Sniper's Close Call

Admittedly, we have been a bit lazy about letting Sniper off leash lately. Since we don't have a door that opens directly into the fenced in part of our yard, the alternative is to walk Sniper out on a leash, wait while she does her thing, and then bring her back inside. Sometimes this is long and inconvenient, especially when the kids are waiting/eating/crying/killing each other inside. So, as Sniper proved her maturity by peeing and coming directly back in, we have let her go outside on her own.

Lately, she has been wandering over to the neighbors yard. This is especially mortifying because our neighbor keeps a nice yard, and surely doesn't want dog poop on it. Sniper doesn't really listen to me, but usually Tim can get her back on our property pretty quickly.

And this is what was happening on Saturday morning. I let Sniper out first thing in the morning and she promptly headed over to our neighbors yard. But instead of going in the back, she went to the front. I ran to get Tim, and by the time he got out there, she had wandered (or rolled -- we are on a hill) down to the street. Tim got outside in time to hear the impact and hear her cry. He yelled for me, and as he did, I heard her cry, as well. I wasn't sure what it was until he came running up the driveway carrying Sniper and saying "She got hit by a car."

In that second, I looked at her and saw that she was conscious and breathing and seemed okay. I kept asking if she was okay, and he kept telling me she got hit by a car. I went to call the vet, but I couldn't even remember their name to look them up. Once I found their number in my address book and dialed, I could hardly tell them our name. Luckily they had us come right in. I was afraid to touch Sniper because I didn't know if she was okay. So I had Tim load her in the car and off we went.

By the time we got to the vet, I could kind of tell that Sniper was okay. She had been standing on all fours at home and was conscious. She wanted to jump out of the car when we got to the vet's office and seemed fine in the waiting room. I was afraid she was going to convulse or collapse because of hidden injuries, but she continued to seem okay.

The vet was so nice -- it is really a place that loves animals. They checked her over, declared her stable, and did some x-rays. Nothing was wrong other than a broken tooth and a dilated left pupil. They think that her pupil will be okay (and it seems to be), and that she will be fine.

Since we've been home, Sniper has been jumping and running around like nothing happened. She is truly the luckiest dog ever. And even though she has gone back to 100% naughty dog behavior, we feel like the luckiest parents, too.

Update

So Wednesday was a verry long day, but with very good results. The MRI showed that although Oli's brain has changed a bit since his last MRI, they do not see any obvious reasons for seizures or the need for a shunt. This is such a relief, since I really thought that we might be going the way of a shunt. He also hasn't had any seizure-like activity in almost a week, so I am hoping that has passed, as well. As always, we are in a wait and see phase. But I'll take that over needing to to get a shunt or seeing a problem that could be causing the seizures. We are going to follow up with neurology, although the wait time for an appointment is insane.

The whole MRI process took so long on Wednesday that we wound up missing our clinic appointment. But Oli did get his new AFOs (ankle-foot orthotics) and got measured for his KAFOs (braces that extend AFOs to brace the knee and support the hips). He has been doing extremely well learning to stand since we took his full casts off two weeks ago, and I am hoping that the KAFOs will give him the support he needs to stand on his own. I don't really know what to expect in terms of him standing or walking (more "wait and see"), but he has exceeded our expectations at every turn. Hopefully he will continue to do so.

To make the KAFOs, the orthotist had to make a mold of Oli's butt. I made Tim take a picture and will upload it as soon as I get it off of his phone. I felt silly enough taking a picture, but really wanted to ask if we could have the mold when they were done with it. Luckily, I restrained myself.

Our next steps are to follow up with neurology, reschedule clinic, and make a hearing test to see if that can explain his minor delay in speaking. Getting through Wednesday was a big deal, and I'm excited to keep moving forward.

Just to be on the safe side...

Any time a week starts out slow, the action picks up before we know it.

This week started with a 5/13 appointment for Oliver to pick up his braces. YES! FINALLY! I'm so excited. I can't wait to see those little feet on a daily basis. Plus, his casts are so disgusting now (covered in dirt, Popsicle, and maybe even a little poop) that I need them to come off. Then, because I raised the question of whether or not he would need knee braces to stand, we added a spinda bifida clinic visit so that the PT could check him and possibly have him measured for KAFOs, or knee braces. And today, we added an MRI.

Two times in the past week and a half, Oli has had an episode where his head goes kind of limp, his eyes flutter, and he is unresponsive for a minute (or less). I have not seen this happen, but Tim's mom has seen it twice. She was pretty freaked out by it, so I called neurosurgery today and they ordered an MRI immediately. Debbie, the Neurosurgery NP, said it sounds like seizure activity. This is the second time we have suspected Oli of seizures. The first time turned out to be nothing. Oli does have a wierd habit of getting "lost in space" for a minute now and then. Combined with these two episodes, it seems like a good idea to have an MRI. They will check for both increased ventricle size and any changes in his chiari malformation. So this could have implications for seizures and shunting.

It's hard for me to wrap my mind around it, because I haven't seen it. It happened the other day when I was home, but he was outside with Tim's mom. She brought him inside immediately afterwards, and he seemed fine. But I know what it is like to see him do something unusual, and it is very unsettling.

We just got the all clear for six months between neuro appointments, which is longer than we've ever gone. And now we're back only three weeks later. Please pray that it is nothing serious.