My Dog Smells Seizures

This wont be a long blog. I just wanted to quickly share a really cute story of something that happened to me the other day, and how sweet my dog, Rudy, was to take care of me in my time of need. ***NOTE: Rudy is not a seizure dog, or trained to detect seizures. He just somehow knows what to do!***

So, Tuesday evening I decided to make a dinner for my bofriend, Rafael, and I. Nothing special, to be honest. Just some Teriyaki chicken, mixed rice, and steamed vegetables. I was exhausted by the time I was done, but felt like treating Rafael to some German Oatmeal cookies. Since I was tired, I really should have said "No, I'm done, I need to go relax." yet I kept on going. Not a good idea.

As I mixed the chocolate with the oatmeal, I felt an odd feeling in my head. As if I was spinning in circles... Yet I knew I wasn't. Out of nowhere, the beginning of a Tonic Clonic seizure sprung from inside of my brain. I saw the letters, math equations, and pictures before my eyes (Pre-seizure hallucinations). The scent of rubbing alcohol and copper took over my nose, and my taste buds as well. I dropped myself to the floor in order to protect myself from what was to come.

The entire time this was happening, my father was in the living room, on the couch watching television. I was too busy trying to save myself to call for help, like I usually do. Therefore, he had no idea what had happened. My vision cut out, and all I saw was colors. But I felt something unusual... Fur... Fur?!

I figured it was a new sort of hallucination. But I just closed my eyes, and breathed as calmly as I could to try and get the Tonic Clonic to stop in its tracks. It stopped before it fully developed, but the colors and "out-of-head" feeling didn't stop. Nor did the feeling of fur. The fur started to "tap me" on the shoulder repeatedly, lightly scratching me. But somehow, it made me feel more relieved. I felt relieved that I wasnt hallucinating something scary, like a "black hole" which is pretty common.

My vision slowly came back from left to right. That's when I saw my best friend, Rudy, sitting next to me. He looked concerned as ever, tapping my shoulder trying to wake me up. I could hear my father calling him from the couch, telling him to be quiet for whimpering, and I wanted so badly to say "Rudy's over here, Dad. He's over here, don't worry." and I also wanted to say "Rudy, shut up!" But my brain wouldn't allow my mouth to speak.

Eventually my father figured he'd better find my dog, who enjoys eating things out of the garbage or off the table. My father found me, being watched over by my dog. Apparently he had been sitting by me just tapping my shoulder with his paw, and nudging my head (which was falling over) with his nose. Not to mention his whimpering to get my father's attention.

How amazing is that? To know that I'm not alone if I find that I've had a seizure when my famly is gone. I can know that someone will be next to me making sure I am okay! All I can say is that Rudy got a very excellent dinner and tons of treats that night - I treated him like a king!

I really wanted to share that story because I knew you'd all love it. Does anyone else have a dog who can detect seizures without being trained? I hear about this here and there, but never really experienced it until I got Rudy. He's done things like this from time to time, but this is the first instance where he really showed his true colors.

God bless until next time!
Mandy Krzywonski
EpilepsyBlogger