Many of you know the adventures of our very special Rascal who will be two on July 29th. She has hydrocephalus and does very well in spite of her disability. Last Tuesday I came upstairs from my office and heard her. I thought she was hungry but in fact she was having a seizure. A second one followed the first, then another...I called the vet and headed that way. She had a grand mal seizure lasting 45 minutes. Her temperature hit 110 at the vet's office. 105 is bad and normally anything over 107 is lethal. We stablized her and took her to the animal ER for an overnight stay. The temperature didn't do any damage, which was a miracle in itself. She stablized a bit and we brought her home Wednesday evening. She began to have cluster seizures all night long. I didn't see the normal Rascal and was worried about that as well. More brain damage could have occured. Thurday morning I took her back to the vet for the day. She had more seizures and only a giant dose of phenobarbital controlled them. By lunch, the outlook was grim. We discussed putting her to sleep. I was crying and the entire vet's office was crying too. Rascal captures the hearts of eveyone she meets. On top of all this, Larry had an appointment for periodontal surgery. I decided we'd discuss it and likely put her down in the evening after work. Everyone at the dentist office cried with us. Turns out they are dog lovers too. She had many prayers said on her behalf. Larry suggested that we take her up to the UGA veterinary teaching hospital, jsut to make sure. Yes it would not be cheap but Rascal deserved at least that. We asked them to call up to UGA. By the time we returned to the vet, Rascal was a tiny bit better. UGA was excited to have her and the chief of neurology waited with his team for our arrival. Rascal had improved and we wouldn't have put her down but we now had a path to recovery. They started proactive seizure managment. She improved steadily. I went to see her every evening after work; Larry and I both visited on the weekends. I shared some of the many photos we've taken with her team of doctors. They posted them in her "room" to inspire her recovery. Every day she got a little better. There were occasional seizures but they were manageable. I brought her home yesterday. She is snuggled up next to me and all is right with the world. We have a strict regimen of medications. She has fully recovered and had no more damage. Her recovery is miraculous! She captured the hearts of the UGA Neurology Department.I am grateful for all of the good wishes and prayers as well as the outstanding care she received at our vet, the doggy ER and UGA's veterinary teaching hospital. Wow! and I am delighted we still have her.