So, the holidays were great. After a few viruses and icky fights with germs, we had our first healthy Christmas and New Years in, I think ohhh, 3 years (possibly 4). I am hoping the good start means a better year for her, health wise. We spent Christmas here in town at my brother's house, and she was all smiles all day. I know on levels I can't explain that Gabby 'gets it' often and we all saw her connection with family and spirit of the season that day. More memories to add to her bank! (Good from the bad here, in comparison to past holidays of illness and fear, Gabby was strong and present for this year)
Seizures, a word I hate with my every fiber. I have had to say it often lately, and it never gets 'ok'. We had a plan, to reduce a medication (Banzel) that we were certain wasn't really helping her and transition her to another medication we haven't tried yet (Felbamate). Well, either her system is so sensitive to any change whether the medication works or not, or this medication was indeed working and the wean wasn't going as easy as we hoped because she experienced a prolonged seizure while at school that required we use her rescue medication to stop it. Now, this seizure was unlike any other we have previously witnessed, and her team of teachers at the school are credited with noticing Gabby wasn't breathing normal and seemed a bit out of it so they called to fill me in. I went there right away thinking she was coming down with a cold (already had a call in to her pediatrician's office too for them to listen to her chest) and Gabby was certainly off. Something in me just said she was seizing. I can't really explain why, just a feeling. So, we grabbed a flashlight and checked her pupils and they were fixed and nothing was getting her to respond, not even me pinching her fingernail cuticle. So, everyone worked together and got her down and her rescue med administered and Gabby popped out of it after about 7 minutes. The school staff was so attentive and had documented everything that I was able to inform her neurologist, and can say with some certainty that Gabby was seizing for 45 minutes. The good from this bad was learned more about her, this was all new and it gave another lesson on how to care for her. So, the next week when they saw the same behaviors, they were so on top of it the episode was only about 15 minutes from noting to diastat working. Life is certainly and education and we never stop learning.
