Two for One Update.

Last week I was at the hospital for a few days having a VEEG done.  I had electrodes glued to my head, an IV in my wrist, and a probe on my finger.  Not fun at all.  I met some really nice people that work at the hospital.  Dallas, the eeg tech was awesome.  He came to visit me every day I was there.  And the evening aide who came in every evening to check my vital signs was awesome too.

I would have gotten to go home the second day but my mom said "no".  She wasn't happy with what the doctor told her was going on.  She said it didn't make any sense.  I guess the doctor was seeing one thing on the eeg but my parents were seeing another thing with me.  My parents kept watching me (literally) that whole day, quite annoying!

I would have gotten to go home on the third day but my mom said "no".  She STILL wasn't happy with what the doctors thought.  (nothing against the doctors, mom said they are awesome- but even they said things didn't really make a lot of sense because I didn't have the typical symptoms of absence seizures).  Apparently later that day I had a BIG seizure, the nurses said it lasted about 3 minutes and they had to give me medicine in my IV to calm my brain down:)  This is what the doctors needed to see to make an accurate diagnosis, but I STILL wasn't allowed to go home that day!!!!!!

I did get to go home on the fourth day.  My diagnosis didn't change afterall from my original diagnosis.  My parents were pretty happy about that.

I was happy to go home to my dogs, cats, bed, and well... everything...

Love,

Kaitlin

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We have had Echo out a lot over the last few days.  I am happy to report that he is doing an excellent job when he is out in public places.  Our neighbor, who is a dog lover and trainer, recommended to my dad that we buy a prong collar for Echo to train him to stop barking at everyone when we are out walking.  My dad did and we put it on Echo, but we haven't had to use it.  Echo seems to know what the collar is for so he acts like a gentleman.

The most amazing thing is that we have noticed Echo is laying on his side at stores and restaraunts.  This means he is relaxed and accepting of his situation.  He has not barked or growled at anyone and isn't as "hypervigilant" as he was.  He looks around but doesn't seem so stressed.

If Echo continues to do this well, I think he'll get to go to Colorado with us in April!!!!  (on an airplane:)

Love,
Kaitlin

You've Got a Friend In Me!

Gotta Have FAITH

We are beginning week four of training Echo to be my seizure alert/response dog.  Can't believe how fast this time has flew.  One thing is for sure, training is a lot of work and takes a lot of time.

We've gotten a lot of emails and facebook messages supporting our work with Echo and for those who sent them, we want to say thank you!  Your encouragement keeps us going.

I am pleased to say that Echo has been doing very well with all of the basic commands we are reinforcing.  He's even picked up a few new commands rather quickly and is doing well with those as well.  Our biggest challenge is helping Echo overcome his reservations toward strangers.  It's his breed, it's in his genes...

We don't believe in anything other than positive reinforcement with training.  This simply means when Echo does something we ask he gets praised and treated.  When he does something we don't want, we refocus him and then praise him for refocusing.

In his first week of training Echo was very scared in public places.  It was all new to him- being in stores and restaurants and being around so many people he didn't know.  In his second week of training he began to relax more and growl less at strangers.  We have completed week three of his training and I am happy to report that he is less reserved with strangers.  He's beginning to accept strangers being around him and has even let a few people pet him.

When we first started and Echo was growling at people my mom told me not to be disappointed if Echo didn't have what it takes to be a service dog.  She said it might be hard to rechannel his aussie tendencies...

Hey, mom!  You Gotta Have FAITH!!!!!