| Pixie contracted Lyme Disease soon after her first birthday, soon after she left our home for a new life with a new family. She went undiagnosed and untreated for over a year, even after she began seizuring, even after two extended hospitalizations due to severe illness, even after being seen by a neurological specialist. Pixie came back to live with us in the summer after her 2nd birthday. When we finally made the Lyme Disease diagnosis that fall, we did some searching in her medical records, and found that her original Vet had the positive lab test right in her file, but nobody ever informed her owner of those results. By the time we finally understood what was going on with her, the Lyme Disease organism had taken up permanent residence in her nervous system. It came out occassionally as sudden lameness, or a sudden high fever, and even once in temporary vision problems. The flare-ups were handled by high-level antibiotics. But what we couldn't get control of were the seizures she was left with. The holistic approaches we tried ultimately failed, and the medications she needed to keep her seizures at bay didn't leave her a reasonable quality of life. The Winter before her fourth birthday was particularly hard on her, and we felt that she was telling us it was time to go. She left this world as she entered it -- in my arms. |
