International Guide Dog Day

It’s International Guide Dog Day! Amanda benefits from the assistance of a service dog who performs many different tasks.  Some of those tasks are those of a Guide Dog. “Guide dogs, a type of assistance dog, are trained to help people in life with disabilities. Also known as seeing-eye dogs, they are specifically trained to lead blind and visually impaired people, helping them navigate situations or obstacles they normally would not be able to.” https://www.petinsurance.com/healthzone/ownership-adoption/pet-ownership/pet-owner-topics/guide-dogs/ Amanda has a visual impairment caused both by seizure foci on her occipital lobe, and further by the resection surgery which removed her left occipital lobe.  She has minimal peripheral vision on her left side and no peripheral vision on her right side.  For this reason, one of the many tasks her service dogs are trained to do is to guide her around obstructions on her right side.  This is important to help Amanda avoid ditches, poles, people and cars that she would otherwise be unaware of. CNIB write that the timeline for training a service dog for visual impairment follows this guideline: 0-8 weeks- important time spent with mother and siblings. 9 weeks – 4 months- the puppies are taught to socialize and learn basic skills, commands and routines. 5- 12 months- the puppies learn to navigate obstacles and are exposed to crowds, other animals and public spaces. 13-17 months- the puppies work with a professional trainer, and learn the basics of guiding with a harness. 18 months- the puppy is matched with a Canadian with sight loss, and they learn to work together for the next 6 months or longer until they become a team.   The following websites provide more information on Guide Dogs. https://www.dogguides.com/vision.html https://www.petinsurance.com/healthzone/ownership-adoption/pet-ownership/pet-owner-topics/guide-dogs/ https://www.sponsorpuppies.ca/?utm_campaign=aber_cnib_guidedogday&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=remarketing_brand&utm_content=responsive_v2&gclid=CjwKCAjwj6SEBhAOEiwAvFRuKKpqvvbHYFlMwMpEzt4y8LOvk9wYdhX6lc656zl7vJBgqJqNqDgUmBoCKK0QAvD_BwE   Stay tuned for news on our upcoming raffles!  And don’t forget to follow our pages: https://cablescalling.blogspot.com/ https://www.facebook.com/Cables-Calling-Born-to-be-a-Service-Dog-101555021631826/ Donate here:  https://bit.ly/3fvYtxd

COVID-19 Vaccine

 Yesterday Amanda got her vaccine at the North York General Hospital, Seneca Newnham Campus site. She was approached by staff at the centre after receiving her shot.  They told her they knew they couldn't pet Kira, they could see she was working, but they just wanted Amanda to know that just seeing Kira had "brought joy" to their day.  What a lovely message!

https://www.facebook.com/Cables-Calling-Born-to-be-a-Service-Dog-101555021631826/

https://cablescalling.blogspot.com/

Donate here:  https://bit.ly/3fvYtxd

A Tribute to Diesel, Sept. 17, 2005 – April 5, 2021

 

                                                        Cable and Diesel

 This post on Cable’s Calling is dedicated to Cable’s friend Diesel who passed away early this week at the age of 16 ½.  Diesel was a Border Collie with whom Cable spent the past five and a half months at RuffSport.

 

Cable’s trainer, Heather McLeod, started her career with Diesel, training him to become an agility and dock diving champion.  He helped her bring the sport of dog dock jumping to Canada and was the Canadian Dock Jumping champion in 2011.

 Diesel knew over 100 tricks and performed with RuffSport Entertainment in agility, flyball and disc catching.  He was a beautiful dog and has taken a piece of Heather’s heart across the rainbow bridge with him.

Agility Fun

                                                                Water Fun!

                  Rest in peace, beautiful friend.

Happy Easter!

 Between cash donations and GO FUND ME contributions we have collected $18,005 towards Cable's training! That is exactly half way to our $36,000 goal.  Thank you so much, and please continue to share our links and our cause.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/Cables-Calling-Born-to-be-a-Service-Dog-101555021631826/posts/

https://cablescalling.blogspot.com/

Donate here:  https://bit.ly/3fvYtxd

Epilepsy: beyond medication.

 Today is PURPLE DAY!  Are you wearing your purple?

Purple Day is a Worldwide epilepsy awareness day that was founded by Cassidy Megan, and is celebrated every year on March 26th. Visit www.purpleday.org to learn more!

Today I will share information about alternatives to medication.

For about a third of the population, medication does not control seizures.  This condition is referred to as having “refractory” seizures or “intractable” seizures.  For these people, one option is neurosurgery. 

 Seizures have a specific focus in the brain from which they originate, and if this focus can be identified it may be possible to remove it surgically.  The trick is to be able to remove the seizure focus while preserving function from that area of the brain.

 Around 70% of people who have temporal lobe surgery actually become seizure-free, and approximately 20% have a reduction in the number of seizures they have.

 Amanda began advocating for neurosurgery for herself when she was in the 8^th grade.  

We knew that her seizures began in the left occipital lobe, the area responsible for vision.  This is actually a rare type of epilepsy.  Amanda would see flashing lights or colours, and she often lost her vision for several minutes.  She continues to have periods of temporary blindness today.

Once extensive pre-surgical testing was complete, we knew that she also had a second focus in the right parietal lobe.  Parietal lobe seizures are also very uncommon.  Seizures in this area of the brain can occur in clusters, happening frequently throughout the day.  They can “cause sensory disturbances such as heat, numbness or electrical sensations, weakness, dizziness, hallucinations, distortions of space and other symptoms.” (https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/epilepsy/focal-epilepsy)  They can also result in “Todd’s Paralysis” which is a temporary paralysis during the post-ictal stage of the seizure.

 Given this information, Amanda chose to go ahead with the surgery, understanding that she would never be able to drive as she would lose a significant amount of vision.  Her feeling was that she already had visual anomalies caused by her seizures, and that it would be worth it just to have a day with no seizures at all.

 Amanda’s surgery was performed at The Hospital for Sick Children with an amazing medical  staff.

 During the 6 hour procedure they discovered that her frontal lobe also had extensive foci, too large an area to consider removing as this is the area of the brain that involves executive functioning and decision making. 

 The doctors decided to make small cuts along the frontal cortex to sever connections and hopefully stop the seizure activity from traveling across the lobe.  These cuts are known as sub pial transections.

 Seizures in the frontal lobe present in different ways; there can be movement of the eyes and the head to one side, difficulty speaking, or unresponsiveness. Symptoms include depression, impaired memory and a dramatic change in cognitive function affecting executive processing, language, attention, and behavior. (https://www.epilepsy.com/living-epilepsy/epilepsy-and/professional-health-care-providers/resource-library/epilepsy-behavior)

 

In many cases, surgeons are able to isolate the focus causing the seizures and remove it completely, allowing the patient seizure-freedom. 

 

In Amanda’s situation, they discovered that the first focus in the occipital lobe went far deeper than anticipated and they could not remove it entirely without leaving her completely blind.  Her surgery drastically reduced her generalized seizures.  Unfortunately, the partial seizures remained uncontrolled.

 

If you are interested in the brain, there is a picture attached that shows Amanda’s brain with the occipital and parietal lobes outlined for the planned surgery.  If you are squeamish, scroll past!  Disturbing photos are marked "Warning:  Graphic Image."

 

Medical knowledge and skills for epilepsy surgery are constantly improving.  Technology has made a huge impact on what can be done.

 

This article focuses on the areas of the brain affected in Amanda’s situation. Seizures can originate in any part of the brain.  To learn more about epilepsy brain surgery you could investigate these links:

https://epilepsytoronto.org/about-epilepsy/learn-about-epilepsy/epilepsy-surgery/

https://www.uhn.ca/Krembil/Pages/epilepsy.aspx#Services

https://www.epilepsy.com/learn/treating-seizures-and-epilepsy/surgery/types-epilepsy-surgery

Warning Graphic Image:

This was an image taken of Amanda's brain during the grid mapping.  The yellow outlines indicate the areas the surgeon planned to resect.  He found more than he bargained for when he got inside.  Dr. Rutka was her amazing neurosurgeon. She told him she loved his surgical cap so he gave it to her!

Her brother shaved his head in solidarity when Amanda was preparing for surgery.

Her stuffed bear went into surgery with her, and came out with the same bandages.  Bless the nursing staff at Sick Kids.  They are so good!

Receiving her medal of bravery.

Warning:  Graphic Image

Just a few staples and stitches to close up...

Sporting the pirate look to cope with double vision after surgery.

And best of all, a visit from the PAWS Therapy dog, Blue.

There's nothing like a dog to raise your spirits!

Cute photo of Cable, just because.  

Celebrations!

 It's been a busy week and I wanted to share some reasons to celebrate!

We have had some wonderful contributions to Cable's Calling recently and our total raised to date is $17, 700!  If that isn't a reason to celebrate, I don't know what is!  Pluto would be howling in his Plutoverse. :)

Thank you to everyone who continues to donate, share our pages and like our posts.  We love it when you spread the word!

St. Patrick's Day was a great day to celebrate, and was my birthday, as well.  John chose to celebrate it at Toronto General Hospital having a heart procedure.  It was very successful, so a good choice of a way to celebrate apparently!!

Cable knows how to dress for St. Patrick's Day!

Cable has decided the Leafs are her favourite team!

Looking spiffy!

Amanda is celebrating her birthday today!  Her are some greetings her friends have sent;  thank you Kim Nelson, Anna-Marie Kristensen and Heather McLeod.

                     Happy Birthday from Kira, via Kim Nelson.

Happy Birthday from Forrest via Anna-Marie.

Happy Birthday from Cable sending virtual kisses with Heather.

Lots of fun!  Thanks for reading!  Please as always, feel free to share our links and like our posts!

https://www.facebook.com/pg/Cables-Calling-Born-to-be-a-Service-Dog-101555021631826/posts/

https://cablescalling.blogspot.com/

Donate here:  https://bit.ly/3fvYtxd

Throwback Thursday!

In healthier times we have been able to go out into the community (and beyond) to spread awareness about epilepsy.

Thank goodness for technology so that we can still share information even though we can't yet go out in public!

You are always able to access information about epilepsy from these websites:

EPILEPSY FACTS

https://epilepsyyork.org/

Epilepsy Facts from Epilepsy Canada site:

https://www.epilepsy.ca/epilepsy-facts.html....

Types of Seizures: (from Epilepsy Canada)

https://www.epilepsy.ca/seizures.html

Here are a few shots of our family helping to spread knowledge and awareness. Every time someone asks a question about Amanda's service dog it leads to sharing information about epilepsy.

Please share our links and this post to help education the community about epilepsy and service dogs. Thank you!

FACEBOOK

https://www.facebook.com/pg/Cables-Calling-Born-to-be-a-Service-Dog-101555021631826/posts/

BLOG

https://cablescalling.blogspot.com/

GO FUND ME

Donate here: https://bit.ly/3fvYtxd

https://www.gofundme.com/.../cables-calling-born-to-be-a...

HASHTAGS: #CablesCalling #servicedogtasks #workingdogs #seizureresponsedog #seizures #epilepsy