On a warm Tuesday morning slightly over three weeks ago, I heard noises in my bedroom as I was getting dressed. As I turned to investigate the “clunking” sound, I saw my dog, Jazz (pictured), walking as his back legs, particurlarly the left one, appeared to be sliding out resulting in his back end hitting my closet doors. As I approached him, he attempted to scamper away from me causing him to face the wall between it and my open bedroom door. As I approached Jazz to console him, Jazz bared all of his teeth. Without a doubt, I knew something was seriously wrong with Jazz. Jazz has never growled at me in the eight years I’ve been fortunate to have him.
I observed Jazz from a distance out of fear that he would bite me. He was now on the bed repeatedly falling off the edge because he didn’t have control of his back legs. I continued to keep that distance until my husband, Ed, came home. We took him to our vet immediately. Upon examination, he passed a neurological exam with flying colors. When he was brought back into the room where we were waiting, Jazz appeared perfectly fine. He walked normally and jumped onto my lap. I sat there puzzled, confused and demanded more testing. I know Jazz and I knew in my heart something was terribly amiss.
A couple of weeks prior to this incident, Jazz was having problems walking on an irregular basis. One day his back was hunched. Another day, he couldn’t get comfortable no matter where he layed. Then the following days, he was perfectly normal. I knew if he didn’t improve, a visit to the vet was warranted. The day before this incident, Jazz was doing great!
As we spoke with the vet (not our regular vet), the three of us felt he had lyme disease. Instead of waiting for the test results of a titer test (Jazz’s results will always be positive for Lyme since he had it many years ago), the vet agreed to put him on doxycycline-one of the staple antibiotics for lyme disease in dogs. He also received a cortisone injection.
As the day wore on, I could see Jazz’s condition worsening. As I was watching tv, Jazz left my side to be on the floor where he found it more comfortable. Suddenly, he started licking his mouth incessantly. I knew something was going to happen. I called for my husband. As soon as Ed walked over to Jazz, a grand mal seizure overtook Jazz’s body. Seizures are frightening if you’ve never seen one. I had an epileptic dog, Shebe, and another dog, Lady, who had multiple seizures at the end of her life that caused her permanent neurological damage. She had to be euthanized the day after she had at least four episodes of seizures. We took Jazz to the local animal ER to be monitored overnight. Jazz had no more seizures but his liver and gallbladder enzymes were elevated as was his white blood count (wbc). We were told to get an ultrasound of his abdomen and rule out other diseases including cancer. Jazz was diagnosed with oral melanoma last October and had a clean bill of health at his last app’t weeks prior to his seizure. I wasn’t too concerned about metastatic cancer.
Here we were, almost one year after the death of my beloved Shadow visiting the exact same place. I was devastated. I sat with tears in my eyes not knowing how to think or feel except disbelief. I kept thinking, this can’t be! We’ve made it through his cancer which was diagnosed only two months after Shadow died. I said to myself that this is so cruel. Haven’t we been through enough? Ed and I have had our share of bad times for the last year and half and my mind went to the worst case scenario. I’m not a pessimist by nature but I couldn’t help but think the worst. Jazz and I are thisclose. We’ve come so far and have endured so much. I asked msyelf -how did we arrive at another veterinary specialist center waiting for the ultrasound reports when only two days prior Jazz was jumping around and so playful? We had been to three veterinarians after picking him up from our local animal ER.
We told this veterinary specialist ALL of the symptoms Jazz had exhibited during the last few weeks combined with the aggressive behavior and grand mal seizure. The findings showed no cancer and all of his organs were fine except for his liver which was smaller than normal but perfectly fine. I thought that was wonderful but what we were told next stunned us and we were clearly not prepared for the news.
The specialist came to these two conclusions for Jazz: adult-onset epilepsy or a brain tumor. That’s it. No other reasons for Jazz’s seizure. I sat there numb, desolate, in shock and in tears. He told us to go straight to our vet to have Jazz begin phenobarbital (anti-seizure medication) immediately. He also told us if Jazz continues to have seizures while on this med, this indicates a brain tumor. As I was formulating more questions for the doctor, our time was up and he left the room. I asked questions about the brain tumor since I already have an understanding about epilepsy. I wanted to know if Jazz did have one, how much time does he have?
You have to remember that we traveled to three different places in a matter of hours for Jazz with very little sleep and completely worn out. It was alot to handle and took a toll on me emotionally. The vet answered my question and said Jazz would have two months to live if he has a brain tumor. We were done and that was that. My husband took Jazz to our vet to get his IV removed and to tell her that we needed phenobarbital. The workers at our animal hospital were shocked by the news just as much as we were.
The weekend came and Jazz was so dopey from the anti-seizure meds, he slept most of the time. As I always do, I began to research Jazz’s “condition”. First, a dog isn’t given phenobarbital until he/she has had at least three seizures. I already knew that from my previous dogs. The first ER vet has told us that as well. 1ST Red Flag. Phenobarbital can cause weakness in the hind legs. How will we know if the doxycycline is working while on this med? 2ND Red Flag. If a dog has seizures while taking phenobarbital, this does not indicate a brain tumor as this doctor clearly told us. My epileptic dog, Shebe, continued to have seizures while on anti-seizure meds. They were fewer and less severe. 3RD RED FLAG! Does this doctor understand the facts??
We stopped giving Jazz phenobarbital and watched as he slowly came alive. We ran into another problem. Jazz refused to eat and drink a few days later. We used a syringe to place fluids in his mouth. We knew he would have to go back to the animal hosptial to receive fluids and nutrition if he continued this way. By the end of that night, we finally realized why the sudden refusal of food and drink.
While Jazz was in the first ER, he was biting the metal bars of his cage so badly he had to be sedated. The vet feared he would break a tooth. He hurt his jaw and pulled neck muscles. The phenobarbital didn’t allow him to feel this pain. Once the meds wore off, the pain came to the forefront. We gave him tramadol to ease the pain. It originally had been given for his back legs. The next day, he wasn’t doing much better. He was in alot of pain and couldn’t get comfortable. He walked gingerly. Epilepsy doesn’t cause this symptom. As I watched in fear I wondered if a brain tumor was causing his problems. Jazz hadn’t made much improvement in the last four days. My heart was sinking because of this.
Imagine my shock when I came home later that night and he was standing,walking fine and eating! Who was this dog, I asked myself? Jazz was coming back to life! He was happy and starting to jump which was a good sign but discouraged by us. Although this was a transformation from earlier that day, Jazz still wasn’t ok. Each day, it felt like we were walking on egg shells. He wasn’t eating normally. He was stilll having issues with his leg and hip despite the jumping. But, we could see the small, subtle differences.
As I researched and listend to my own instincts, I realized what that specialist told us was completely and utterly wrong! First, Jazz’s other symptoms were completely ignored. He heard the words, “seizure and oral melanoma”, and forgot about the rest of the story. Second, to tell a family of a beloved pet that he/she will only live two months with a brain tumor without ANY diagnostic tests was completely unprofessional and unethical. There are different types of tumors and the length of time a dog has remaining varies depending on the type and treatment. For this specialist to narrow it down to two specific illnesses without further testing of any kind is incredulous. I was furious!
We always felt it was lyme disease and this insidious disease has proven to be the culprit behind all of Jazz’s current health problems. It is the great imitator of many diseases and often can be misdiagnosed.
Lyme disease is caused by the deer tick. My husband has had deer ticks on him throughout the year. It can take two to five months for symptoms to appear. We pulled a tick off of Jazz months ago. They say hindsight is 20/20. As we look back, we saw subtle changes and signs but didn’t given them the credence they deserved. Lethargy, not eating his food as much as he once did, not wanting to go up our backyard steps and not barking at the mailman were a few signs that we attributed to aging despite him always acting like a puppy. The more noticable signs were the hunched back and the inability to get comfortable. For me, that was the giveaway. Once again, he would be ok one day and not the next. We could see the pain in his hind quarters but weren’t able to decipher which leg hurt him because it would go back and forth to each leg- classic symptom of Lyme disease.
Lyme disease can cause neurological issues such as aggressiveness, seizures, irritabilitiy, depression, permanent nerve damage and paraylsis. They aren’t commonplace but can happen.
Jazz has had no other seizures. No neurological issues at all. I was very angry with this “specialist” for handling my dog in an extremely poor manner. I have filed a complaint with the hospital (his employer). I was informed he was considered the “best of the best.” Wasn’t impressed. The hospital’s director listened attentively to me as I told her how one of her “best” specialists came to his conclusions and he was so completely wrong. This specialist also told us he thought Jazz had a liver shunt during the ultrasound procedure. This was when he asked permission to use propofol to sedate Jazz after ten minutes of testing to finish the test. As stated earlier, nothing was found. I told her this specialist needs to complete an ultrasound before discussing his findings. She agreed it was a valid point. She spoke with this man who claims he doesn’t recall telling my husband and me some of the things I’m writing. I’ve never filed a complaint against a vet and have nothing to gain. There’s always a first time for everything.
The kicker was when she told me this doctor said we were fine when he told us about the brain tumor. It was at that moment my adrenaline kicked into overdrive and I “lost” it with the director. I was calm the entire discussion. I said, “are you kidding me?” We were devastated. I was in tears. I wanted more answers and he left the room. So I asked the receptionist questions about Jazz’s condition not realizing at that moment she wasn’t qualified to answer. I was in a daze. I was distraught. I told her something is fundamentally wrong with this man to think we were fine after being at three vets in one day and to hear news of a possible brain tumor and had the potential to rip our hearts out! That’s exactly what I told the director. She could hear the angst and anger in my voice and told me she believed me. She had a couple of questions that my husband needed to answer. He called her and she never did call him in return.
I called her yesterday to find out why. I don’t think she’s going to call him. I feel she knows I’ve told the truth and knows how poorly our case was handled. She practically admitted it. I left her with these parting thoughts.
Do you think it’s right to tell a client that his/her dog may have a brain tumor and will only have two months to live with no diagnositic testing? Do you feel this vet is the best of the best when he dismissed all of Jazz’s other symptoms except for the aggressiveness and seizure? Do you realize you don’t place a dog on phenobarbital until the dog has had at least three seizures? Does this sound like a vet who is the best of best???
I can answer that with a resounding NO! He is not the best of the best and my concern is for other families who take their beloved pets and have him for their specialist. Can they trust him? Will he cause harm to other pets? Has he caused harm to other pets? Will he put them through undue stress and pain as he did with us? I have since spoken with others and was told a number of people have been dissatisfied with this specialist and will never go back there because of him. Yet, he still practices. That’s why I filed a complaint and plan to file a complaint elsewhere. He is still working and I hope no dog is misdiagnosed like Jazz. I know veterinarians are human and can make mistakes. This goes beyond a simple mistake. I’ve always been proactive when it comes to my dog’s health. I trusted vets knew better than me. I now know better and will always question their findings and do my own research. I hope you, the reader, will learn the same lesson. We can no longer entrust our health or our pet’s healthcare to doctors alone.
Jazz is now doing fantastic! He has made great strides and is nearly fully recovered. I have to wonder if he would still be here had we listened to that specialist.
Be proactive and be aware Lyme disease is rampant in Berks County, PA. Shadow had a severe case of Lyme and it took him awhile to bounce back. He wasn’t subjected to seizures or aggressiveness. Lyme is a great imitator of many diseases. It is always best to take your pet to the vet if your pet exhibits strange symptoms. All is takes is a blood test. I would recommend a titer test for Lyme disease.
As always, we must be our pets’ voices and speak up for them and do right by them. I’m thankful for my inquisitive nature. Mostly, I’m so thankful and feel so blessed to have Jazz snuggled into a ball at my feet as I type this. Man, I love this dog!