Baxter and Me

Mommy told me tonight that I was a good boy. Just coz I groomed Baxter the Kitty.

I was in Mommy's bedroom when Baxter came and rubbed up against me. I decided that Baxter needed a bath and began licking him. Baxter sure loved the attention. He kept standing underneath me and rubbing up against me.

Mommy told both of us that we were pretty darn cute. Heck, we already knew that anyway!

And you should see Kayla and me. We're so happy when we're get together that we kiss each other on the face. Again, Mommy thinks it's cute.

Mommy sure is pretty darn easy to please, huh?

P.S. And thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. Mommy still owes me a Frosty Paws. (hint, hint, Mom!)

I'm Doing Better ... !

No seizures since I was last at the vet (knock on wood). I had to have another blood test to check my KBR (potassium bromide) level and they had to up that. But still, I'm doing OK.

I'm still getting used to the drug, so I sometimes just lay there. Mom says I worry her when I do that--I just lay on the ground and stare. She then checks my breathing--you know, makes sure that my chest is going up and down!

But thanks for all of your good wishes. I'm hangin' in there!

Oh, something else happened ... I was such a good boy when I was at the vet. So why did everyone in the lobby laugh at me when I tried to sit in my mommy's lap? It kinda hurt my feelings. Gee whiz, I'm just a lap dog after all!

I'm Feelin' Better!

I am, really I am! Mommy says I'm acting like my old self--which is a good thing, right?

It took some time, but I finally starting playing again and I stopped peeing in the house and all kinds of stuff.

All of you Dogsters out there have been so kind and caring, sending me all kinds of gifts and messages.

Thank you all! It sure helped me get better.

I've Been Very Sick!

Mommy has been so worried about me. I had a couple of seizures on Tuesday. Mom knew I had another one on Wednesday, but now she thinks I had more than that. And I progressively got worse on Thursday--which, of course, was New Years Day.

By Thursday night, I seemed kinda disoriented and seemed to have more and more seizures. But Mom wasn't always sure coz she couldn't stay by me every minute.

But boy, did I scare her on Friday morning! I was having seizures in clusters and I couldn't recover. I was so disoriented--I kept pacing and then I'd fall over and have a seizure. It took a long time for me to be able to stand up.

Uncle Marc helped get me in the car (I weigh almost 100 lbs.) and Mommy rushed me to the vet. She called them to tell them she was on her way. I had another seizure in the car and Mommy thought I was dying.

Two people had to come and carry me into the back. I had another seizure at the vet, so they started an IV and gave me Valium. I stopped seizing.

I stayed overnight and came home today. I was having a hard time walking. In fact, the staff had my hind legs in a sling to help me to walk! That sure scared Mommy.

Heck, it scared me too.

Here I am on Dec. 29, just 4 days ago! I'm playing with Cookie, a foster dog.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbpEhRIU-4w

And here I am today after I began walking around--keep in mind that I had improved measurably from the time Mommy picked me up at the vet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObRY47yJwzU

I'm already on phenobarbital and now I'm also on potassium bromide. Oh dear.

Mommy is wondering if she should have an MRI and a spinal tap done on me. We'd be looking for a brain tumor or some kind of inflammation. If everything is clear, then we know that I have epilepsy coz then we're ruled out everything else. At least my blood work came back just fine--so no liver or kidney ailments for me.

My walking is improving, although I'm still stumbling around a bit. But Mom says I always get sick on holidays. (Hot spot on July 4 in 2007.)

Ain't it the truth!

Another seizure for me ...

I'm too worn out to tell you about it, so I'll let mommy tell you what happened.

Hi, Mommy here. Well, poor Parker had another couple of seizures. :-(

They weren't too bad--well, not major anyway--and he had two that I know of, but I suspect that he had a third one in between the two I know about. Water was all over the kitchen one time--he probably knocked into the water bowl, I'm guessing.

The first seizure happened outside, just after I put Pearl, my foster, back inside. I'm glad that Pearl wasn't outside when it happened. The other two seizures happened in the kitchen.

He's peed three times in the kitchen after that--a little confused, I'm guessing.

After the second (or third one), I made sure to take extra time and comfort him. He always get scared afterwards. I mean, the poor baby is temporarily blinded during these things--you can see he's blind when he's coming out of it. The eyes just look so dead.

Anyway, the interesting thing was that Nikki wanted him to play and he didn't want to. He just wanted his mommy. And then, for the first time, she successfully inserted herself between us, and Parker didn't push her away. Ever since I've gotten Parker, he does his best to make sure I can't pet her. He always inserts himself between us and she lets him.

Well, this time, she must have sensed he was weak, so she tried it and got away with it.

Several hours later, they played and the relationship between them returned to the usual pattern.

I was scared ...

I had to go to the vet today. It was time for my shots and my blood test--to see if the meds I'm taking for my seizures are at the right dosage.

I had another seizure last night. It wasn't as bad as some of them have been--but mommy said that she could tell I couldn't see her while it was going on.

She said my eyes were empty and unfocused. I kept trying to get up to go to her--mommy is my rock and I wanted her to help me--but I kept stumbling. She just kept talking to me softly until I came out of it.

Finally I came out of it and I could see my mommy again. She took me outside and kinda cleaned me up a bit. I didn't want her to leave my side though. I get really scared afterwards.

I panted for at least an hour. I also got a bit confused and went to the kitchen door and began crying for her--but silly me, I didn't realize mommy was at the kitchen sink washing dishes.

Today I'm doing OK. At the vet, Mom asked about this growth on my eyelid. Seems I have a myeloid tumor. But it's no big deal as they're usually benign. We'll remove it only if it gets bigger or if I have to have a dental. Whatever that is.

Oh, and guess what? I'm 98.6 lbs. now! I'm a big boy, huh?

People at the vet complimented me and said how pretty I am. Mom explained that I'm known as Parker the Barker. Gosh, Mom. So I like to bark when I play with Nikki. Big deal.

See, Nikki and I do a stand-off and when she hides behind Mommy or chairs or something, I bark loudly at her. hee, hee

It's the best.

I got sick again. :-(

Mommy got so scared Monday morning. She heard a loud thump coming from the kitchen and at first she didn't know what it was. It was me.

I had fallen over and hit the ground hard. I had another seizure. Then I had a second one at midnight.

I'm now on RX for it. Mommy got it filled at her pharmacy, but those instructions they gave us really has me bummed. Coz I'm on these meds, I can't operate heavy machinery, drive a car--coz I the pills might make me drowsy--or drink booze.

Gosh, isn't it enough that I have seizures, but they gotta take away all my fun too?

Geesh!

Rushed to the Vet!

I scared my mom. I sure did. She got hysterical.

Yesterday, she walked into the kitchen and there I was, right in the middle of a seizure! She had never seen one before so she didn't know what to do. All she could think of was to call 911.

Well, she didn't do that. But she did rush me to the vet after I came out of it. I had an EKG, blood work and an x-ray. All came back clear.

So it looks like I have epilepsy. That and another ear infection.

She got meds for my ear infection but we're waiting to see about the epilepsy. So no drugs yet for that. Hopefully I won't have another one for many years!

P.S. Mommy is fostering a new pup named Pearl. She's a handful and likes to fence-fight with me. Uh, make that glass-door-fight with me. Mom puts a stop to it, but she wonders if the stress wasn't a trigger. It could be but there's no way to tell.

YOUR PHONE CALL CAN SAVE CONGO'S LIFE!!! PLEASE HELP- CONGO!!!!

Congo, the GSD, LOST his court case today! This is a death sentence for this beautiful dog!

Please call 609-292-6000 TODAY to tell the governor that Congo should NOT be put down! They are taking a tally of people who are AGAINST putting this dog down. If enough people call in, it will save his life!

I called in and it took only a minute of my time. PLEASE CALL TODAY!!

Here's the post:

URGENT!!!! - Congo Lost in Court - PLS CALL NJ GOV CORZINE TO OVERRIDE!!

The governor's office is taking calls and they are doing a tally of people who are for or AGAINST putting this GSD down. Plz take a second to call as his life is on the line here!!! O tell them wut state you are from!!!

Thanks!

PLEASE CROSS POST

For those not familiar with Congo's case:
1. two illegal immigrants were gardening at the family's house
2. they arrived an hour early
3. they were told by the husband to stay in their truck until he could
get out of the shower and get some clothes on
4. the husband speaks Spanish and spoke to them in Spanish so there is
no question they understand what they were told to do
5. they directly disobeyed the husband and walked into the backyard with
the wife, who had just pulled into the driveway)
6. the two adult gsd's and their puppies came running
7. the gardeners panicked
8. ONE GARDENER GRABBED THE WIFE AND WRESTLED HER TO THE GROUND, USING
HER AS A PROTECTIVE SHIELD
9. Congo thought his owner was being attacked and went after the gardener
10. The gardener used his rake to beat at the puppies and inflicted some
injuries on them.
11. the gardener changed his story three times (interesting note on
official bias: when the owner said the gardener changed his story five
times, the dog warden said "No, he only changed his story 3 times.")

EVERYONE PLEASE WRITE & CALL
New Jersey Gov.Corzine
Urge him to OVERRIDE CONGO's DEATH SENTENCE

Gov.'s office is taking a numerical tally on how many people call -
please call him
Office of the Governor PO Box 001 Trenton, NJ 08625
609- 292-6000
Email by going to his site: http://www.nj. gov/governor/ govmail.html

NEW JERSEY RESIDENTS ESPECIALLY NEEDED!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!
NY and PA residents also especially helpful...

I'm Such A Hottie!

Mom weighed me today at PetSmart. I weigh 83 lbs., which means I'm one hot pup! I'm all muscle too. Woo-hoo! I look so much better than I did a year ago when Mom first adopted me. I weighed about 5 lbs. less than I do now and my fur looked so blah. Now my fur is shiny and I've grown into my head. (Hey, large head means big brain! OK?)

I'm sure one handsome guy.

Oh, and I did very good at the store too. There weren't too many dogs there, so I was cool. I saw one dog in the shopping cart above me. I didn't like this, so I began barking. The good news is that Mom shut me down very quickly. I'm such a good boy!

WOOF!