A MIRACLE!

Henna was 2 years old when she was admitted to the hospital with a traumatic brain injury. She had been thrown against a concrete wall by her biological father for crying too long. She had two depressed skull fractures, old blood on the brain from previous abuse, a lacerated liver, collapsed lung, suspected sexual abuse, and shaken baby syndrome. Henna coded while on the way to the hospital via helicopter and was brought back to life only to go into surgery to relieve pressure on her brain. She was not expected to live through the night. Henna was in a coma for one month hanging on to life. Then the miracle happened! Henna woke up and was able to move all her limbs and speak, shocking all of the medical professionals. We took Henna into our home and shortly after her arrival she started having seizures.

Henna's journey continues as we try to control her seizures. She received the Vagus Nerve Stimulator (VNS) on Feb. 4, 2011 at Children's Hospital in Washington, DC. The VNS will send an electrical impulse to Henna's brain every 3 minutes for 30 seconds to interrupt her seizures. Over two months we have increased the electrical current and we have seen no change in her seizure activity. It looks as though Henna is in the third of children who receive a VNS that sees no relief from the VNS. We are very disappointed! We have started her on a new medication in addition to her current medications. Maybe it will help.

On August 6th, 2012, Henna had a full corpus callosotomy. This surgery is for people who have generalized seizures with no focal point. The corpus callosum is a band of nerve fibers located deep in the brain that connects the two halves (hemispheres) of the brain. It helps the hemispheres share information, but it also contributes to the spread of seizure impulses from one side of the brain to the other. A corpus callosotomy is an operation that severs (cuts) the corpus callosum, interrupting the spread of seizures from hemisphere to hemisphere. Seizures generally do not completely stop after this procedure (they continue on the side of the brain in which they originate). However, the seizures usually become less severe, as they cannot spread to the opposite side of the brain.

Henna received a white Labradoodle, Leo, from 4 Paws for Ability in Oct. 2010. We sent 4 Paws 2 shirts a week to help train her dog. One shirt was when Henna had a seizure and they used it for her dog to smell the chemical change during her seizure. The other shirt was when Henna had NOT had a seizure. This helped her dog differentiate between the two scents. It's a fascinating process. We trained for 10 day in Ohio with Leo and a trainer before bringing Leo home.

Leo had been going to school with Henna but started to bark and growl at different people when they came into her classroom. We worked with Leo's barking and growling when people would knock on the door and for a while he seemed better. He is very protective at home also. He then barked and growled at some boys who came into Henna's classroom and had to be removed from school. The trainer at 4 Paws said that some dogs bond so closely with their child that they become protective. Leo took on Henna's classroom as another home and felt he had to protect her. Sadly, because of his aggressive behavior, Leo can no longer be a service dog. The trainer said Leo would behave lthat way with any child he bonded to. Just his nature. We will keep Leo as a pet. Leo LOVES being just a pet. He still alerts to Henna's seizures and lives to get his hot dog reward!

Henna now has Snoball, a beautiful Golden Retriever. Snoball was born June 3, 2011. She is so sweet and a bundle of energy! Sno is doing an excellent job alerting to Henna's seizures BEFORE she has them! She is alerting up to one hour before Henna has a seizure. Sno goes to school with Henna and proudly wears her school ID badge. Snoball will be a great seizure alert dog and will serve Henna well.

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Friday, October 22, 2010

4 paws Training Day #4

 This pup is getting ready to go to a prison inmate for foster care.  It will stay there for a short time and then go in to foster care with a family.  The dog below, a mother who just weaned her pups, is a surrogate for a litter who's mother had an emergency c-section and almost died.  She did survive and is now on the mend.  This mama was moved to a foster care family to finish nursing her friend's pups.  What we wouldn't do for a friend!

Henna had a seizure right before this picture.  She had 3 this morning so I got Leo by her and told him to bark.  He did!  When she had the first seizure he sat up and knew something was wrong.  It's a good start.  As Henna's bond gets deeper he'll be more in tune with her and hopefully her seizures.  He watches her all the time and is excited when she's around.  Today we worked on heeling and having our dogs staying in a "down" position.   Leo was big brother to one of the dogs who was afraid of a wooden African painted duck that was in the lobby of our hotel.  Another family asked the front desk if they could bring it to training and they showed up with it.  It helped Cassidy work through her fear of this fake, black duck.  LOL!
 We all met at the mall after lunch to work on heeling and distractions.  Leo did very well.  He was interested in what was going on but listened well.  Henna held on to the harness handle some of the time.  We went up stairs, in the elevator, and went into stores where I put Leo in a "down" and acted like I was shopping.   Leo has been going to breakfast with us at the hotel but we are now cleared to take him in to an actual restaurant.  Yippee!  Tomorrow we're all going to Applebee's for lunch.
 Henna played at the mall's kid park while I worked Leo.

Here we're on our way out of the mall.  It was another long day and we're all spent...Leo especially!

One last bit of fun before we leave the mall.  Everyone in Xenia knows about 4 Paws so they are used to seeing service dogs in the stores and around town.  The people are very nice and asked a lot of questions about Leo and the other dogs.  Someone asked me if Leo was a French breed!?  "Just a Doodle", I replied. 
I already love this Doodle...
Jan
Posted by Jan at 3:47 PM

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