Still ok

David hasn't had any more trouble since Tuesday night.
He had a lot of freedom taking the bus to PCC for a math class--gone. Now I drive him till we understand how likely it is he will have seizures.
We also are going to work to get him more resilient, which may take a while.
I am soooo glad this happened now and not two months from now when he would have been living in a dorm 2000 miles away! God's mercy.

My Jaw Won't Shut (Figuratively)

On Sunday, I overexerted myself, and had the ~50th aura since the surgery.

On Monday and Tuesday, I forgot my morning doses of medecine, as I had many times before.

Tuesday morning I also had an aura that lasted 30 - 60 seconds while I was in class at Pasadena City College. (Taking Calculus 2, if you're curious).

Then, Tuesday evening, as Dad was helping me with choosing what classes to take at LeTourneau University, I had a long bad aura, and as I found out two days later, it was followed by a big, bad seizure, which I do not remember.

It is hard to grasp the fact that after 11 months and one week with no seizures, I had another; this could mean working out my plans for college all over again.

However, the verse from Job has come to my mind, and I resolve to mean it:

"The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

All quiet today

David was tired but no seizures today. He stayed home from class and just felt crummy, napped, and did homework.

Bad news--the one I dread

David had a bad seizure tonight. He is fine now. But we are so disappointed. He had missed the last two morning doses of medicine and I guess his brain couldn't take that. Pray for healing from this monster. Thanks.

Tickets for Texas

About seven weeks till David leaves home and goes to Texas for school, if all goes well in the meantime. I bought plane tickets for August 19.

His status right now is that he has still had no seizures since last July 31. Eleven months! ("Normal" before that had been several days of seizures every month or so. That was with high doses of three medicines and the vagus nerve stimulator implant.) Things are a little different than several months ago since he asked for a lower setting of the VNS. In the fall and winter he missed several doses of his pills each week and felt no effects. Since the VNS dose was turned down, he now gets auras if he misses even one dose of pills. Having auras usually means he is getting vulnerable to having seizures.

Please pray that he will be stable so that he can go to this college that seems so ideal for him. And that he will be healed. We see Dr Maleeva on Friday July 31. It would be nice if we could get his VNS turned up higher again, but he in the past he has gotten insomnia from it, which triggered seizures, so it's not an easy question.

We are thinking of having a One Year Celebration on Saturday August 1 so please check back soon.

Thanks for the support and prayers. God has been Good!!

No news is good news

David has now gone 303 days with no seizures.

Last year at this time he was in the hospital with the probes in, waiting for the third seizure. I was hoping that he would get out in time for graduation night. As we go through this time of year again it's reminding me of all the events of last year really vividly. It was all so intense I feel like I'm just starting to get some perspective. It was hard to go through the surgeries and I'm realizing it was hard to have epilepsy for so long.

Thanks for going through this with us.

David is still planning to leave in August to go to Longview, Texas for college. He has had a roommate chosen for him, a boy from Pennsylvania. I get to fly out with him to get him settled...then leave him there!?!

Some Changes

We just finished (or maybe I should say started!) moving into another house. We were deeply in love with our previous house - after staying five years and all* - but Mom and Dad figured that they would be able to give me and my siblings more financial assistance in college if we downsized. 

Funny thing is, we've upsized for the next six months, inhabiting our first two-story house! By the time this lease is over, we will have gotten rid of enough clutter to downsize, and buy a smaller house. (And it will be closer to the time the market will bottom out, too! More bang for fewer bucks.)

Oh, and by the way, I will also have left the house by then. I am going to college starting in the coming Fall semester, and the choice is pretty much final that I will go to LeTourneau University, a Christian engineering school in Longview, Texas, near the Louisiana border.

Mom was originally encouraging me and Dad to go and visit LeTourneau, but then while we were away for three days she got very lonely for me, and did not want me to go there for school.

It took me a long time to make the decision to go to LeTourneau and not Biola, but after I had decided to go to Biola if I was accepted into Torrey Honors Institute and then was disappointed when I heard that I was, I knew my heart wanted LeTourneau.

Mom was kinda unhappy when she heard that I had chosen LeTourneau, and tried to sob me out of it, but though I had sympathy for her, I knew my mind was made. She was consoled for a while after that when she decided to go with me for my first week of school, but today I heard clues that she is not even satisfied with that. I think she will be happy, though, if we can get stuff set up so that we can have weekly Webcam conversations.

It is so nice having such an affectionate Mom, and I don't want to waste the time I still have her (and Dad), so I will be eager to find out about affordable ways to set up a Webcam.

*By "all" I mostly meant the European Miele dishwasher we had in the other house - powerful to wash, and containing a third rack for utensils, so that the surfaces are not touching each other and obstructing the cleaning. *Sigh*. It's sad how it's hard to appreciate blessings until they're gone.