Wow, this has been one long and crazy day! All day we were receiving updates from University of Tennessee. Can I just say how amazing they are? They are so caring and wonderful. If anyone ever needs extensive work done on their dogs, I would absolutely recommend them.
Lexy made it through all the tests today and is resting. Her MRI and electromagnetic test (test on her muscles) came back normal. Her spinal fluid showed minor inflammation so they are still thinking it has something to do with her nervous system. They were very concerned about distemper and ran tests to see if she had it. I was praying so hard that she did not have distemper. There is no cure for it and the majority of dogs die.
Around 5:00 today we received the news that her distemper results were negative! I can't even explain to you how relieved I was to get those results. She still has a chance that she has distemper (sometimes dogs go into a sort of remission where distemper cells are not shed) but it is less likely.
The next steps are to test for a few infectious diseases. Most of the diseases they are testing for are treatable with the exception of one or two. If those come back negative we will start a drug trial. One of the drugs we will try is for seizures since she could be having localized seizures. The other one is a drug used to treat cardiovascular problems that has had success in dogs with distemper.
If none of that works, the last resort is to do a muscle and nerve biopsy.
Basically, we don't know anything for sure yet. We know her MRI is normal and that her spinal fluid is showing minor inflammation. We have many more tests to do and hopefully we will figure something out soon. Thank you all for your comments and tweets. I don't know how I would get through this without you all. I love you guys!
Also, I realized today that your comments are not showing up under the posts. I am working on trying to figure this out, but please know I have received all your comments by email. If I haven't responded to you by tomorrow, please email me at bsig84 at gmail dot com.
