Well, tomorrow is New Year’s Eve. It will be the final day in 2006 of blogging. Meaning, I started my Wordpress blog on January 1, 2006. I’ve been blogging for probably a year or so before that - using Blogger and Typepad prior. But, I launched the Wordpress blog and had it going almost one full year ago. I’ve had a lot to say, huh?
Tomorrow is Ella’s birthday and she has Cinderella coming! Then, we’re going to a party tomorrow night. Jamie’s godparents are having a party and my aunt and uncle invited us to go with them. We went from going over to their house and being low key and relaxed to a really nice party in Ladue. Now, to find something to wear. I will need to wax my eyebrows and actually put on makeup, I suppose.
Jan posted on yesterday’s post about their Cocker having something similar to Merlin happening with the face. I’m so glad to find someone else has experienced this. I mean, it’s just so odd and I had never seen this before. So, she says that her vet mentions it’s something like palsy where they lose control over their facial muscles. So, I thought I’d go online and look up this stuff. I found one site that gave me so much information that was so right on with Merlin. But, it was written in medical terms that I had a hard time reading through the lines. Here’s what I found:
Motor nerve mono - or polyneuropathy can be further characterized according to location and etiology. For example, the cranial neuropathy most often seen in small animals is facial nerve paralysis (cranial nerve VII palsy). Animals with peripheral VII disease (unilateral or bilateral) are unable to close the eyelid or have a drooping lip, but do not have postural or proprioceptive deficits, paresis, or altered reflexes in their limbs. Sialosis and dropping of food when eating are commonly seen. This neuropathy frequently occurs bilaterally, and often one side of the face will be affected days or weeks before the other. As recovery occurs, eyelid function may return to normal, and the formerly drooping lip may become contracted. A pure cranial nerve VII palsy rarely results in abnormality of the cornea; if a corneal ulcer is discovered, or if the animal seems to lack corneal sensation, it should be carefully examined for polyneuropathy. Seventh nerve palsy is accompanied by lack of tear function only in rare instances. Causes of facial nerve palsy include endocrinopathy (eg., hypothyroidism, Cushing’s disease), middle ear disease (infection, tumor, trauma), or inflammation (viral, bacterial, fungal, protozoal, other) and there is also idiopathic facial palsy seen in dogs, where no underlying cause is found. In these dogs, signs often resolve without treatment. If underlying disease is discovered and treated, nerve function usually returns. Even without return of nerve function, most animals will adapt to lack of ability to close the eyelid, and drooling and food-dropping eventually abate. Disorders of swallowing, gagging, laryngeal movement, and esophageal motility usually are due to peripheral motor nerve dysfunction without sensory abnormality. The most common of these neuropathies is laryngeal paralysis (unilateral or bilateral). Laryngeal neuropathy has been reported as an inherited disease in several breeds, as well as a result of trauma, endocrinopathy, intoxication, compression, inflammation, or other disease of the recurrent laryngeal nerve (a branch of the vagus nerve). Megaesophagus is a common problem in dogs, but is less often caused by pure peripheral nerve (vagal) disease than by disease of muscle or of motor end plate (myopathy or myasthenia gravis).
Of course, this is just me reading something and not a diagnosis. He has the inability to close his eyelids, has drooping lips with so much slobber that I walk around looking for napkins or tissue to wipe. If you opted to read that it said that causes include Cushings disease, which the doctor is trying to rule out. I’m going to call the vet on Tuesday and ask if I should be concerned about it with regards to his eyes especially. He still is taking the medicine which hopefully will help with the liver issues which may in turn help bring life back to his face. My mom says she had Bell’s Palsy when she was pregnant with Amanda, and lost control of her lip and all. But, it came back before she had her. Maybe I should have been a vet.
But, in honor of my toots, I’ve updated the January blog look for him. It’s part of the kit stuff I’ve been working on for Merlin’s kit. I may make it a mini kit. Used one of my frames and of course, the Charmed Alpha part. I also loaded up a few new tunes in the iPod.
Room update: pink is done; ceiling needs a second coat; window needs trim painted; door and door trim needs second coat. We opted to not finish up the floor boards because we’re going to go with that interlocking laminate flooring so we’ll just tear up the carpet, rip out the boards and paint the pink further down prior to getting that stuff installed. Maybe by mid-January we can start on that. Going with crown molding too on the ceiling so we didn’t tape it off. I think the furniture will have to wait for the refinishing until spring. It’s exhausting work.
Well, that’s it for today. Night!
