Saturday, January 30, 2010

See ya, January.
















Well, that month certainly sucked for Lola, though we started to turn things around near the end. Basically, we've been playing the meds game - and it's not fun. The side effects of these meds range from rage to liver damage and the list goes on. So basically we just watch her intently day and night, and fret and worry. When I called to renew her prescription, I was told that I'd exhausted my supply for the month - huh? I explained that we'd been following the dosage exactly, and that we had maybe two days left of the stuff. They had the neuro pharmacist call us back, and he questioned why she was on the syrup, when it was a 3X per day med, when our neurologist had requested an extended release caplet at 2X per day. Hmmm. Maybe that's why we haven't had total seizure relief yet. So now we're on day three of the new med (divalproex sodium) and praying that this will stop them once and for all. We still don't know where they came from, but they can return to that place at any time.

Lola's been doing great things at school - learning to sit for longer stretches of time, learning to wait her turn, etc. These are all great improvements. She gets very frustrated, but she's still inching forward despite her recent seizure setbacks. She also learned to kick a couple of weeks ago - usually just a balloon or a ball, but sometimes she likes others to know how tough she is. What else - she likes to be naughty and take off laughing, or smack the glasses off my face, laughing hysterically. This kid's a riot. (insert sarcasm here)

Other than that, we're just trying to make it through these cold, long months. Liam's doing well at school, but he goes stir crazy on the weekends. Can't wait for some extracurricular activities to start up so that he can burn off some of this energy! He finally got his hermit crabs - and he named them Flash and Smiley. I hope he doesn't pull a Lenny (Of Mice and Men) on them - they seem to hide an awful lot. He's very happy to be sharing his room with the stinky things.

Keep Calm and Carry On!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming...
















well, not 100%, but she's doing much better. We're not sure if it's the weaned med, or the increased new med, but regardless, the seizures are decreasing. We've gone from 40 per day to 2-3. We'd prefer none, but we're trying to be patient. We spend most of our time staring at her, wondering about meds, trying to figure out this rubic's cube of meds.










Liam went skating this weekend, and he did great! He was a pro. The first couple of times he tried it, he hated it - he figured he should just put on the skates and fly across the ice. But now that he's SIX, he did it no problem! That's my boy.

Monday, January 4, 2010

New and Improved Lola!

One Tough Cookie - don't mess with her.





When the going gets tough, the tough get bangs. She's sick of the kind of bangs that land her on the floor - so Mommy caved and gave her a new haircut. Bangs it is! Liam said, "Hey, she looks like someone I know." Anyway, it makes me feel better because I don't have to look at the huge bumps and bruises on her forehead. And besides - she just looks tough with the black eyes - the forehead bonk makes her look like something from Star Trek - and that's just not a good look.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

all the colours of the rainbow.

no pictures, please - just cheese buns...
wondering what the heck the boys were watching on tv


Letting us know it's all okay - she's still her sassy little self under the Beetlejuice impersonation...


Closing her eyes to give us the full, pathetic effect.







Okay, I swear I'm not getting a kick out of my daughter's misery - but check out how different her face looks a day later. Crazy.





She's doing much better - still having seizures from time to time, but they're much shorter, and less violent. We are still waiting to see the neuro on the 6th, so we are temporarily in a holding pattern with the crummy meds with Clonazepam to help get rid of the atonic seizures in the meantime. It's frustrating, considering the other meds are the ones causing the damn things in the first place. sigh. She's getting her sass back though, which is the main thing.