Archive for the ‘Seizures’ Category

RAININ’ IN MY HEART
February 18, 2015

The past few days kind of took the wind out of my sails.

We were scheduled to have a neurology appointment last Friday, which was confirmed by robocall from CHLA on Wednesday. We arrived on time, checked in, sat for a while, and then Cole was called for the usual weigh in, temperature, blood pressure intake and we were then led into an exam room. We again sat for a bit until someone came in to inform us that our doctor doesn’t work on Fridays anymore. She changed her day. They had left a message at our home mid-Friday morning. Not particularly useful since my husband and I both work, and neither one of us checks the home messages until we arrive back at home at the end of a weekday. Why do all of the forms ask for alternative phone numbers if they don’t use them? Mind blowing…

So they kindly gave us the first open appointment, Tuesday, her new day, at 12:15. We accepted the appointment. Sadly, having missed half of a day at work Friday, I couldn’t attend this time. We also had a morning orthopedist appointment, which I did attend. So no school or work for the boys. Frustrating but both necessary appointments.

The orthopedist appointment left us with hip repair/replacement surgery on the books for June, along with some other smaller surgical procedures that will leave Cole stronger and better able to bear weight, walk and sit more comfortably. This endgame the most important thing to remember during the six or so weeks of full leg casts with a bar between the ankles during the summer. This will be the second “bummer summer” Cole’s had in four years. He had similar surgery the summer before 4th grade.

Oh how I wish I could spare him the surgery and recovery. The first couple of weeks are the worse in terms of managing pain and finding the best ways to maneuver the boy with his casts and bar around the house and keeping him comfortable. Then the boredom starts to set in. Once he’s feeling better and off pain meds, the trick then becomes to find ways to keep a sedentary him entertained.

The neurology appointment happened, and despite videoing some of his seizure activity, it turns out that there’s not much that can be done. We can change medication to something that has more significant side effects, including potential liver and pancreas damage (so regular blood work) or contemplate an implant device that can be effective at calming seizure activity, but takes up to two years to get there, or leave him on his current medication. Given the now upcoming surgery, my vote goes to status quo. It doesn’t sound like the other options are better at the moment so my instinct is to wait until the orthopedic event is over and then get more into the brain activity.

Can someone just tell me when enough is enough for this boy? He’s been through so much, and takes it all in stride. It would be nice if something just went easily for him sometimes.

Posted in Family Life, Life, Seizures, Special needs parenting | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

I WANT ANSWERS
February 13, 2015

I woke around 5 am this morning to Cole having a seizure in his sleep. It’s unusual for him to have seizures in his sleep but this is the third one this week. Oddly, we’re seeing his neurologist this afternoon to discuss the escalation of his awake seizures, and now the nighttime ones too.

I don’t know what effect puberty, hormones or growth have on the seizures but I notice them increase when he’s having a growth spurt as well as now that he’s hit puberty. They’ve changed in their expression too. It’s unsettling to say the least. In my head I know that they’re relatively harmless, and that he has little to no awareness of them. To witness them, however, is a bit unsettling. It also kills me that he has to experience them.

While he may not be aware of them while they’re occurring, he does often have after effects that linger, which I think he must sense. His color fades completely, and sometimes takes a bit of time for the flush to return his cheeks. He sometimes has mild after shocks, shakes and shivers, and he’s often dazed just following a seizure. My tendency is to continue whatever we were doing or saying so that he doesn’t spend time thinking about the cause for a lull. I don’t know if it makes sense but in my mind it does. I generally just feel helpless that I can’t make them go away.

Most of the medications for seizures have a lot of nasty side effects, including liver damage. He’s been on a medication that has few, and of those few, where he seems not to experience any. But it’s not working that well now and my understanding is that simply raising the dosage ceases to work after a time, and we may be at that time. I worry that we may have to start considering alternatives, most of which are not all that great.

It’s reassuring knowing we might have some answers or insight today. The way my mind plays, the layers of what ifs pile upon each other and start to melt into one big fright. I want a little peace for that beautiful brain of Cole’s. And for mine too.

Posted in Family Life, Life, Seizures, Special needs parenting | Tagged: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

WHEN YOU’RE NEAR ME I HAVE DIFFICULTY
January 3, 2015

Cole is prone to startle triggered seizures, which had him on preventative mediation nearly from birth. There were a few childhood years where he was weaned off the phenobarbital and medication free but a few years ago he had a new kind of seizure that had him still seizing when the paramedics arrived about six minutes after our call to 911. We’d never seen him seize like this and fear got the better of us.

His neurologist put him on a new medication, Levatrice, which seemed to help prevent the seizures entirely, for a while. It seems with the onset of puberty, and the hormonal changes that come with it, as well as general growth, the seizures are back as a regular thing. The school bell, our dog barking, and, more frequently than I like, my voice, when loud, calling from another room are regular triggers for the startle seizures.

Though recently, the seizures seem to have changed somewhat, evolved. The usual manifestation of his seizures involves his body freezing, seizing, with his arms a bit twisted and his face frozen in what looks like terror, and then it’s over. Now once that phase passes, there is an addition of fluttering eyes and mouth for an extended period of a minute more.

The seizures frighten me. I know that they are largely harmless, and that he has little awareness of them occurring, although he does show signs of acknowledgment before they happen sometimes. However, I also know that there have been instances when seizures have been fatal to teens with cerebral palsy. When Cole has a bad seizure, his face goes pale and cold within seconds of its onset. It scares me but I can’t let on him to that anything’s off. I usually try to maintain continuity in whatever was happening before the seizure so when he comes out of it, he’s just where he left off.

We’re again at the point where I think we need to strategize with his neurologist to see if there’s a different medication that can help quell the seizures. I think he’s at the highest end of the recommended dosages for this medication. He’s perhaps outgrown it. I’ve hoped he’d outgrow the seizures entirely, but it seems like he’s instead growing more into them.

Posted in Family Life, Seizures, Special needs parenting, Teenagers | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »