Not much correlation

As I said, just for curiosity's sake, I was interested to see the correlation between Milk's seizures and the full moon. There wasn't much. Or maybe there was, and I just don't know how to figure it. Anyway, here are the dates (and it is noted if there were multiple seizures, although some clusters may be spread over more than one date, which isn't noted. geez. ) and the percentage of the full moon for that date. I don't know how you would allow for the presence/quantity/variety of medication, either, come to think of it.

3/23/07 ***** 23% (waxing)
3/24 (2x) ***** 34% (waxing)
3/25 ***** 50% (waxing)
3/27 ***** 65% (waxing)
3/29 ***** 83% (waxing)
3/31 ***** 95% (waxing)
4/1 ***** 98% (waxing)
4/2 FULL MOON
4/3 FULL MOON
4/4 ***** 98% (waning)
6/11 ***** 20% (waning)
6/15 (2x) ***** 0% New moon
7/12 (3x) ***** 7% (waning)
7/15 (2x) ***** 1% (waxing)
7/17 ***** 8% (waxing)
7/19 (2x) ***** 23% (waxing)
9/16 (2x) ***** 23% (waxing
9/26 FULL MOON
10/1 ***** 72% (waning)
10/5 ***** 31% (waning)
10/7 ***** 14% (waning)
10/12 (2x) *****1% (waxing)
10/17/07*****30% (waxing)Now, does anyone have any brilliant interpretations?

Same time and place, different day........

One more seizure. Crap. Well, I should be grateful it was only one, right?

He was sleeping between my feet, as usual. It took a few seconds to realize what was happening. There was less jaw snapping than usual, the body jerking was pretty much the normal amount, but towards the end, as I was wiping up some of the saliva from his face, he made these three very loud, scary-sounding, gutteral noises. Not exactly a shriek, but creepy. This is only the second time he's ever made noise during a seizure. The seizure ended five or six seconds later, and he just laid there. I wiped some more. Then suddenly, he jumped down and dashed off. It wasn't the usual pacing from before though. Not as long, and not covering as much territory. I went to the kitchen to fix him a bowl of food, expecting that he'd come in to eat, but he didn't. I went into the living room, and he was cleaning up a bowl that I'd left for Scruffy in case he dropped too low. (Couldn't we just please have one problem at a time, for Pete's sake?) I put the new bowl down and he eagerly started eating. I went to the bathroom, and when I came back, he had moved to the first bowl again. I'm a little nervous, remembering that the last seizures had come only five minutes apart, but so far, it's been about twenty minutes and nothing more has happened.

I wonder if the changing of parts of the seizure routine indicates some sort of progression of the disease? (Always dreading the possibility that he's going to start peeing during a seizure....) I'm surprised at this one happening, too, because we've been very regular with the medications, and he's been incredibly himself again. You'd never know, except that he still needs to gain a little weight and start eating a little better, that he'd even been that sad, falling-down, overdosed little white cat just a couple weeks ago. He has been very active - sometimes I worry that all that flying around all over the house might trigger a seizure, but so far, he's only had seizures when he's asleep.

I want to be more calm about this one. The last two really came as a shock, and I didn't handle the disappointment very well. At least it's been 10 days since the previous seizures. Think positively. I wonder if they increase Keppra based on breakthrough seizures. It would seem not, since Dr. L. was concerned about his weight for prescribing the dosage. Aha - he's gained six or seven ounces in the last few days - I wonder if that's significant. I didn't call about an appointment for his blood work because I have to take Scruffy to the eye doctor this week, but maybe if Stephen can go with me, I could just have the technician appointment for bloodwork...... Dr. L. can be happy that I didn't get her out of bed this time, anyway.

One last thing - Hope suggested keeping track of the full moons to see if there is any relationship between them and the seizures. There is a full moon now. I "borrowed" the moon phases thingy that Steve put on FDMB, and have added it to the blogs for both Scruffy and Milkshake. I believe there's also a way to use the moon phase website to go back and check other full moon dates - when I have a lot of extra energy, I'm going to do that, just for curiousity's sake, to the dates of Milk's seizures.

Still going well.....

Between the ease of giving the Keppra in capsules and only bottlefeeding little Milk twice a day, I feel like I'm on vacation! Well, not exactly, but.... He has eaten willingly from a bowl for the last two or three days. Not a lot, but enough to give me hope that he'll be able to regain a little of his weight. It's going to be a shock to Busy when Milk is once again eating completely on his own - he thinks Milk's his own personal smorgasbord. He hangs around while I'm feeding Milk so he can get the clumps of cat food that I missed with the washcloth. (This looks like affection, but it's actually a careful surveillance for Turkey Wellness!)




Milkshake has become the great bug chaser. All those bugs that manage to get into the house in September have NO idea that he's waiting for them. Yesterday, he found another of those nasty-looking, unidentified black bugs with the big mean pincers on its head. I stepped on it before it took a chunk out of my little white boy. Right now, he's behind me, pursuing what I think/hope is a cricket. Unsuccessfully.

There are no words to describe how incredible it is to see my Milkshake once again bounding around the house and playing and watching the birds, and snuggling with the other cats. It makes me sick to realize how badly he was affected by the unintentional phenobarbital overdose. I need to take him next week for blood levels again. If you can judge by his behavior and activity level, they should once again be in a safe range. Fingers crossed.

Two was enough.

Hopefully, those two seizures were the last for a very long time. I can't understand Milk's even having them, because in the last couple of days, the change in him has been drastic and amazing. He looks like himself again - still thin, but sleek and tall and somehow confident again. He hasn't fallen off anything for two weeks. When I'm holding him and I set him on the floor, his back legs no longer collapse under him. And this morning, miracle of miracles, I put his food bowl down in front of him - well, he walked off and I had to follow him around a little while - but eventually, he ATE the food. I have continued to give him the same canned food that everyone else gets, even though he didn't eat any of it, but he wants dry too; until his weight begins to improve and he develops an actual appetite again, that's fine. He's eating a ton of treats, too, now; besides Rege's treat routine with them, I've been giving him treats as a bribe with his pills.

He doesn't seem to be absolutely sure that the grape-squirting phase is over. I dip the end of his Keppra capsules in butter, which he really likes the taste of. Doesn't encourage him to be any more cooperative, but at least I know how much Keppra is getting into his body.

I love to look at him now - you can tell that he's feeling so much more normal. Such a sweet boy.

oh, no. two seizures in ten minutes.

I woke at 5:00 AM to the sound of Milk's having a seizure. At first, I didn't realize what was happening. It's been quite a while, and things have been going so well with him. I thought last night that it was amazing how much back to normal he is with the reduced phenobarbital, except for the continued anorexia. He's been getting the compounded capsules instead of the awful grape liquid Keppra for four days. I can't imagine that he's getting any less Keppra from the pills than from the uncertain amounts I was squirting into his mouth three times a day.

It was dark when the first seizure started, and I didn't want to turn on the light or move him. There was the usual jerking body movements and foaming. When it stopped, after probably less than a minute - I don't know how long it was going on before I woke up - he didn't do his usual pacing. He just sat and let me wipe his chest and face. Then he snuggled up against me. I thought that it was over, and was wondering why he didn't want food like he did after previous seizures. And then, he sort of looked over my shoulder with a kind of haunted look in his eyes - hard to describe, but it was like he saw something unpleasant coming. And then saliva started to drip from the corner of his mouth. He looked scared, and his eyes got real pink around the outside edges. I thought, like a dope, that maybe I could interrupt the seizure before it started by talking to him and stroking him. Didn't work. He collapsed on his side and the jerking and foaming started again. It seemed shorter this time than the previous time. I cleaned him up again, and then he wanted to get down. I gave him a can of food, and he ate almost all of it. There was still none of the ritualistic pacing.

I went back to the living room with the phone and called the emergency hospital. (Dr. L. had left me valium and catheters there, but I didn't get them picked up.) Short of bringing him in for them to look at, the emergency people didn't have anything to offer. The receptionist said to call the regular number for Dr. L and they'd leave a message in her voicemail. Which I did. The 2nd receptionist took the information and I thought she said that she'd have the doctor on call return my call. When the phone rang, I had to ask who it was - it's now 5:45 AM - and it turned out to be a very sleepy Dr. L, who had been awakened for my call. Apparently, there isn't a doctor on call, exactly. She asked how long Milk had been at the reduced phenobarb dosage of 8mg bid, and I wasn't sure - I thought it had been two weeks - then I looked on here, and it's only been 11 days. She said I could bring him to the emergency hospital if I thought it was necessary. Othewise, I should watch him and see if there are more seizures, and that I could make a "technician appointment" for blood work next week. Which I guess I will do. And I need to pick up the stupid valium, too.

This is very upsetting. Things were going so well. He is - except for the still very diminished appetite - pretty much totally himself again. I can't remember the last time he fell. He looks alert and aware. He's hopping and jumping all over the place, and snuggling with the other cats just like before. I wanted it all to be over with.

To make things even worse, while I was mopping up Milk from the second seizure, Burble jumped on Scruffy, who dragged himself and the orange pain-in-the-neck toward the kitchen. When Scruffy came out - apparently having eaten some of the food that Milk didn't finish from his second can - he was noticeably limping on his right front foot. He let me pick him up and test him, and touch his foot. I didn't see anything wrong with it - no blood or anything. He didn't fuss about my lightly squeezing it. I put him down and he limped over to the tv stand and tried to crawl behind it. I don't need TWO of them to be dragging to the emergency hospital.

My mother wanted me to come down and take pictures of her hundred year old mulberry tree, or whatever it is, today. Now I'm afraid to leave both Scruffy and Milk. This was NOT supposed to happen.

Shhhh! (Still no seizures!)

9/4/07 - reduced phenobarb dosage to 8mg BID. I'm a wreck about it. While the Keppra certainly appears to be working so far, because it's liquid, I never have any idea how much he's actually gotten in his body. Sometimes it appears there's quite a significant quantity on ME. I'm working on a less complicated (subtracting the towel from the equation) way of administering the stuff. It's worked the last couple of doses to get him when he's asleep, pry open his mouth, and squirt it in. I wish it was pills. I wish it didn't have that grape taste. I wish I didn't have this enormous bottle that cost $125 to get into him, and I wish he would hurry up and gain enough weight to be able to order pills from Canada. It would be so much less of an ordeal to have to pill him five times a day than it is with this smelly liquid.

That whining over with, there has been a very noticeable difference with the reduction from 36mg to 24 mg per day. He's much more alert and coordinated. And jumping around like he never had back legs that were useless. I've taken a ton of pictures in the past week or so of him snuggled up to the other guys just like in the good old days. (He told the animal communicator how much he loves Scruffy and Burble and Busy, and you can see that so clearly in the pictures.) He's still not eating voluntarily anywhere near an adequate amount, but two mornings in a row, he has spent a couple minutes grazing in his bowl. This morning, he didn't even try to bury it first. I switched from AD to Wellness for his bottle, and while he doesn't seem to be gaining any weight, at least he's staying about the same. (Let's have a cheer here: Chunk it up, Chunk it up, Waaaaaaaay Up! Eat, Milkshake!) I couldn't get Dr. L to commit to a weight that would mean that he can take pills instead of liquid. I'm hoping that it's ten pounds, which would be a not-too-huge gain.

Best of all, now when I look in his eyes, he's IN there again.