitis as these seizures appeared to be neurological and that the only specialists were 2.5 hours away in Columbia, MO. This was Friday night and we were pushing it if we were going to get her there if we needed to.
After she had at least 2 or 3 more facial seizures, we couldn't stand by and waste time. We ran her to the ER Vet in Springfield, thinking we could stand a better chance of them calling in to the Columbia Hospital and letting them know we were on our way, which they did.
We drove that night Friday, August 14 at 11 pm 2.5 hours to Columbia, MO, and arrived at the Columbia Hospital that next morning the 15th. They took Daisy in and due to the COVID crisis, we were not allowed to enter the building which was heart wrenching but we understood. We handed her off at the door with her history and showed her videos of seizures, then we sat in the parking lot and waiting until they were able to let us know what was going to happen via phone call.
An hour later they were able to call and give us an update. At that time, they wanted to do an MRI and spinal tap as they too were thinking meningitis. Since this was the weekend, they could not do the MRI and spinal tap until Monday or Tuesday depending on the schedule and the emergencies that came in. So Daisy needed to stay in the hospital for the weekend. But, before we could go, we needed to set up payment for at least half of the bill. This is always the worst part for anyone on either side of this situation. Money is horrible and I hate that it always comes down to money, but really it has to. There is a lot involved in this. The MRI, the anesthesia, the spinal tap, the doctors, etc, etc, etc, the expense is definitely justified. We needed to supply them with a credit card for at least $1,200 of the bill because the estimate was like $3.500 and they wanted so much percentage down before you leave. Well, I was not prepared for that. Plus I had not slept in days. So my hubs, the wonderful guy that he is, took care of this for me. He loves Daisy just as much as I do. The hospital had a loan program, we will be paying them back, but at least we didn't have to think about the expense while this was going on.
Once that was all settled, we headed back home. We got back to Springfield at 8 a.m. on August 15th (Sat) and slept for a couple of hours before the hospital called and gave us an update on Daisy. She had, had no seizures all morning. All her vitals were good. No fever. She looks great. They need to rule out systemic issues before they start addressing neurologic because they do not see signs of neurologic, which I am kind of relieved thinking, oh thank goodness, she's healthy. But, if anyone has dealt with seizures at all, you know this is how it goes. They are the hardest thing to detect and get diagnosed.
So, we were told we could pick her up and take her home on Aug 16, Sunday morning. We are so excited. We headed off to Columbia, MO, to get Miss Daisy and love and get kisses from her. She is discharged and brought out to us. She seems out of it to me. She's not real excited to see me. She keeps putting her paws on me as the girl is holding her and ready to hand Daisy over to me, but Daisy is almost trapped in her head. Her eyes seem glazed and distant to me. But, I figure, she's tired, hungry, scared, confused and she needs to get home in her surroundings.
We get her home, she's doing fine. She won't eat, only drinks water. She is still confused about the house. She does not know where her pee pad is at. She does not want to be touched by anyone but me, (mom) only wants me to hold her. We are not getting Daisy kisses which is very strange. She seems depressed. Standing in one place for long periods of time with her tail between her legs, glazed eyes, staring off into the distance. Sniffing the house like she doesn't know it anymore, everything is new.
Then 4 pm August 16 (Sun) she has a facial seizure! We as sick to our stomachs. This can't be happening. We start trying to think if it's something we have done. We are getting her too hot. She's freezing and shaking, we keep wrapping her up and trying to warm her up, maybe she still has a temp and we are overheating her so we are causing these seizures. No! Because at 6 pm, she has another one, this time it is a facial seizure that leads to a full body seizure (I did not get a video of this because it scared the crap out of me). She urinated all over herself and she was completely as stiff as a board. This lasted at least 1 to 2 minutes. She was gasping for air. Her little body was fighting for her to regain consciousness. Drool and spit going everywhere and we were in a panic. I thought we completely lost her. But, luckily we didn't lose her, she came out of it, she was so tired. But, she developed an appetite and finally ate some of her kibble. I stayed up with her that entire night and called the vet first thing. They suggested we run her back to Columbia. We called the Columbia Hospital and let them know what had happened and they said they would be watching for us to bring her back.
She was again admitted on Monday Aug 17. On that day, the seizure was witnessed by the neurology doctors. Also, I had sent them some of her videos of her seizures via e-mail. I had also sent videos of her normal behavior versus her behavior after having seizures. On Tuesday August 18 in the evening, they had performed her MRI and spinal tap, this was then we found out she had meningitis, immune-mediated which is steroid responsive.
Daisy will be started on aggressive steroid therapy of Prednisone and a chemo drug to see if she responds to the treatment like they need her to. If she does, then she can come home with us while we are finishing up the treatment.
This fund will help us continue treatment as this will last for one year for aggressive treatment. We know everyone is struggling at this time. You do not have to donate, it's definitely appreciate if you can. But, we really want everyone to be aware of the disease. We had no clue about it and this has been the scariest thing for us. We love our little fur baby and we know you love yours too. We want to make everyone aware of the signs and symptoms so you can get the help you need.
You can follow Daisy Doodlebug on her Facebook page if you would like to see her progress. I will be posting videos of the seizures and the first warning signs that we had with her.
Organizer
Teresa Sandfort
Organizer
Springfield, MO