The Word Idiopathic

The first time I heard the word idiopathic was right before I was told to go to the ER for the first time in my life. So three months ago. I heard it again this morning at the emergency vet. I got up and was ready to walk out the door to head to UAB day (a recruiting day where high school seniors and juniors come in droves to learn about UAB). When I walked back into the bedroom to grab my Blackberry, because I can't go anywhere without it, Bettis was sitting up and looked like his head and shoulders were shivering. His head kept shaking and the muscles in his back were twitching. He couldn't control it. I woke Jason up who tried to calm him down and I went to call our vet. The nurse there told me it may be a mini seizure or the beginning of a more serious seizure and that I needed to get him to the emergency vet immediately. I called the ER vet next and they said it would be good to bring him in. By this point the tremors had stopped and Bettis was his normal self as if nothing happened. I piled him in the car anyway, swung by my office to hand over the information booth materials and duties to Brent and then we headed out to Hoover.

I'm not a fan of the emergency vet. I've only ever had to go there once before, but it was not a pleasant experience. I am one of those crazy dog people that treat my pets like they are human children and the thing about the emergency vet people is they always make me feel like I am to blame for why my dog is there. How I could cause my dog to have a seizure I don't know, but apparently I am. This time was a better than the last the nurses were very nice and cancelled out some of the snippiness I received from the front desk woman. After explaining what happened and Bettis's normal daily activity which involve sleeping, peeing, sleeping, eating, sleeping, chasing rats or chewing on something of mine he's not supposed to, and sleeping, the vet came in and I got to explain what happened all over again. She said physically he was fine although a little over weight. Note: He's 93.6lbs which means he has lost 5lbs from the last time we went to the vet and I was told to put him on a diet, so I was thrilled at his weight. They took him in the back and drew some blood and ran a CBC then we got to wait for the results. I

brought my knitting, so I had something to do, but I realized just sitting there wondering what's next is what my mom and Jason had to go through when I was sick.

The vet came back about an hour later and said everything was normal and that the seizure was idiopathic. As she started to explain what idiopathic meant I let her know that I overly familiar with that word and she didn't need to explain. So what does that mean for my big head? This could be the start of a future string of seizures or it could be an isolated incident. She told me to keep track of this one and then any others he may have.

Thankfully unlike me, I got to take Bettis home right after that. He was oblivious and really just enjoyed the car ride. I'm glad he's okay and hope things stay that way.