My Loving Little Madison

We've had a stressful few days here in the Johnson house. You may recall that on mine and Scott's anniversary, January 24, our Madison had a seizure. I immediately rushed her to the vet and they ran a bunch of tests and everything came back great. They assumed maybe she hit her head so we were sent on our way and it was all kind of nonchalant. We haven't thought just a whole lot about it since. But on Sunday it happened again. Twice.

The first one was around 8:00 in the morning. I was in the kitchen and Scott yelled at me from the bedroom saying she was having a seizure. I ran in there and caught the very end of it. She wasn't really shaking much and I asked him if he was sure that's what it was and he said he was. I believed him but since I didn't see it I didn't really know what to make of it. Plus she always acts completely normal afterwards so it's just hard to know what to think. But then later that evening, almost exactly 12 hours later, I was getting Bennett's pj's on after bath and Scott yelled that it was happening again. We were all in the boys bathroom together and I watched it happen and it absolutely broke my heart. It seemed to last forever....probably 2-3 minutes. She just wouldn't stop shaking. I gently held her and sobbed. As soon as she came out of it she stayed in my arms for a minute then hopped right down as if nothing had happened. She went downstairs and started barking for a treat.
I called the vet first thing in the morning yesterday and they were able to get her in later in the afternoon. They ran a lot of tests on her again and, again, everything checked out perfect. The vet wants to wait to do anything to see if they continue to occur and if they do, how frequently. Apparently she wouldn't really be concerned if it was even once a month but if the seizures begin to happen weekly she would like to see her on some medicine for it. Of course the medicine has it's own set of problems...affecting her kidneys and liver in the long run. Because of her age (just turned 6) she doesn't seem to be all that concerned just yet that we have a big problem on our hands. Apparently it's not uncommon at all for dogs to have seizures. There's obviously something neurological going on there but it may not be anything to get too worked up about.
I am fully prepared to take Madison to the nearest neurological veterinarian (closest is in Missouri) should another one occur soon. Two different vets have told me that she most likely, because of her age, does not have any kind of tumors or anything like that. But Madison is my baby and if this happens again soon I want to do everything I can for her to make sure she's okay. I would never forgive myself if she did have something and I just let it go untested because she's still considered young.
It is absolutely horrific watching her have seizures. It breaks my heart and makes me so, so sad. Then my mind goes to the horrible places and I'm instantly worried her life is going to be cut short. And then I want to just sob for Ivy because Madison and Ivy share the same soul and I don't know if one will know how to live without the other. It's all around just sad and scary and brings back those emotions I felt when I lost Holly and how horrible that was and how I can't imagine having to go through that again even though I know, one day, I will. Madison is the most loving dog I've ever known and seeing her sweet little self have to go through this breaks my heart. Apparently it isn't painful and she doesn't feel anything when it's happening but just knowing that she has some kind of problem makes me sad.
In the meantime, I'm just going to keep a watchful eye on my Madison. Thankfully I'm home most of the time and my girls are my shadows so they're always nearby. I'm praying she doesn't have one for a really long time. The vet made is sound like she would most likely have one again....the main thing is just how long before it happens. If you think about my sweet girl, I sure would appreciate a little prayer that she doesn't have another one for a long, long time.