The Lexi Chronicles: September 2007

It's funny, I had always been a big dog person--my dream was to own an American Staffordshire Terrier, or an English Bull Terrier, or a Bernese Mountain Dog. That was up until this past June, where I fell hopelessly in love with Chihuahuas.

My illness didn't come on very suddenly--I started noticing one day that every time I raised my head from tying my shoelaces or bending over to pick things up that I would get dizzy and the world would spin around. I figured it wasn't a big deal since tons of people get head rushes like that, right? Wrong. After a while I would be standing around or sitting and the world would still spin. In addition, I noticed that part of my face felt strangely numb. So off to the GP I went, who attributed it to a case of fluid imbalance in my ears and prescribed me with some Bonamine (similar to Gravol) and said that the symptoms would subside. Symptoms persisted, and that weekend my parents drove me to North York General. After some bloodwork, an IV drip, a CT scan and a 12-hour wait (not in that order), the attending ER doctor said that my symptoms could be attributed to a viral ear infection and it would clear in a week. It didn't, but I figured it would just take a little more time for my body to build up an immune response. Meanwhile, my grandmother and my mother were trying me on traditional Chinese medicine, including acupuncture. After one acupuncture session I felt a little better, and had a few more but no real big improvement. Finally I decided to see another GP, Dr. Leung, a friend of my mother's who put me on Serc, which was a little stronger than the Bonamine, to see if it would help. He also put me on Amoxicillin in case the supposed infection was bacterial. Zilch. At this point my fingertips were starting to go numb, and Dr. Leung noticed that my breathing was shallow and rapid. Up until that point I hadn't noticed that I couldn't take a huge deep breath like I normally could, and I have a huge lung capacity from singing. So Dr. Leung prescribed chest x-rays and a referral to an otolaryngologist in 2 weeks' time. The chest x-rays came back normal, but the dizziness and numbness in my hands and face persisted. So it was time to wait until I could see the specialist, Dr. Hay. I ended up seeing Dr. Hay in early July, and had a hearing test performed. It came back normal, but after Dr. Hay did some tests on my hand-eye coordination and eye movement I was informed that the problem was likely neurological, since I couldn't move my eyes sideways. He arranged for me to have an MRI but said it would likely take a while before it was done, since there are long waiting lists for those things.

At this point I hadn't been to work for weeks and was doing nothing but watching TV on my back since it was the only thing that wouldn't make me dizzy, and I was watching an MTV special on Paris Hilton and was watching her and Tinkerbell, and thought that it would be so nice to have a small dog to accompany me everywhere. So I began to look online at sites for Chihuahua puppies, but because I couldn't go out all I could do was look at pictures. Also, it was just my sole entertainment at this point and getting a puppy wasn't a reality given my condition.
But I digress.

Three days after I saw Dr. Hay I was watching a concert and started having double vision. Figuring it was due to lack of sleep or fatigue, I decided that I could sleep it off. The next morning I still had double vision so called 9-1-1 and got an ambulance to Sunnybrook hospital. I had a full workup AGAIN, including blood, CT scan but this time I got an MRI. The MRI showed inflammation in my pons, which explained all the symptoms. I was put on 1000 mg of Prednisone for 4 days in hopes that the symptoms would subside, and was told to stay off work still. Fortunately, the pred did work but it took nearly two weeks and the withdrawal was BRUTAL. Not to mention that the threat of Multiple Sclerosis as a cause of the inflammation was very real, and I became extremely depressed. During this time my mom, thanks to a friend, was convinced that getting a puppy was just what I needed to cheer me up, and in the event that I *did* have MS I could still take care of a little dog. So she and I were driving out to see Chihuahua puppies pretty much every weekend but we never really saw anything we liked (the myriad of sketchy puppies/breeders that we met will take up an entire entry). I continued to e-mail breeders and search online, until a random google took me to lilmiracleschihuahuas.com (the name should've been an omen!). I saw a picture of Lexi with a caption that she was a special little girl who would possibly be available to an approved home. I e-mailed Terri right away, and she asked me about my home life and experience with animals and told me that Lexi was still available to an approved home. Terri explained that Lexi was born with an abnormally large open fontanelle and was slightly delayed in her puppy growth so needed a home that would understand and meet her needs. I was more than happy to oblige; it wasn't anything too complicated--just keeping her head protected and softening up her kibble for her to eat. Three days after my initial e-mail to Terri my mom got into a driving mood and said that because Maryhill was out in Guelph she was comfortable with driving out that way. On Saturday, August 4th, after getting horribly lost, we made it to Terri's place in Maryhill and met Lexi. It was love at first sight for me and my mom. A week later, we picked Lexi up to join us at home and she has been a huge part of this family since, all 2.2 lb of her.

Terri, I thank you so much for letting her be a part of my life. My neurologist told me yesterday that I am perfectly fine and the lesions in my brain are well and I know that it has been because of happy little Lexi keeping my spirits up that has helped me recover fully. You could not have picked a better name for your kennel--Lil Miracles indeed. :)