How Is David?: 03/01/2009

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Two longests

Eight months since David's last seizure!!! Five years in one house!!!

We are about to turn over the house to buyers, so we'll have to start over there.

David learned today that he was accepted into the Torrey Honors program at Biola. We are very happy about that! He has been doing a great job of applying for some scholarships. The essays force him to think through aspects of his life and write about them in an interesting way, which is all rather challenging.

Tomorrow we see Dr. Maleeva to hear her opinion of David going to school out of state.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Eight months

We are almost to eight months!I almost lost count of months now that it's been quite a while.Our house is sold and we close in 11 days and move out in 14. (4/11)David is working on scholarship applications, which is challenging. He is a bit shy about "packaging" himself in essays.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

A Near Miss, and a college class

Sunday night David had such a bad aura he thought it was going to turn into a seizure. It lasted a while and finally went away. It was heartbreaking. But he hasn't had any more since.

Two weeks ago we saw Dr Maleeva and he had her turn down the dose of his VNS as it felt a little irritating when it went on. So I blame the lower dose for this aura.

I could have blamed sleep deprivation but I don't. David enrolled at Glendale Community College and the only available section of the math class he wanted begins at 7:00 am. The rest of us have been in shock for the last couple weeks as he has gotten himself up, dressed and out the door at 6:15 every weekday morning. He walks down the hill one mile and catches the bus, then rides the bus back home after class and calls me for a ride back up the hill. He looks so happy to be "moving" -- independent, mobile, and back to doing math again. He is still working through the Foundations of American Thought class and making dinner for the family most nights.

A small Christian engineering/technical college called LeTourneau, in east Texas, accepted him and offered a generous scholarship. (We're not sure about sending him so far away, till we see some more stability re seizures.) He is also hoping to be accepted at Biola, and is applying for some scholarships. These things all have pushed him a lot but he is learning some new things and becoming more organized.

Speaking of moving, we found a buyer for our house and if all goes well we hope to find something in Pasadena or Altadena that is cheaper so we can free up some $ for college tuition.

Thanks for checking in. I'll try to post more often.

Pray for David

+Pray for no seizures and healing from epilepsy.

+Pray for no colds (often come with seizures), wisdom in matters of health.
+Thank God for the period of no seizures from July 31 2008 to July 7, 2009, even with one less medicine and his VNS implant being turned way low inadvertently.
+Thank God for a full recovery from the trauma caused by the grid on August 1 2008.

+Thank God for strength during the first four semesters at college.

+Pray for strength and wisdom through the third year, taken from home.

+Thank God for three months with no seizures, from early August to early November '11

+Pray for that pattern, of no seizures or even auras, to resume and remain

WHAT'S UP WITH DAVID--updated 9/19/09

David was diagnosed with focal epilepsy in 2000.
He has tried seven meds and had a device implanted, but still has had seizures and side effects.
Since summer 2007 he has been on a track toward surgery, which can be very effective. In July 2008 we got to the final stage which is to have grid surgery.
Grid surgery on July 29 involved placing a silicone grid of electrodes directly on his brain. A cable connected his head to an EEG screen, and he stayed in his hospital room to have seizures. If the grid shows where seizures come from then usually the spot can be removed and the epilepsy is gone or alleviated greatly.
Things went wrong on August 1 when the grid turned out to be very irritating and caused a lot of fluid buildup and swelling so it had to be taken out in emergency surgery as David started slipping into a coma. The opportunity to do therapeutic surgery was lost for the time.
But things started going well as he had no seizures for 11 months and 1 week after coming out of the hospital. Things are really good because he (accidentally) started taking one less medicine, and because his vagal nerve stimulator was (accidentally) set way too low after surgery, and still no seizures. This is very unexpected so maybe the trauma altered something in his brain and healed his epilepsy.
Despite some bumps things are still going well, with very few seizures. After asking for the VNS to be turned down, then having many more auras, turning it back up, and having sleep trouble, he has had seven seizures since July 7, '09. However, each seizure has been gentler than the last, and a common denominator has been found in many of them - looking at computer/TV screens too long.

How Is David?