When I was 25, Bec and I had just returned from Australia. While visiting with my father one morning, mid-conversation, I lost consciousness. Little did I know, this was my first visible seizure…
It took a long time to get properly diagnosed with epilepsy. Lots of tests, lots of waiting for answers, lots of confusion. But I didn’t let this stop me from living my life: I went to school, I got jobs (though my seizures cost me a few of them). It was not until the stress of dealing with my last employer–who refused to let me work due to my seizures–that my seizures reached a critical level. A lot of it is still a blur to me. The combination of prescription drugs and seizures have had an affect on my memory. I was on life support twice in that short period of time. Can’t imagine what I put my friends and family through, what I put Bec through.
(I know this picture is disturbing but this was my reality after a 70 minute status seizure, any seizure over 5 minutes is life threatening.)
Drugs, drugs and more drugs. Suffering all the side effects of the drugs, without the relief of not having seizures.
Drugs that took away my memory and my ability to hold a conversation. Drugs that made me gain 50 lbs in a month. Drugs that made me angry, depressed and even suicidal. Nothing worked. We also tried every holistic means possible, but nothing seemed to do the trick and they were all costly. Brain surgery was my next option. Left temporal lobe resection was what I was looking at. It would be a long surgery that I would have to be awake for while they scooped out the left side of my brain. Yeah…I was not too thrilled. When the option of laser surgery came to the table I was still hesitant but it was the better option. I would still have to be awake during surgery, but only for five or six minutes (laser time): just put the laser in and cook my brain and good to go. Still was not too impressed. But, I wanted to see my kids grow up so I needed to do something. I was slated to have the operation and even had my “bye-bye brain party” when the laser machine broke the week before I was scheduled to go in for surgery. Now that option is off the table since it’s too expensive and they’ve decided to only use the laser machine for cancerous tumours (or something other than what I need). So drugs don’t work for me, laser surgery is now off the table, and I’m still falling on my face…
Then came Oslo.
Myself & Oslo – first day we met at the Lions Foundation training centre.
Oz is my seizure response dog. She has been generously donated to me by the
Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides. They breed and train six different types of working dogs: seeing eye dogs, hearing assistance dogs, diabetic alert dogs, wheelchair assistance dogs, dogs for kids with autism, and of course seizure response dogs. I spent a month at the compound in Ontario training with Oslo and the amazing trainers they have there. I saw firsthand what these dogs can do, which is just amazing.
Oslo is a standard poodle. I needed her to be hyper allogenic because of my massage practice. She has changed my life. The fear of being in public by myself has lessened. I used to have seizures on the Skytrain where I’ve come out of them with people stepping over my face. Scary when I don’t really know what’s going on after an episode and no one helps. At least with Oslo there people will know that something medical is happening. But she usually gives me enough time to get down, or take some meds. When Oslo senses a seizure she will start doing circles and then hit me with her nose until I get down. I probably owe her my life on more than one occasion. She is an amazing dog and I’m so lucky to have her in my life.
The kids and Oslo playing on one of the trails.
Oslo has adapted well to her new forest life.
She is so happy and free when she is up
at the property. Runs like crazy, but always keeps checking on me–such a good dog. She also gets plenty of attention when we go out. Can’t look that cute without getting attention. And she helps me with talking to people because my epilepsy has transformed me from an extrovert to an introvert. So she helps me break the ice. The only part I don’t like about Oslo is telling people they can’t touch her. Not even BECKY is allowed to touch her. But she’s a working dog and if she gets attention from someone other than me, then she’ll always be looking for that attention and not concentrating on my seizures. So, unfortunately, people must admire Oz from afar.
Learn more about dog guides and how to support them
If you are at all interested in learning more about the Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides go to
www.dogguides.com. This organization changes the lives of so many people and relies 100% on donations. Each dog costs around $25,000 to train. So that’s a lot of donations. Oz has been a amazing addition to our family, and my new best friend. I look forward to watching her mature at the Forest Guild.
Oslo, my seizure-response dog guide.
