Katie Update #16

Well, there is not too much new to report today, but I wanted to send out an update anyway to make sure everyone stayed informed of Katie's progress. She did continue to have some seizures last night and into this morning. However, the levels of Depakote in her blood were still below the levels that the neurologists wanted to see, so they are again changing the way in which some of her drugs are being administered to try and keep the levels constantly high. Again, her liver seems to be working well to expel toxins, though in this case the toxins are supposed to be for her own good. The seizures were still somewhat frequent, but their duration was very short and the brain activity in between seizures was relatively normal, a finding that our lead neurologist deemed "encouraging." We're taking him at his word and feeling somewhat encouraged. They also decided to again lower her Pentobarbitol levels a bit. Because the seizures are short and she has normal brain activity between seizures, the neurologists do not believe that she is in a state known as "status epilepticus." The primary focus of keeping her sedated with Pentobarbitol was to prevent further brain damage that can result from prolonged, essentially non-stop seizures that are associated with being in this state. Therefore they believe that they might be able to safely wean her from this drug, though as always they are doing so very slowly with careful and extended monitoring.

That is all that I have to report for now. I will, of course, keep you all updated as things change.

Sincerely,
Paul