Dr. L. called late this afternoon. I told her that he'd had two seizures today. She felt that it would probably be necessary but hopefully safe to increase the phenobarbital again. I mentioned that I have 10mg VetChews I got from BCP. (Didn't know that it said on them that they expired 6 months after the date on the prescription, which is exactly October 30. Crap. On the other hand, how much difference could it make, would you think?) Milk wouldn't have anything to do with them when I first got them, and I wasn't sufficiently accustomed to pilling him to force them. I think they're worth trying - as long as they don't do any further damage to his liver. The major problem is the necessity for mail-ordering them, too - and the fact that they cost $40 for a prescription of 60 pills. I wonder if there's any sense in contacting the compounding pharmacy in Avalon to see about getting 10 mg pills or capsules.....
Just to reinforce with Dr. L what a dope I am, she wanted the dates and information about Milk's seizures since two weeks ago when I left her a copy after Milk's bloodwork. I, the eternal optimist or whatever, said that I'd learned to fax, and I could fax them to her. I'd been planning to do it on my own, and I had already figured out what I wanted to send and how I could print it out first and then fax it. And, once again, I spent two hours trying frantically to get the stupid fax to work. I tried over and over. I kept getting messages in the log that there was "no data" in the message, and printed-out captions that it was sent. I couldn't figure out how to get the printer to show me what exactly it faxed. Finally, I just gave up and called the dr's office, and explained that I'd been trying to send her a fax and I didn't know if it worked or not. The receptionist said, "Oh, honey, I'll go check for you." And when she came back, she said that there were dozens of pages from me hanging out of their fax machine. I said, "Well, yeah, but do any of them contain the "Seizure Record and Weight Record" for Milkshake Guckert?" And she insisted that they did. Oh, I hope so. I sat and read the directions and clicked all the stuff the printer said to click, and still had no idea what I'm doing. I can't understand how I managed to get anything to the Canadian pharmacy the other day, illegible or not.... Dr. L. was kind enough not to mention the excessive faxing when she called. I'll be getting a bill for wasting paper.
Milk's very agitated tonight. Jumpy at noises, and doing a lot of padding around and going up and down the steps. He didn't eat much. He slept most of the afternoon on my ankle in the recliner, smashed up against Busy.
Rats - I forgot the two most important things the doctor said: 1) to increase the phenobarb to 10mg BID - using the almost expired VetChews and to bring him in for bloodwork - liver function tests and bile acid testing - in two weeks, and 2) she's got a friend who's a veterinary neurologist and has opened a practice in Akron. Todd Axlund. I don't know anything about him, experience or qualifications or whatever. Akron's about the same distance as Cleveland or Columbus. It's doable. Dr. L did mention that it's probably going to be necessary to do the MRI at some point. I don't want to think about it. Me and Scarlett O'Hara.
