Sunday, January 31, 2010

Changes Since Seizure

I just want to make a note of any changes we've seen since Ari's seizure. On the bright side, *knock wood* Ari's eating has improved. I don't know how long this will last, but it's been about two days so far, and she's acting like she kinda loves food... even dinner. Great side effect of short-term starvation (NPO).

On the flip side, Ari seems much weaker. Just in the muscles. Her sitting is poorer (she's toppling; used to be a thing of the past), and her standing is basically nonexistent. Her legs buckle as soon as they have any weight on them at all. Usually, with a stroke, the muscles get hypertonic (tight), not hypotonic (loose). She is definitely hypotonic right now (which I much prefer to see). I don't really know what's causing her hypotonia. Some possibilities include the increase of phenobarb dose, the after-effects of the seizure, and the fact that I've been stretching and massaging her like crazy since the seizure to prevent hypertonia (about 5-30 minutes at every diaper change). I'm hoping that it's the stretching/massaging that's making her limber and floppy, but the only way to find out for sure is to stop stretching her and I'm not about to do that.

1 comment:

Esther and Brian said...

God Bless you for doing all this work for your little one! I have twins myself and I know how much work twins can be...and you have one that needs more help than his brother and another little one! You are doing an amazing job, I just wanted to tell you this. Incredible work...I hope that you know this and proud of yourself. Your love for your children is amazing...as it should be...