I wanted to give you all a quick update on what's going on right now. Some of you may have an idea from twitter but I haven't told the entire story.
Thursday night, I noticed Lexy was squinting her left eye. She did it a few times and stopped so I decided to just watch her to make sure she didn't do it anymore.
Friday, we didn't notice any problems until that night when she started squinting her left eye again. Since it was late and our vet wasn't open we decided to just watch her and make her an appointment on Saturday if she was still having problems. On a side note, I am so grateful to have a vet that opens on Saturdays!
Saturday morning, she was still squinting. When I knelt down to pet her, I noticed her left front leg was also twitching a little bit. I told Josh and he said we should call the vet. We went to see the vet and they did some blood tests. Everything came back normal with the exception of her potassium level which was low. They gave us some supplements and sent us home. In the back of my mind I knew it wasn't a potassium issue but I thought we would give the supplements a shot.
By Sunday morning, Lexy got worse. As the day went on, the shaking and twitching became more pronounced and was constant instead of every now and then. I called the vet and made an appointment for first thing on Monday morning.
At this point I knew it had to be something neurological. The fact that it was localized to one side of her body and was out of her control were huge signs for me. Sunday was a rough day. I spent a lot of the day crying. Lexy would look up at me with her twitching eye and I would just burst into tears. At one point I saw her looking at her shaking leg with a confused look and then she tried to lick it a couple of times. I could tell she was confused and it killed me. I was extremely grateful that she did not seem to be in any pain though. I don't know how I would have handled it if she was.
Monday morning we brought her back to the vet and they told us they wanted to refer us to the University of Tennessee animal hospital. They were concerned with how fast it was progressing and when the vet called the hospital to make an appointment, after hearing her symptoms the hospital told us to come that day.
So at 9:30 this morning I set out on a 4 hour drive to Knoxville, Tennessee. Luckily, since Josh was not able to go with me, my grandfather offered to drive me. I was able to hold Lexy in my lap the entire way.
Once we got to the hospital, they took her back to examine her while we waited in the waiting room. About half and hour later we were called back. Basically, they aren't really sure what's going on but they are suspecting a nervous system issue. They think it could be an autoimmune system disorder which is like a human getting lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. Basically, her immune system could be attacking her brain. If that is the case, medication (either short term or lifelong) could help her live a normal life.
They decided to do an MRI and spinal tap to see if it is in fact a nervous system problem. If it is not, they may have to do a muscle biopsy and other tests until they figure out what is going on. They had to keep her overnight tonight since they can't put her under because she ate this morning. I should be getting updates tomorrow and if the tests go well, I may be able to pick her up tomorrow night.
Josh and I are praying for good news. I would hate for her to have to be on medication for the rest of her life but I will definitely take that over something like a brain tumor. I love my little Lexy Loo like a member of my family and I can't imagine my life without her!
PS. I apologize if there are a million grammar and spelling mistakes in this post. I am so tired and just don't have the energy to proof read tonight! :O)
