tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36025442011-04-21T13:27:23.442-07:00This is a chronicled account of preparing for epilepsy surgery and all the fun stuff associated with it.~Lnoreply@blogger.comBlogger311100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-1137179280389976122006-01-13T11:04:00.000-08:002006-01-13T11:08:00.400-08:00

I just realized it's been since December 2002 since I've posted!! Wow... that's three years! Our lives have taken many turns in the past three years, but probably our biggest leap is the birth of our daughter in April 2003. Aleice Maelyn arrived six weeks early, but very healthy. She's now a very active 2 1/2 year old! Alex turned 7 yesterday and we're planning a big party for him tomorrow. Now

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-866249872002-12-28T06:44:00.000-08:002002-12-28T06:47:09.000-08:00

Larry is doing incredibly well on his new medication combination. He is now on Keppra and Lamictal and having very few of the smallest seizures he has. Praise God! He seems to have them in clusters through the month...not continually. He is driving back and forth to work now, but not really on the long trips, unless I'm just too tired to go on. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas. For

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-836341072002-10-27T17:10:00.000-08:002002-10-27T17:10:32.556-08:00

Well, a quick update here... We had a scary episode on Wednesday when Larry od'd on his Carbatrol. I don't think I've ever been that scared in my life. He called me from work saying he didn't feel well and would I come and pick him up. By the time I got here he couldn't walk because he was so dizzy, had doublevision, blurred vision, and slurred speech. He wanted to call his doctor's office first

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-823786872002-10-01T12:41:00.000-07:002002-10-01T12:41:51.780-07:00

Sorry it's been so long since the last update! It's been crazy around here... After that last positive update, things changed for the worse. Larry's seizures have increased and he's had at least one more grand mal since I last posted. He's back to having 2-3 seizures a day. So very frustrating when we thought the Lamictal was our hope! I called Dr. Brower after his last grand mal, and he's

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-808850472002-08-29T13:22:00.000-07:002002-08-29T13:22:25.766-07:00

We've spoken to the neurologist again. Good news is that Larry has only had 9 seizures (including his "dizzy" spells) this month! Down from around 40. So since we feel the Lamictal is making some headway, we are going to stick with it for a bit. Dr. Brower is increasing it, though, from 200 mg twice a day to 300 mg twice a day. I think Larry will be starting the increase on Sunday, is the plan.

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-798045242002-08-04T05:46:00.000-07:002002-08-04T05:46:20.270-07:00

I haven't posted in a while. Sorry. We've been dealing with the thoughts of everything that came back from the patient advisory board. I did call his neurologist about the possibilities of starting the Keppra, but he's out of town, so it will probably wait until we get there on the 21st of August. Larry is doing pretty well right now seizure-wise! I think he's been seizure-free for about a week

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-795614822002-07-29T12:55:00.000-07:002002-07-29T12:55:09.813-07:00

Final report from the Patient Advisory board came in this morning, and we are disappointed, but willing to go with the game plan. Larry's epilepsy seems to be very complex. He has a lesion in the right side of his temporal lobe, but that is not where the seizures are coming from. The tests do concur they are happening in his left temporal-occipital-parietal area. So...since you can't very well do

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-794877162002-07-27T15:14:00.000-07:002002-07-27T15:14:13.310-07:00

We just got our first bill from Parkland. And it's a doozy! I'm so thankful we have insurance! The bill was $12,257.82...included everything except the doctors from what I can tell. It has a pharmacy charge of $70...if that's the two Tylenol he took, that's a tad expensive! ;-) There's a double portion for the SPECT scan, so I suppose I'll be calling them on Monday to find out why there are two

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-792999022002-07-23T06:03:00.000-07:002002-07-23T06:03:11.353-07:00

I've started my new pet project..."Faces of Epilepsy." I've asked people from the Epilepsy List I'm on to send me their stories and photos. I want to make people more aware that anyone you know can have Epilepsy. The address is at: http://www.facesofepilepsy.com and is definitely a work in progress. So far I ONLY have the first page asking for stories. I've already received several stories and

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-791670342002-07-19T15:04:00.000-07:002002-07-19T15:04:38.313-07:00

Drat. Larry just had his fifth grand mal for the year. :(( No idea why or where this one came from. It's hot and humid, so that's a HUGE possibility. He had just walked to the store and back with Alex. Unfortunately, Alex got to see all of that one...so we talked about it afterwards. Larry is now sleeping and Alex is refusing a nap. Go figure. After reading Larry's reports more thoroughly, the

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-791190612002-07-18T13:31:00.000-07:002002-07-18T13:31:46.316-07:00

Well, wow! I spoke to the nurse again and here's our timeline, hopefully. Larry's case will go before the patient advisory board either this Wednesday or next Wednesday. We'll then know for sure if we are going ahead with testing. We feel this will be the case. So...four to six weeks after the board meets about his case, we will be heading back to Dallas for a WADA test and brain mapping and

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-791118012002-07-18T09:58:00.000-07:002002-07-18T09:58:38.140-07:00

Preliminary reports are back...truly in draft form. The SPECT scan shows the seizures are happening in the Left Parietal Occipital Lobe. Surprised me after reading about the temporal lobe and occipital lobes. I'm guessing they spread into the temporal lobe pretty quickly. His case still hasn't gone in front of the patient advisory board and probably won't for another week or two. The nurse will

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-790619322002-07-17T06:06:00.000-07:002002-07-17T06:06:27.873-07:00

We watched a fascinating show last night on ABC...Houston Medical. They featured a little boy who had epilepsy and had the brain mapping and surgery! It was SO fascinating to us. At Houston Medical, though, as soon as the brain mapping showed the doctors the information they wanted, they did the surgery! This little boy, Jonathan, apparently had a very distinct area of the brain that was deformed

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-790294112002-07-16T11:55:00.000-07:002002-07-16T11:55:20.550-07:00

BIG HUGE UPDATE~ ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ LARRY HAS PASSED THE FIRST OF HIS ARCHITECTURAL LICENSING EXAMS!!!!!!!! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ He has nine exams and just passed the first exam with all this stress going on! AMAZING!! He studied hard, applied himself and definitely worked hard enough to pass it! I'm so proud of him! We had to go out for dinner last night to celebrate, of course! I'll be calling

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-789343082002-07-14T06:33:00.000-07:002002-07-14T06:33:17.000-07:00

We haven't had much to update lately. We are just in the waiting phase now. Larry is having about one seizure a day right now. Not as bad as we feared. Anytime they mess with his meds, he has seizures for a couple of weeks after. They've all been the petit mal, so not too bad at all. :) Someone asked what Larry's seizures look like. If you don't know an epileptic, you probably think of the

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-787474912002-07-09T14:41:00.000-07:002002-07-09T15:22:14.000-07:00

We are HOME! We truly enjoyed our first night back home in our bed. :)) This morning has been hectic trying to get caught up with work issues and unpacking, but I'm starting to be able to breathe again. I'm tired...totally exhausted...but there's no rest for the wicked around here! I got the photos posted this afternoon of Larry's hospital stay. He's going to kill me, but there are two of him

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-786680852002-07-07T19:21:00.000-07:002002-07-07T19:21:37.010-07:00

We've made the first leg of our journey home. We are in Temple tonight picking up our precious boy. I think he missed us almost as much as we missed him, although that's pretty hard to believe. Tonight he wanted to head HOME. He misses his kittens mainly, I think. ;-) We were released from the hospital around 11 a.m. We were able to visit with the doctor this morning for about 45 minutes and get

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-786295552002-07-06T16:03:00.000-07:002002-07-06T16:03:12.153-07:00

Well, the verdict is TOMORROW. Boohoo. We'll survive, I suppose. We just really miss Alex. We mainly just slept this afternoon. Larry is still really dizzy and pretty wiped out. I'm wiped out emotionally after all this. So we've enjoyed just lying around today. Oh! Best thing in the world... WE BOTH HAD HOT SHOWERS THIS AFTERNOON! LOL Thank you to Nurse Claudia for that shower! Our hot water

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-786208262002-07-06T10:39:00.000-07:002002-07-06T10:39:15.593-07:00

We had a wonderful dinner last night, compliments of Larry's cousin Carol. She brought us some wonderful barbecue and homemade chocolate cake along with homemade TEA. The tea was heavenly after all the cokes I've been drinking this week! We also had a terrific visit with Carol. It's so nice to see a familiar face walk through the door! Alex is doing wonderfully well with my parents, but we are

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-785972212002-07-05T14:57:00.000-07:002002-07-05T14:57:55.673-07:00

12:30 p.m. We just heard from the doctors. Larry needs just ONE more seizure! YAY! They will get that one on the SPECT scan so we can tell for sure where the seizures are happening. So far they are all consistently in the left lobe. We need to know for sure if they are in the temporal or occipital lobe, though. The EEG is just too broad to define that. We found out we are pretty definitely

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-785661702002-07-04T16:33:00.000-07:002002-07-04T16:33:44.906-07:00

Where to begin! So much has happened in the past few hours that I have to share! Larry has now had three seizures for the EEG and video. One of those was a grand mal, the others were the typical seizure for him. The doctors came and spoke to us this afternoon and shared the results of the MRI and EEG so far. The MRI shows scar tissue in the right temporal lobe. That is the FIRST time ever an MRI

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-785516122002-07-04T08:28:00.000-07:002002-07-04T08:28:18.420-07:00

After a fairly uneventful night, Larry managed to have a petit mal this morning. It was EXACTLY like he usually has. Praise God! Now for about 4-5 more! He's up walking around more today after learning last night they worry about bloodclots in the legs. They made him wear a foot massager during the night that aggravated him. He wanted it off at one point last night and the "mean" nurse said, "

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-785332992002-07-03T19:46:00.000-07:002002-07-03T19:46:15.763-07:00

At about 7:45 tonight, Larry had another grand mal seizure. The EEG tech was doing the strobe test when it happened. The tech said that's the first time it's ever happened that fast. Larry told me later he actually had two seizures in a matter of minutes. The grand mal was worse than last night and I was very appreciative of the staff who came running when we pushed the seizure button. It took

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-785247432002-07-03T14:58:00.000-07:002002-07-03T14:58:16.913-07:00

I made a final decision a bit ago. I'm closing my business down this week. I just don't have time to work on projects, or the inclination, honestly. Something much greater and more important his happening in this hospital room, and I plan to help my husband deal with that! We have met with Dr. Van Ness and two colleagues this morning. They have decided to take Larry off his meds in order to

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-785104172002-07-03T08:22:00.000-07:002002-07-03T08:22:53.266-07:00

With much confusion, we are finally in our room at Parkland. Because our maps and information packet didn't arrive before we left Carlsbad, we were trying to find the Epilepsy Center on our own. *sigh* Don't ask anyone where the Epilepsy Center is...they don't know! We left Jamie and Audra's agt 5:30 and got to Parkland around 6:25. It then took us another HOUR to find where we were supposed to

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-784855562002-07-02T17:37:00.000-07:002002-07-02T17:37:13.613-07:00

We are in Dallas! Well, North Richland Hills to be exact. We are staying with our best friends, the Garners, in their new gorgeous home. It's nice to rub elbows with people like this. ;-) We had a frustrating moment tonight. We went to dinner with Jamie and Audra at Chili's. A person behind us knocked over a metal chair and hit the concrete suddenly and loudly. Startled Larry into a seizure and

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-784458042002-07-01T20:07:00.000-07:002002-07-01T20:07:51.710-07:00

We made it to Temple an hour earlier than we expected! We made the trip from Amarillo to Temple in exactly 8 hours. What a relief! MawMaw is hanging in there. We were able to say good-bye to her this morning and spend a bit of time visiting. She is having a sonogram that will look at the back of her heart tomorrow afternoon. They will be putting her to sleep for the procedure, so please keep her

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-783807612002-06-30T06:07:00.000-07:002002-06-30T06:07:55.576-07:00

We are now in Amarillo safe and sound. Larry's grandmother looked better than I expected. She's very tired and weak, but she's holding her own. :) We had a wonderful visit with her yesterday afternoon after we got in. We were able to take Larry's mom to dinner and then go back up to the hospital for an extended visit. Not much happening besides that. I'm checking e-mail and all that boring stuff!

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-783487272002-06-29T05:41:00.000-07:002002-06-29T06:17:29.000-07:00

I think we are about ready to head out! YAY! We plan to be in Amarillo by 5 p.m. tonight. I'm up early, of course, because for some reason my body tells me "It's 6 a.m. Get up sleepy head!" My two guys are still asleep and will be for another hour, I imagine. It gives me quiet time to complete a couple of tasks for clients and meditate on the upcoming events. I went to Walmart last night and

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-783252002002-06-28T13:00:00.000-07:002002-06-28T13:00:12.480-07:00

What a day and oh, my, how plans have changed! We got a call from my father-in-law this morning that Larry's grandmother isn't doing well and is probably going to be admitted into the hospital in Amarillo. So...we are leaving in the morning to see her and the rest of the family. That also means that my mother-in-law won't be able to go with us to Dallas, so we'll be dropping Alex off at my

~Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3602544.post-782901472002-06-27T17:04:00.000-07:002002-06-27T17:04:40.370-07:00

Well, today I decided to start blogging. I have so many friends doing this, but never had a desire. Who wants to read about my boring life? Well, after the phone call Monday morning, I decided maybe epileptics facing the possiblity of epilepsy surgery might! Here's a bit about him (and me): My husband, Larry, is 34 years old, and has had epilepsy since he was 9. The doctors have no idea why,

~Lnoreply@blogger.com