Brady's first seizure

Brady has his first grand mal seizure at 5 years old. Our vet put him on a low dose of phenobarbital at that time because his seizure was so violent and he was very aggressive. It was my understanding that dogs aren't usually started on meds after one seizure but since his was so violent her recommendation was to get him on medication. He started his medicine and thankfully tolerated it well with no side affects, except for a little uncoordination at first, which really wasn't too noticeable and didn't last long at all. Things went exceptionally well from that day forward. He didn't have any more seizures after that first one and remained seizure free for over 2 years. Thinking back, we had no idea how fortunate we were that he stayed seizure free for such a long time! At one of his routine vet appointments, after him being seizure free for such a long time, our vet then recommended that we start weaning him off of his phenobarbital because he had not had any seizures in over 2 years. I should also add that his yearly lab work revealed that his medicine was in therapeutic range and that his liver values were good, which is important as phenobarbital can cause liver damage. I will never forget how leary I felt about that decision but you're supposed to trust your vet, right? Reluctantly, I started the weaning down process very slowly. It took 8 months to do and when Brady was down to only a very tiny dose, he had another seizure. :( That would make 2 seizures so far in his lifetime.
At that point, it was evident that he needed to be on the phenobarbital so back on it he went. The question that resonates constantly in the back of my mind, is if we had left well enough alone, would the seizure activity ever have started up again? If I could make the decision over again, I would have chosen to leave him on the low dose of phenobarbital and not wean him off of it. I just recently learned from his neurologist that once a dog has had a seizure, it is highly unlikely that he will never have another one. So it is advisable to keep them on medication even if there are no seizures occurring. Why tempt fate? It is a mute point now, water under the bridge, but at least it is something for others to consider if they are thinking about weaning the meds or lowering them. As the saying goes, hind sight is always 20/20.
Back on the phenobarbital Brady had another awesome streak! This time he stayed seizure free for 1 year and 5 months! Believe me when I say, this is truly a remarkable statement to be able to make.
Morale of this story: be grateful and count your blessings every day, don't become complacent
and don't take the good things for granted, especially good health, whether it be our health or our pets health. When things are going well, it is so easy to think 'it's supposed this way'. Unfortunately, it may not always be smooth sailing.