Seizure Salad

The first time it happened was right after Bette had got some shots at the veterinarian, so I blamed it on the shots. I had just walked Bette and we had returned to the house where she suddenly flopped on the floor and started convulsing. It didn't last very long, and when she came out of it she seemed just fine. The second time I was walking her and a little more than halfway around the block we stopped to talk to a neighbor for a few minutes. In the middle of conversation I heard a strange noise and looked down. Bette was on her side convulsing. She had flopped down on one side with her legs straight out and was vibrating like Regan in The Exorcist. I reached down and picked her up, her body was so rigid and the sounds she made were so horrible. I tried to talk to her and comfort her while carrying her in my arms and dragging a confused Chandler along behind me. I was nearly in tears by the time she stopped the convulsions. That was when it truly got spooky. My sweet little schnauzer seemed to awaken out of her seizure a different dog. She snapped at me and pulled on the leash trying to run away from me. It took a few minutes before she calmed down and finally recognized me. I took her to the vet the next day and it seemed that he didn't have any answers. He took some blood, looking for toxins, and did a few tests, but found nothing. The only other option involved spending thousands of dollars on brain scans and other involved tests. Thousands of dollars that I don't have. Bette has had two more of these seizures since then. That is four over the course of one and a half years, so they don't happen all that often. What I have figured out, is that they occur after or during the long walk around the block. I don't know if it's the length of the walk, or all the cars speeding past, or my having to pull her along when she doesn't want to walk. What I do know is that Bette isn't going for that particular walkies ever again. A quick walk to the corner where she can pee on the neighbor's yard and then back home, usually carried in my arms. If I can gather up enough cash to have her brain scanned, then I might do that. Or, I might call on Father Merrin.