Blind Callie was obviously quite comfortable at the vet clinic this morning after her neurological exam and ultrasound. Our internal medicine specialist in Missoula, Dr. Dave Bostwick, had just put away the ultrasound probe when Callie — who prefers sleeping upside down much of the time as it is — decided she would stay this way. She was clearly expecting Dave, me or anyone else in the building to come over and start rubbing that rather expansive tummy of hers.
Her bloodwork was normal, which ruled out metabolic problems as the cause of her seizures. This now points to a brain tumor, which Dave said is usually what they find in about 90% of these cases in dogs of Callie's age and with this type of onset.
Dave had done an ultrasound of her abdomen because a fairly high percentage of brain tumors (as much as 30%, according to one study) are caused by other organ tumors metastisizing and spreading to the brain. But the ultrasound showed no evidence of tumors in her abdominal organs.
That leaves us with the CAT scan of her brain, which Dave will do this evening. A cardiology clinic in Missoula lets Dave use their equipment and technicians after-hours. The imagery is electronically transmitted to a veterinary radiologist in Seattle, who will send Dave a report tomorrow morning. Depending on what the images show on the screen, Dave may be able to get a pretty good idea this evening of what we're dealing with prior to getting the radiologist's report.
We brought Callie into our bedroom last night to keep an eye on her in case she had an another seizure. She did, at about 1:20 a.m. It was an episode very much like her other two. So in the space of about 36 hours, she's had three seizures. Not good.
Dave said that if it does indeed turn out to be a brain tumor, treatment options are either medical management to control symptoms or radiation to shrink it. He said radiation has a pretty good success rate. But much will depend on the type of tumor. In any case, we are starting her on phenobarbital today to begin getting control of the seizures.
I'll post an update on Friday with the latest news. In the meantime, thank you to everyone who has posted such wonderful comments or sent us supportive emails. We appreciate it so much!
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