First off thank you all for the positive energy. Today was a good day at the vet. The expert is pretty certain that what bob has is a Trigeminal Nerve autoimmune disease. It's basically a neurological problem in which the body attacks the trigeminal nerve. The autoimmune drugs (same as Lukka, Prednisone) are used to suppress the bodies immune system and stopping its attack on the nerve. Good chance he will have to be on this drug for a very long time but the vet is hopeful that he will not have to be on it forever. The vet also worried that Bob might get pneumonia. We took some x-rays to make sure he didn't have it, which he didn't, and then gave him a big dose of antibiotics as a preventative.
We're still scheduled for a neurological consult on Wednesday but he hopes by then we'll see improvements. If we don't have any improvements by Tuesday we're going to have to do blood works since the neurologist will want those tests. He ruled out Rabies and Masticatory Myositis which made me happy. He's fairly certain it's Trigeminal nerve autoimmune disease.
He also said this is a very rare disease and in his 37 years of being a vet he's only seen 1 other case. In that case the dog made a full recovery. I almost cried when he said that, pure joy and release overwhelmed me. I know it's not over yet and we're still not 100% this is what Bob has but it's better then not knowing and dreading the worst.
Keep your fingers crossed
