Katie Update #15

Katie's Valentine's day turned out to be a bit of a disappointment for everyone. Starting just after midnight this morning, Katie began having seizures again. As the levels of Pentobarbitol in her blood continued to fall, her seizures started to break through. They were relatively minor seizures, ranging from a few seconds to just under a minute, but they are certainly back. This was quite a blow to the whole family and to our caring medical staff, not because the seizures were all that bad, but simply because we all hoped Katie had put this part of her battle behind her.

We've had time now to put this news into perspective, though, and realize that we are still much better off than we were early last week and especially the week before. She achieved full seizure suppression for a number of days and really only started having the attacks again when she had all but regained full brain function. This is a great improvement over her condition a week ago, where she was having severe breakthrough seizures even when her brain was fully suppressed on Pentobarbitol. She is still receiving a moderate dose of Pentobarbitol, but it is far, far less than the dosages of a week ago. Further, doctors have noted that the seizures seemed to occur at times when the levels of Depakote (a common anti-seizure medication) in her blood had dropped significantly. This gives them some hope that perhaps the seizures can be controlled by administering the Depakote more frequently and at a bit higher dosage. The Neurology team has left instructions for administering medications such that this hypothesis can be tested, and again we are left waiting, worrying, and praying until tomorrow. If this doesn't work, there are other things that the neurologists want to try before resorting to increasing her Pentobarbitol dosages again. This knowledge provides us with some comfort, as we definitely don't want to see her brain put back to sleep completely again if at all possible.

That is about all that I have to report at this point. I'm sorry the news isn't great, but we continue to have faith that Katie will pull through this. I hope that you all have a happy Valentine's day and share amongst yourselves the love that you have and continue to share with us.

Paul