Strep & Seizure Update

Since I last posted, Natalie has been diagnosed with Strep two more times, most recently today. Yuck! The first time she had it in March it seems that the Bicillin shot she was given did not totally kick the bug so she ended up having to get three days of Rocephin shots in her legs (one in each leg, 3 days in a row). Poor Natalie, she was not a happy girl. After the Strep seemed to be a thing of the past, she developed a cold which lasted about a week and a half. Just as she seemed to be getting over the cold last week, her coughing started up again this weekend and she was having trouble sleeping because she was coughing so much. Last night she had a fever and we both slept poorly because she was up constantly during the night crying and wiggling around like she was in pain. She finally slept fairly soundly from about 4am to 9am. No school or work today and we visited the Pediatrician who did a rapid strep test which turned out positive. He said the only two shot options are Bicillin or Rocephin again so we went ahead with the Bicillin (it's only one shot). Hope it works this time. I told Natalie that I don't want to go back there until her 5 year well child visit in September. Hopefully, she will stay healthy until then!

A few weeks ago, we went to her Neurology appointment and saw the Nurse Practicioner who was very nice. She said that from the description provided, it did sound like Natalie had a seizure at school last month. However, before they diagnose a seizure disorder or put kids on ongoing seizure meds, there must be two "unprovoked" seizures, meaning two that are not related to illness/fever. Since hers occurred the day before the first Strep diagnosis it would be considered a "provoked" one. So, nothing changes now other than she was given a prescription for Diastat which is a drug to be administered should she ever have a seizure that lasts more than 5 minutes. She will have one with her all the time and a dose will also be kept at school, like with her Epipen. However, they do want her to have a sleep-deprived EEG and this will be done on Friday. For this test, she is to go to bed at her normal bedtime and will have to then wake up at 2 am and stay up until the test is done at 7am! Sound like fun? If it does, feel free to come over and help me keep her awake from 2am until 7am on Friday morning! I'll blog about how it goes afterward. Hopefully they will not find anything abnormal.

We are ready for Spring and no more sickness!

Strep and Seizures?

Natalie LOVES the GIANT cookies Howard buys for the kids every week at DLM.

This week has been a strange one. On Tuesday I got a call from Natalie's preschool teacher describing 2 "events" that they had just witnessed with Natalie. As her teacher and the school OT described it, Natalie had what looked like a tremor start in her foot and move through her entire body while at the same time moving her mouth into a "grimace". She did this twice within a few minutes. They were concerned about possible seizure activity. No one who has spent time with her since has witnessed any further events. However, I thought it would be best to contact the neurologist and she now has an appointment for March 22. Ugh! I really hope that she's not having seizures. I hate to think that she may have one more condition to deal with. However, the Neuro previously told us that children with CP are at increased risk for seizures. I'm trying not to think or worry about it much because it may be nothing.

On Wednesday, the school called again because Natalie was acting really tired and when they took her temp it was around 100. She has had a fever since then but it's always under 101 and usually more around 100. She has been acting totally fine other than being a little more tired than usual. Since today was her fourth day with the fever I decided to take her to the Ped to see if something other than a virus was going on. Turns out, after over 2 hours in the doctor's office, Natalie was diagnosed with strep throat. After discussing Natalie's issue with taking medication by mouth (normally gags so much she makes herself throw up), he asked if I wanted her to have an antibiotic shot instead. Poor Natalie! She was SO mad about the shot but I was so relieved that I would not have to figure out how to trick her into taking antibiotics for the next 10 days!

By the way, the big girl weighed in at 38.6 lbs (with her AFOs and shoes on). No wonder I have been having so much back pain lately.

For now I just wanted to document what has been going on. I have a few other posts planned in my head that I hope to get to soon.

I think next week will be a much better week for us!

Tough week so far..and it's only Wednesday!

On Sunday night Natalie fell on her chin on Cook's hardwood floor and split her chin open (again).  You may remember she did this back in May and had to have several stitches.  This time after a fun (not really) trip to the ER, she ended up with 10 stitches.  It did not seem to hurt much but she was really mad about being in the ER.  Even weighing her and taking her blood pressure really ticked her off.  I didn't take any pictures at the hospital but here she is happy to be back at Cook's house at 11:30 Sunday night.  Note the mismatched clothing and hospital bracelet.

The rest of her week was going along great until today, when approximately 45 minutes after dropping her off at school, I got a call to come pick Natalie up because she threw up in her classroom and had a 99.3 temp.  I got her home and she seemed happy to be home and crawled off to play.  She ate a great lunch and then posed for a few pictures:

Today, right after these pictures were taken, she was standing up by the coffee table, lost her balance and fell hitting her mouth on the coffee table on the way down.  Ugh.  She cried pretty hard but there was minimal blood in her mouth and all of her teeth seem intact.  Luckily, she must have just barely missed hitting her chin.  Hoping for no more injuries or sickness this week!