Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Piling on the therapies and the Keppra

It's been a rough three days for C. with seizures up the wazoo, some accompanied by fever, others without. Up to eight major ones a day and many small ones involving only her eyes and mouth (too many to count).

THC didn't work its magic. Nor did Advil when there was a bit of fever so I finally raised the Keppra from 750mg twice a day to 200mg twice a day. The neurologist had advised doing that a few months ago but I put it off, hoping that raising her CBD dose would suffice.

The physiotherapist from our HMO came twice last week and is due for another visit today. He does the same sort of limb-stretching that the other one, hired privately, did only minus the white coat and the almond oil massage, and he does it for 15 minutes instead of one hour. Well, these sessions are totally free so some corner-cutting is to be expected.

C.'s spasticity has become rather serious so we'll also persevere with these stretches on our own throughout the day. So far, no results, though.

At this point, we're postponing starting a new drug recommended by the gastroenterologist to reduce spasticity. You know that cardinal rule: never introduce multiple new med variables simultaneously.

And, after a nine month hiatus, C. is having her first hydrotherapy session today.

I'm hoping she'll function as well, or nearly as well as she used to: floating on her back, kicking her legs slightly, scrupulously keeping her face out of the water. But I have a hunch that won't be the case. Stay tuned for her hydro "report card".

The snapshot above, slightly obscured to protect his privacy, is of our HMO physiotherapist at work with C.

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