11/4/2020 A Lot Going On.

I haven't made it on here for a while. Between working with the foster pups, training sessions with Bridget, extra doctor appointments lately, the drastic weather changes causing the dreaded "October slide", & my dad fell ill & had to have emergency surgery to remove a seriously infected gallbladder, things have been extremely busy. The foster pups have now left to the rescue as of October 27th, & Bridget has started living with us as of that same evening. We have been bonding well, & I've been devoting most of my time towards working with her. She has been doing amazingly well for so early along in her training. She gets so many compliments everywhere we go. Our vet went so far as to say that she was one of the best Shepherds that their office has seen & that we hit the goldmine with her. I must agree, she is such a sweetheart & learning so quickly. The lump on her back from the reaction to the heartworm treatment has nearly gone away completely. She was due to start on her monthly heartworm pills so I made a vet appointment for her. As of the 31st I noticed her starting to dig at her ear & whimper, so I also needed to get that checked out quickly. Come to find out she had a double ear infection so they placed her on meds. That night she seemed restless, nervous, & incoordination of her back legs when she first tried to stand up from napping. We rushed her back to the vet the following morning. They believe it's possible that it might have been a side effect of the meds, but also said that with her being so early out of positive heartworm treatment that it might have been a small stroke. The vet explained, that early after treatment that dogs are more prone to clotting & therefore strokes. She believes that with the added stress of new living conditions, ear infections, & coming to the vet that it might have been to much for her & caused a light stroke. I was terrified when she mentioned the word "stroke", but she assured me that she should make a full recovery even if that is the case, & that she is fine & safe for service dog work, just continue to keep things easy for awhile, nothing stressful. She switched the meds out & said that these new ones would be good for both stroke, or the ear infections, plus also treat if there is any bacterial issues caused by the heartworm die off. She just started on the meds yesterday morning & by afternoon was acting much happier again. By evening she was running around the house wanting to play & begging to take a walk. She has not had anymore neurological symptoms & has not dug at her ear all day. It's so good to see her feeling better! We are to keep her from high amounts of stress for awhile as a precautionary measure & she will remain on some of the meds for close to two weeks.