Drugs are good...m-kay....

No, I really don't sound like Mr. Macky from South Park, but I know the importance of drugs that can help me. 

I've been on Namenda now for about 3 weeks and it has helped me.  I've been taking 2.5mg twice a day, which means it's been costing $3.65 per pill (we split a 5mg).  After 3 weeks of waiting, my generic came from Canada today.  This means mom can now up my medication to 3.75mg or 3/4 of a pill twice a day to see if my symptoms improve even more. 

Mom charts my response every day and from day 9-14 she saw a good 25% improvement, but I leveled off after that and that's about the best I got.  I still shadow watch quite a bit, but my fly snapping is better. It still can still get pretty significant if I get over-excited. 

Mom took me off the Xanax when we started the Namenda and my really wild and erratic behavior hasn't started up.  Mom took me off it once before when we tried another medication and I was so bad, mom either had to put me back on it or start taking it herself.  She chose to put me back on it.  So that's one of the good things that came out of this so far.  I also seem to be spending more and more time up in the dog bed rather than out in the yard watching everything so I don't miss a thing.  That's a real change for me.  I haven't really been one to just "hang out" but that seems to be changing for me.  I walk around the house now, more settled, except if someone comes over; then all bets are off.  I just can't help but get so excited about new people.  I love everyone and I am just so thrilled to meet people.  Hopefully as we change my dose, I will be able to control my excitability; then again, that may just be who I am. 

                                                                          - Gracie 

Bed Bug

Relax, not that kind of bed bug.   I'm referring to myself.  All week I've been a bed bug, sleeping in mom's bed. Darby, (she's the nasty alpha bitch of the house) had been sleeping in the bed for the last month and apparently, it was my fault.  As you recall, I have this horrible OCD condition and because of that, I can kind of be a bull in a china shop at times.  Well, about two months ago, I was kind of naughty, I ran Darby over while she was trying to eat breakfast.  See, Darby, or Queen D as mom calls her, rules the house.  No one bothers her while she's eating because she's likely to take your face off.  I was so excited about more food, that I completely forgot about The Queen, so I kind of just bowled her over and ate her food.

Apparently, she was so stunned by my actions, it really bent her out of shape.  She didn't even attack me, she just stood back in total shock.  Now the down side to this was that it upset her so much, that she stopped eating.    What could be so bad that anyone would stop eating, I don't know.  I know I'd never stop eating if something upset my little world.  But, Darby did and mom was beside herself.  She took to feeding me in another room, but that didn't work.  She tried about ten kinds of dog food and that didn't work.  She took Darby to the vet when she lost almost two pounds.  She has this super model kind of waif look now, but she is eating better these days because mom feeds her in her crate or hand feeds her when she hand feeds me (it's so I learn to focus and not be such a bulldozer when I eat).  

Mom pampered Darby for a month, letting her sleep on the bed, but Darby is a kicker and mom never got a good night sleep, so now that Darby is doing better, she is back to sleeping in the dog bed.  So this is where I come back in, I got to start sleeping on the bed.  Mom wants me to be more social.  See, it's not that I'm not friendly, I am very friendly, but I have a little bit of autistic behavior if you try and pick me up or hold me.  It stresses me out and I kind of freak.  So along with the hand feeding, clicker training (treats come with that thing) and sleeping in the bed, she hoped I would be more likely to seek out companionship.   At first, I slept on top of the covers, but now, I sleep under them.  I like that a lot and I stretch out, but not so close to mom that I kick mom.   I'm learning that being on the bed it a cool thing and I am even starting to climb up there by myself because I know it's a good place to be.   Oh, and this thing called an "e-lect-eric blanket?"  Whoever invented that was a genius!!

                                                                - Gracie 

Oh, Canada.....

Bless those Canucks.   Leave it up to them to find the a way around our crazy prescription costs here in the US. My medication is working, but the thought of rescue having to shell out more than $100 a month was downright scary.  Sure, I don't personally have to pay for it and even if I did, where is a rat terrier going to keep money?  Have you ever seen a pocket on one of us?  I think not.  Marsupials have it easy with their built in pockets, but us canines weren't so lucky in that department.   I mean, I don't even have a belly button to store lint in. 

My vet is really a nice lady.  Her name is Dr. Mansfield and she is always nice to me when I come to see her.  She has been fighting just as hard for me as my mom has been.   So it was no surprise that she was more than happy to try the Namenda with me.  It is working.  I am off the Xanax and I am not crazy wild.  I still take my Prozac, but that is a cheap $4 a month.   She suggested that my mom try Canada.  Mom was ahead of her, but she had checked only the two sites that the State of Wisconsin approved for use by Wisconsin residents and Namenda wasn't there.  So, at Dr. Mansfields suggestion, she checked out more sites and you know what?  They have my Namenda in GENERIC. 

How could this be?  There is no generic in the US, mom said so; but I heard her on the phone with one of the Canadian pharmacies and it's because the US has some restrictive laws, called "patents" that they don't have in Canada.  Turns out, my drug under a Canadian generic can cost as little as $9 a month.  Can you believe it?  From over $100 a month down to $9 a month!!!  I am so relieved.  It means I can stay on my medication and I won't be as likely to scare off someone who might adopt me if my medications are under $20 a month.  

Later this week we'll send a prescription to Canada, where it will take 2-3 weeks to fill.  In the mean time, we'll pay for the medication here until it arrives.  At least we know there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  Heck, I might just take to wearing a maple leaf on my chest. 

                                                                             - Gracie 

Cautiously Optimistic

I overheard mom on the phone today saying she was cautiously optimistic about me.  See, I've been on this new medication, Namenda for a couple of days and mom thinks she sees some improvement.   I like to follow my mom into the bathroom, I don't know why, but the other dogs do too, so I think it's because something important might happen; and when I do, I often get so worked up in that small space, that I fly-snap and shadow watch.  Well, I am doing that a lot less now.  Mom said she didn't want it to be "wishful thinking" but she said it's not, it really is better.   She said I seem to be about 50%-75% better with the fly-snapping and about 25% better with the shadow watching.   She even tried to "ramp me up" by playing wild with me.  Normally, that makes me just go so crazy that I fly-snap like I am after a hundred flies.  Not so much anymore.  I even come in from outside better than I have been.  Best of all, I am off the Xanax and mom's not wanting to take it herself because I am not driving her crazy.

Now there is a downside to all this.  Mom read some book and is trying to help me focus my energy, so she has taken to hand feeding me.  I hate it.  I would rather just dive into my dish and have it gone in ten seconds.  Now it takes me ten minutes just to eat!  Do you know what I could do with that other nine minutes and fifty seconds? Even worse, she makes me sit for every piece.  You know what?  I do and I can.  Mom says I can really focus when I want to. Yeah, well I just want to be sure she keeps those kibble pieces coming, you know.

                                                                    -  Gracie

Wish Me Luck

Here goes nothing and everything.  Mom got my prescription filled for the new medication, Namenda and I started it last night.  This is the medication that Tufts Veterinary School recommended as part of their OCD study.  Mom is hopeful, but I can tell she is also worried.  Worried about what happens if it doesn't work; and worried about how the rescue will pay for it if it does.  Me?  I don't worry about much.  I'm too busy running in the sun and enjoying this wonderful October weather.  It's so nice out, mom is leaving the patio door open so I can come and go, I like that.  Well, off to explore and make sure the neighborhood is safe.

                                                           - Gracie 

My Mommy's Home...Finally

OK, when mommy put me in my crate midweek and said "I love you, see you soon," I though she meant at lunch, like every day, but that didn't happen.  Lunch came after what seemed like forever and there was a different mommy.   Now don't get excited, I don't live in a two mommy family; I know some do and thats totally cool, but I have one mommy, no daddy.

This new lady was here to take care of me because my mommy went out town for FOUR WHOLE DAYS!!  The horror, I tell you.  Turns out, she was completely qualified, her credentials showed she was a licensed veterinary technician as well as my babysitter.  She was here to take care of my other siblings too.  She did a great job.  She slept in mommy's bed, so I wasn't alone at night and she made sure I got my medicine.

So mommy is home, but she is sick.  She has a cold and her ears are all plugged up from the airplane.  So I have to make this short so I can go cuddle with mommy, kiss her and make her feel better.  I saved up four days of kisses you know.
                                                                         - Gracie