Seizures & the hospital

Well- it's been a bit of a week!

Tuesday (17-Jul-2007), Evelyn started having much stronger & more pronounced seizures. Not "grand mal"-type seizures, but clenching a fist by her head, turning her head to the opposite side, and jerking a bit, typically with her eyes kind of "bouncing" from side to side.

As these were much more pronounced than anything we'd seen before, we called her neurologist who upped her phenobarb doseage. As one might expect, it was a bit unsettling to see, but after a day or two, we were starting to get the stride of things. The neurologist said to call if things weren't getting better within about 3 days.

Friday (20-Jul-2007), Evelyn was still having seizures, and perhaps slightly more often & stronger. Typically, she would have them most often while waking up, and occasionally going to sleep or other random times. At any rate, after advising the neurologist things weren't improving, he prescribed the addition of Topamax, another anti-convulsant. The plan was to ramp Evie up on Topamax, then (assuming improvement) back down the phenobarb.

Sunday (today), the seizures continued at their "normal" pace (as it were), until Evie woke up at noon. She then had back-to-back seizures for a good 45 mins or so, with only 2-5 minutes between them. So, we called the neurologist who said he'd get her admitted at PCH, but to proceed to the emergency room in the interrim, just in case.

Things were pretty uneventful at the ER, until Evie woke up again, and had another string of stronger seizures (though not quite as back-to-back as before). In any event, they opted to put Evie on a faster-acting anti-convulsant for the night, with an EEG and visit with her neurologist on tap for the morning.

Aaaand that about brings us up-to-date! I will now settle down for some "sleep" in my hospital-room chair, try to keep an eye on my 2 ladies, and keep you posted.