Looks Like Brain Metastasis

[Guest mattbta]

I've no advice or anything, but my thoughts are with you and Twiggy. (I once dated a gal with the middle name of Twiggs in high school.)

[cleptogrey]

the air licking can be a sign of nausea & w/ the meds she's on it's very possible. the reason i know that is prior to velcro's diagnosis of addison's disease he was licking the air, i wasn't sure of what was going on. when my vet saw it his remark was it's a sign of nausea.

 

for all.

[galgrey]

I'm thinking of you both and sending good thoughts.

[greypuppyluv]

Have you had Twiggy's thyroid checked? I'm sorry if you mentioned it in one of your posts....I don't remember seeing if you did or not. Some dogs have seizures because their thyroid is off. It's sort of a stretch, but something to consider.

[GreytHurleyDawg]

Thinking many good thoughts for Twiggy and that we all can hang in here while we wait!!

[tbhounds]

Have you had Twiggy's thyroid checked? I'm sorry if you mentioned it in one of your posts....I don't remember seeing if you did or not. Some dogs have seizures because their thyroid is off. It's sort of a stretch, but something to consider.

Not a stretch at all and simple to rule out.

[greyhead]

Have you had Twiggy's thyroid checked? I'm sorry if you mentioned it in one of your posts....I don't remember seeing if you did or not. Some dogs have seizures because their thyroid is off. It's sort of a stretch, but something to consider.

Not a stretch at all and simple to rule out.

I was wondering about this too. Spencer was one of those who had mild seizures before we discovered his thyroid problem.

[RaineysMom]

Hi Wendy,

 

first of all, hugs for you and Twiggy going through even more :(

 

I'm certainly no expert on seizures -- but Rainey developed them just before her 10th birthday, and in fact had an MRI ($$$ no kidding! ) done ON her 10th (10/4/10). It showed nothing. Her seizures continued, her behavior changed for the worse as days went on, and we let her go on 3/8/11. We were going to do a 2nd MRI the next day but decided it wouldn't have done any good and would have made things worse for her anyway. We never really knew what caused all of this, but her neuro suspected brain deterioration of some kind

 

looking at the video, and again I'm NO expert, it doesn't look like a seizure to me -- even a focal kind? I tend to think like Batmom that maybe there's something in her mouth or even throat (since she's kind of looking like she's trying to swallow when doing the head bob??) that's really bugging her?

 

I sure hope you find out the cause soon and I REALLY hope it's not seizures

 

sending hugs!

 

Kim

[TwiggysMom]

I've been remiss in updating. Partially because I don't really feel like I've got a definitive answer.

 

The neuro vet agrees with many of you and doesn't think it is neurological. So much so that he didn't recommend an MRI. On physical exam (including all the typical neuro stuff her regular vet does at her annual exam), the only thing he found was obvious pain in her neck.

 

He did recommend x-raying her neck, and upon viewing, didn't see anything amiss. (I would like her onco to review them as well, because she would be more familiar with looking for osteo lesions).

 

His conclusion: nausea/reflux. I very much disagree, but am giving her omeprazole at his suggestion. I know Twiggy's nausea behavior, and this is not it. Also, if this were nausea, I would think she would have likely vomited at least once over the 4+ months this has been going on (started before her chemo). However, I could be persuaded to believe that it is a reaction to the pain in her neck. This still doesn't explain why she can't stop the behavior, and why it only occurs at night and in the dark, and not in relation to periods of excess activity, but...

 

On the upside, since the really bad night she had a little over a week ago (where she had 10+ episodes and was up almost all night), she has had very few episodes. The one I posted above was from last Thursday night and was the last extended one that she has had. Since then, she has only had 2-3 per night and those all lasted less than a minute. (This was both before and after starting the omeprazole - I have not seen any difference since starting that).

 

Twiggy goes in for chemo #5 on Friday, and will do re-staging then. Hopefully, all will be clear!

 

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to ALL of you who have spent time and effort giving information, support and well wishes! You all are a huge help and comfort to me!

Edited December 15, 2011 by TwiggysMom

[Guest snakes]

Glad to hear the good update!

If the behavior picks up again after the next chemo you will then know it is some sort of side effect of the chemo, nausea or something else. Either way it seems the importance of the chemo to you and twiggy may be worth the side effect. Is it possible this nausea may be different since it may be more chemical related? Just a thought...

Good luck and we will be following Twiggy's progress

[KF_in_Georgia]

I wonder if--instead of nausea--it could just be a bad taste in her mouth. I once had to take an antibiotic (can't remember which one) that had me waking up in the middle of the night trying to spit out my tongue.

[tbhounds]

Forgive me because I haven't watched the video yet but, could she be itchy? The reason I ask is- have you ever seen an overweight cat react when pet/scratched on his back by the tail-- the area they can't reach because of their chubbyness? They will arch the neck and do this -tongue licky,chatter thing. I'm sure you have seen it- it's sure to be on YouTube.

Can her incision be itching her while she lays down at night--are there any remaining sutures that could be poking her?

I know this is a super stretch but, we aren't taking about "real" dogs here- we talking gh's-- our quirky loveable gh's !

In any event I'm glad the neuro Dr basically ruled out potential badness.

Keep us posted!

[MP_the4pack]

Maybe phanton itchy of her leg. There's nothing to lick, but she feels the need to, so just does the air?

[NeylasMom]

Glad to hear the MRI isn't needed. I never got a chance to post earlier but was going to say it looked more like nausea or something of that sort to me as well. I would have suggested trying an anti-nausea med before proceeding with something as expensive (and invasive in the sense that it requires anesthesia) as an MRI so it sounds like you're at least ruling that out. Anyway, I'm glad ot hear she seems to be improving for whatever reason.

[GreytHurleyDawg]

Wendy, I am glad to hear it has slowly been getting better and not worse but what a couple of months of scariness!! You mentioned it started before the chemo but was it after the amputation? I wonder if you will ever get a real answer. I sure hope so! This neurologist was the one that was an OSU grad or something, right? Did you ever send the video or the info to OSU?

 

Hurley once had a petit mal seizure, we assume. He all of a sudden tried to get up on a hot August night and could not stand up or right himself. We supported him and he recovered within a minute. We walked him, he peed outside and then we took him to the vet who did not find anything unusual. Fortunately, he never had one again. My only explanation was the heat: it had been continuously hot (and we do not have central a/c so the portable a/c turns off when the bucket gets full) for days and was finally getting very slightly better on the night it happened but maybe he couldn't "take" it anymore.

 

Does Twiggy always have the episode in the same location? Could there be a trigger like the furnace turning on? Our hounds seem to be sensitive to our furnace, sometimes they get agitated and bark. It's just a thought, I doubt it's right. I like the phantom leg thought that was mentioned.

 

Many good thoughts to you and Twiggy!! Keep us posted on what the onco thinks! Chemo #5 means only one more after that and her body can relax!!

Edited December 15, 2011 by GreytHurleyDawg