quiet night

I started the laundry, did all the dishes, packed up the pots & pans I'm giving away, skimmed the pool, added chemicals, and cooked dinner. I did *not* log into work but I did log into school - kinda don't have a choice there.

I had another health scare with a different dog last night. I think my kids are starting to show their age a bit. :( I was down in the basement doing laundry and Millie was down there with me. She walked up the stairs to outside and then did this weird head tilt. I knew something was wrong but I couldn't see her eyes or anything until she came back down where the light was. I told her to come to me and realized after the first step I shouldn't have done that. She was extremely apprehensive and acted like she didn't know where the first step was; like she couldn't see it. So I walked up there and guided her down the steps. Once we got back down, I could see something was drastically wrong. Her eyes were pointed towards the side of her face (opposite of how they look when they look at your nose) and they were twitching back and forth. She seemed ok, just scared - unsure of why things weren't working right.

I ran up the stairs to grab the phone and she came up right after me. I grabbed the phone, looked at her, and she was fine. Her eyes had gone back to normal. I started testing her vision by seeing if she reacted when I put my finger near her eye. She didn't have the sort of reaction I think she should have had, but I don't know if that's because she couldn't see, or if she just trusts me that much. I don't know. When I did it again this morning, I got the same reaction - she'll close them but I have to be as close as her eyelashes before that happens. Anyway, then I checked her dilation, which was fine in both eyes. She was able to see my hand coming up from the side of her face and she tracked my finger in all directions.

I called the vet office, who was still open due to it being their late day, and talked to Dr. Lisa. I gave her the symptoms and was given 2 possibilities: seizures or peripheral vestibular syndrome - she thinks it was a seizure tho'. I was instructed to keep an eye on her and report back in a few days. She also told me to keep a video camera out so that if it happened again, I could tape it.

I looked up the symptoms for both options and think they were identical to PVS. I have some doubt though because from what I read online the symptoms usually last from 3 days to 3 weeks and she was fine within a minute. It could've been a seizure but didn't have any of the characteristic symptoms of it - eyes rolling up & back, flopping around, etc. I think seizures are one of those things that give different symptoms depending on the dog and the severity of it. So it could've been a seizure - not sure I'll ever know. Great.

I'm going to go through the yard with a fine toothed comb this weekend to make sure there isn't a dead squirrel or something around that they could've gotten into. Makes sense to rule out as many outside factors as possible.

So after that lovely scare I was too hyped to sit around. I guess there was a good aspect of it since I got a bunch done. I'm sure Millie was confused as to why I had her in a down stay with me while I was washing dishes and cooking. :) I just wanted to keep an eye on her.

She was very lovey and kissy before bed. When it's cool she likes to sleep under the covers with me. Our routine on a cool night is for her to jump up and kiss me while her tail goes a million miles a minute in a circle. Then she tucks her head against me and I scratch her neck, under her collar. She gives me a few more kisses and rolls over for a belly rub. Then she nudges the sheets so I can lift them up for her. That's the normal routine. Last night you can times the kissing parts by 10. Then add a crying session where I told her she couldn't get sick and leave me because I love her too much, which just brought on more kissing. :) Then she went under the covers and curled up into a ball near my stomach.

So I'm about done with weird maladies hitting my dogs but I still have 2 left that haven't had anything weird happen to them lately. I'd really like to keep it that way because I'm not sure I can handle the stress associated with something wrong with my kids. I'm sure I popped about 30 grey hairs between Freddie and Millie since the weekend. The unfortunate part is that they didn't all come in the same place so I could have one of those cool 'bride of frankenstein' stripes. :)

I have to head to the supermarket tonight to pick up a few things I forgot and also grab my Dad's Fruit2O. I'm going to make eggplant parmesan for dinner - haven't had that in a while. Then I'll do some laundry and probably cuddle with the pups while watching a movie.

I'm debating on whether or not I should head into work today. I think I only have a staff meeting, which I could attend over the phone. I probably have nothing to worry about with Millie, but it's better to be safe than sorry. However, I *really* need to be in work to finish up a few things. Maybe I'll go in for half a day. I don't know. Either way, I have to shower.

D