Sunday, February 22, 2015

Seymour's Illness




My 10 1/2 year old chihuahua mix Seymour (on the left in the picture with his little sister Zooey) is my best friend, confidante and travel companion. I would say that we rescued each other over 8 years ago. He has had some medical problems but nothing has stopped his joy of life, walks, and travel. He loves meeting people and having them fawn on him. Recently, his medical problems have gotten worse. I noticed that he not only had cataracts but his hearing was fading. He could hear sounds but couldn't localize them. Then he started stumbling a little. Here is our on-going diary of Seymour's life challenge.

Friday, February 20, 2015
I called our vet and got an appointment for 11 am. I am starting to feel that my vet considers me a crazy old woman. I do take my dogs in when they have difficult to diagnosis symptoms, but I know when they are not themselves. At this visit, they had a young female vet look at him. I really thought she may be an intern but it didn't have that on her name tag. One of the regular vet techs came with her. I was most concerned about his hearing but told her the other symptoms he had. She felt him and put the stethoscope to his chest for one second in each of 4 spots. Seriously, what do you hear in one second? I asked if she was going to check his ears. She said she had to find a scope! A few minutes later they came back with one they were cleaning. His ears were fine. I asked them to check his temperature and they did. It was the worst vet visit I have ever been to. Then I asked if they could recommend a neurologist. Nope, no response. They obviously we're brushing me off and I was frustrated. I am not including the name of the clinic, at least for now. I still didn't know what was wrong with Seymour.

Saturday, February 22, 2015
Seymour was having trouble going up the 2 steps in my back yard. I cried because I didn't know what to do for him. He was continuing to get worse. Just down the street from my house, there is the Cypress Creek Animal Hospital. I had gone there long ago with my cat but I thought their prices were pretty steep so I switched to a vet I heard was reasonable and good. At 8 am I drove over and luckily the vet was in the front office and heard me out about all of the problems Seymour was having. They kindly scheduled Seymour for 11 am for a complete exam. Dr Henry was the vet we saw. I don't think Seymour has ever had such a thorough exam. I don't think I have ever been listened to so well. The vet tech documented everything I said in their electronic medical record. Dr Henry found that although Seymour had cataracts they shouldn't affect his vision much, but the problem was that he had no movement in his pupils, which is a brain problem. It appears that his hearing was the same. He could hear sounds but not localize them. He was also walking a bit sideways. All of the symptoms lead to either a stroke or brain tumor. Because his symptoms are getting worse, the brain tumor is more likely. Dr. Henry recommended that Seymour get a scan and told me about a Specialty Hospital in Austin. He called them and gave them my information and told me that they now have a neurologist at their north location. He gave me the number to call on Monday.
Although I cried all day thinking about Seymour's possible diagnosis, I was so thankful that Dr Henry saw him and was caring, honest and helpful. Needless to say, I am switching vets. And the cost for my regular vet for about a 10 minute useless visit was about $44. Cypress Creek Animal Hospital saw us for almost an hour and charged about $65. It was worth every penny.



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