Little Seizer

I enjoy giving Murphy a new nickname almost every day, depending on his most recent antics.  Sometimes I called him "Barker" or "Digger" or "Deer Hunter" - not very creative, I know.  But last night, I had to bring back a nickname that I'm not so fond of - Little Seizer.

Yes, Murphy had another seizure last night.  It's only been two months since his last one, and as always it broke my heart.

My Little Seizer

We had just gotten back from a walk, and I was downstairs on the exercise bike, trying to get an extra 15 minutes in.  Two minutes into my workout, Murph comes downstairs.  He's panty and looks a little shaky but I figured it was just because he was exhausted from our walk (we also jogged for a short period of time, which always wears him out more than just a normal walk.)  Murphy walked towards me and right into my moving foot on the bike pedal.  I stopped pedaling, and Murph looked dazed.  He continued coming towards me, and sat on the carpet next to the chair for a moment before heading for the coffee table.  He was unsteady on his feet and definitely looked confused.  He keep looking at me with sad, sad eyes, and I started to realize that something might be wrong.  I got off of the bike and patted a spot on the couch where he likes to lay.  He jumped up, but wouldn't lay down, and I noticed that his front legs were trembling.  I tugged at his legs to get him to lay down, and that's when his body started contorting. 

Now, understand that I am NOT good with these kinds of things.  I get all panicky and crazy and all of the things that are NOT helpful in emergency situations.  And I was alone in the basement.  Not good. But, I managed to quickly pick up Murphy as gently as I could (considering that he was bent at weird angles and all of his limbs were stiff) and start running up the stairs, all while yelling, "Dave!?!? Murphy is having a seizure!"  On the phone with his mom, he quickly hung up and I laid Murphy down on the living room floor. 

He was moving and contorting in the weirdest, least natural positions ever.  His mouth was open and saliva was dripping from it.  I had my hands over my mouth, trying not to make any panicky noises.  Dave was petting Murphy and saying comforting things, since there's really not much else that we can do.  I went and got a bowl of water, as he seemed to be coming out of the seizure, but as soon as the first seizure was over, another one started up and he got all crazy again.  He knocked over the bowl of water during a particularly spastic seize and I could barely stay in the room.  I went and got some treats and a paper towel - anything to keep myself occupied. 

After about three minutes, he started calming down.  We were on high alert for a third round, but thankfully it never came.  After about 10 minutes, he was willing to eat, and he enjoyed receiving multiple treats in a row.  Since our theory is that his seizures are related to low-blood sugar, we felt that getting some food into his body was important.  That may or may not be true.  We did take him to the vet after the seizure in July and most of his tests came back normal, except for his thyroid, which was slightly abnormal.  The subsequent tests to confirm a thyroid problem were going to be over a hundred dollars, and we sat on thinking about it for too long to use the original blood draw, so we just let it drop, thinking that we would see how the low-blood-sugar-theory played out.  Now, with this latest episode occurring on a day when we know that Murphy ate his regular serving of food, I'm concerned that it may not be low blood sugar after all.

I've always said that I would do anything for Murphy, but spending hundreds of dollars for tests that might not prove anything is frustrating.  What to do.... what to do?