Friday, February 6, 2009

Cassidy - Updates




Cassidy had another EEG on Tuesday the 3rd. This required her to stay up all night Monday night. She did really well with this and didn't complain about being tired until about 7:30am. We watched several movies and she played with her webkinz online. Barry stayed up with us and it was actually kind of fun. We then visited with Dr. Vance yesterday. This second EEG confirmed what she was thinking. Cassidy does indeed have epilepsy. She has been diagnosed with Complex Partial Seizures. Although I have not witnessed one of these type, and believe me I have been watching, the Dr. said they are not always visible but the test shows she is having them. They were even able to catch two brief episodes of seizure activity on the EEG. Dr. Vance has put her on a "new generation" of anti-convulsives call Lamactil. The side effects of this are supposed to be pretty mild. This drug can also be used to treat Bi-polar disorder. The most common side effect is drowsiness although there can be a rash that puts kids into the burn unit. I initially panicked about this but was assured that this generally happens when it is combined with additional seizure meds, (which is not happening)or when the dose is started high. Cassidy is actually starting at 25mg a day and the base dose is 200mg a day so this shouldn't be a problem. We are starting low and building slow so she won't even be at the base does for about 6 weeks. Dr. Vance said some docs would move faster then this but she believes in playing it safe, which I fully agree with. Cassidy should start her meds on Saturday. This is certainly not what I was hoping for, I was hoping that they would say it had all been a big mistake and we should just go on with our merry lives. Well we do get to go on with our lives, just a little sidetracked. I have prayed alot about this and although it scares me I do have peace with it. Its funny how you can feel peace about something that scares you to death. It's certainly not the worst thing that could happen though and definitely something she can live with and through. Cassidy is such a sweetheart, I hope she knows how much I love her and how much praying I have done over this. My peace comes a great deal from that and from the priesthood blessing she had that told her all would be well. Thanks to all of you for your prayers on both of our behalf, mothers need at least as much as the kid they are worried about.

1 comment:

Holly Rice said...

Thanks for the up-date. James was saying that you might be medicating Ammon? You will have to fill me in on what's going on there. They are in our Prayers. I hope Cass will react well to the new meds.