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Brooke has had a happy day! I was able to come home over lunch and spend a little extra time with her before heading back out to work today. That was nice! A little health update...
Seizures:
We're still seeing them. We upped her topamax dose again. She is now taking 30mg twice a day. She will have them upon waking up. Maybe 3 a day. Some days are worse than others. They are not horrific seizures - not totally disruptive - just stubborn!!
Eating:
As the topamax increases, her appetite decreases. This is expected - or at least a common side effect. She is taking less and less pediasure. We are at about 12-15 oz. a day. She is also taking less and less solid food. She is getting pretty adversive to eating solids all together because we are putting depakote sprinkles, topamax sprinkles, and nexium sprinkles in breakfast and lunch. We have taken to adding ice cream to fruit, or yogurt, or anything that will distract her from the taste of the medicine. But - you can see in her face that she is reluctant to take every single bite, regardless of whether there are sprinkles of medicine in that bite or not. She fight us - She's even taking to gagging - a behavioral thing for the most part, we think.
So...we are revisiting a crucial decision we mulled over at Brooke's hospital stay - whether we should get a g-tube in order to get her medicine in her without a fight and to supplement any additional fluids she needs, but won't take orally. This isn't a difficult surgery. It is very minor and common. With that being said, any surgery has its risks and in the end, Brooke will have a little hole in her belly that leads to her stomach. This is a tough one for us. We are so scared that it 1- won't make a difference in her oral aversion and 2- we will be introducing other problems that are not present now, like really bad reflux or problems with the g-tube site. We've decided to move forward despite our reservations. We think it will increase Brooke's quality of life and take away a big source of pressure and tension that we (mom, dad, & Brooke) experience three times a day.
Now is time for prayers. Please Pray that Brooke's seizures stop! Please pray that we make the right decision for Brooke's nutrition and medicine needs. Thank you so much!!
One last thing - we've got two new teeth. One more on top and a third on the bottom. Count em...5 teeth...wow! Not so impressive, but it's pretty cute!
