Well....since my last post, we have ended up back in the ER and hospital. The hospital stay this time was a week long and I was tired and frazzled and digging my heals in. I was not going to make David go through these constant seizures for another day if I could help it. The day we took him in (a Monday) he started having mini seizures at 7:30 in the morning. They continued throughout the day for a total of 13. When we had reached 7, I had seen enough and loaded David, my suitcase and my computer into the car and we headed to the hospital.
His mini-seizures have changed over time, and where his "old" mini-seizures seemed to pass quickly with no residual effects, the "new" ones are different. Still short lived (30 seconds to a minute), but his recovery time is longer. We have been dealing with staring seizures and blinking seizures where he seems to completely zone out. This is what he was doing that Monday.
As these seizures had begun changing and getting worrisome to me...an old friend from my high school days, who is now a chiropractor contacted me. He confided to me that he too used to suffer from seizures and that after going to a chiropractor himself, his seizures went away. He has been many years without seizures and he treats people now who have seizures with great success. He offered to see what he could do (if anything) with David. Realizing that conventional medicine in all of its wisdom was not completely doing the trick....I jumped at the chance to try something....anything....that might help.
David has so far only had two visits to see the chiropractor and it is slow going as he doesn't like to sit still, but I have hope that working with the body will somehow help the brain. We have also discovered (while he was in the hospital) that he might have a vitamin B deficiency. This usually only occurs in adults, but can happen in children. This deficiency can cause or aid the progression of seizures. Also we found that Davids original seizure back in 2008 and then his second one in 2009 were seizures that occurred all over the brain.. His new seizures are coming from the right side of the brain. There are meds that target certain sections of the brain and the meds he had previously been on, were not specifically for right side of the brain seizures. Hopefully we have remedied all of this. He is now taking a multi-vitamin, vitamin B6, and a new med to go along with his other meds. His hospital stay was a week long....but when I brought him home....I finally had a little peace of mind.
In the two weeks since we have been home, there have been no seizures. I make sure David gets his meds on time everyday (a very important factor), he takes his vitamins, he is seeing the chiropractor and finally he seems to be enjoying his summer. His eyes are once again bright and fully open. He wakes up every morning smiling and laughing and goes to bed at night the exact same way.
David is continuing with his physical therapy once a week(which he doesn't always like), as well as his swimming lessons(which he loves). We do therapy at home and seizures or not....he is progressing. Soon (two weeks in fact) he will be starting 3rd grade. It will be a new school with new teachers, new faces, and new adventures. I have no doubt that he is up for the challenge. Whether I am or not....remains to be seen.
Now though....David is enjoying his last few days of summer. He is spending time in the pool, watching lots of Spongebob and playing like crazy with his brother. Our house if full once again of smiles and laughter and I have been able to breathe again and not spend my time waiting for his next seizure. All is well in the Elam house and I just can't help but think......sometimes...things are just good!
