Epi-Star "Jackie"        and  Hu-Mom, Lorraine     by Dorothy Wills-Raftery      Lorraine Trapani and her Epi-dog “Jackie” are a pretty amazing pair. To begin this story, we are going back to when Lorraine was 16 years old, and she was diagnosed with Idiopathic Epilepsy and “had generalized tonic-clonic seizures for years.” Fortunately, she adds, “I’ve been seizure free for about 20 years (knock on wood.)”   Lorraine, who works for IBM, had a very personal family situation start her on the path to Guiding Eyes for the Blind . In an IBM article she wrote titled, “Miracle on Four Feet,” Lorraine explains how after her husband, Michael, who was also an IBM employee “suffered a stroke during surgery which diagnosed pancreatic cancer. As a result of the stroke, Michael lost half of his vision in each eye, and I became his guide as we fought the cancer which would eventually take his life… the experi...

   Epi-Star, Gibbs       by Dorothy Wills-Raftery     It’s time for another FiveSibes #LiveGibStrong National Epilepsy Awareness Month Epi-Star Feature! I’m so happy to introduce everyone to Gibbs…yes, another amazing “Gib” but with two “b”s, who is also an Epi-dog. This “Gibbs” is a beautiful Labradoodle (his mom is a Labradoodle and his dad is a Poodle), and he and his mom, Tracy Smith, head up the GIBBS-erish...Making Sense of Canine Epilepsy, a fairly new Canine Epilepsy Facebook group.   Gibbs’ story is a familiar and frightening story many of Epi-dog families and caregivers can certainly relate to. Says Tracy, “It started with a noise that was uncharacteristic in our home. Upon my investigation, I walked into our living room to find Gibbs convulsing on the floor.   He had fallen off the couch and was stuck between the coffee table and couch.   I thought he was dying.   Here, enters, epilepsy and o...

Epi-Star, Ruby       by Dorothy Wills-Raftery     Along the 12 years of blogging, having a FiveSibes social media page ( FiveSibes: Siberian Husky K9 News & Reviews on Facebook ), and authoring books and articles about dogs living with Epilepsy, I have come to “meet” and know so many amazing people and their pets.    As you know, my one Siberian Husky, Gibson, began having seizures shortly after his third birthday in 2009, and I was scared. And as I have written about (and in this month’s first Epi-Star story), when he had his first seizures (and you can read more from my journals on my online #LiveGibStrong K-9 Epilepsy Awareness Resource Library HERE) , I knew nothing about Canine Epilepsy, and I walked in on him post-ictal, and thought I had lost him. I’m an advocate for dogs with Canine Epilepsy, also known as Epi-dogs, as they can live full wonderful lives, just like any dog who does not have epilepsy.   Gibson showed me that he c...