Nurses call her "Smiley"

Thanks so much to all of you who have been praying for Alexandria while she was in the hospital! Apart from her I-V taking eight tries!! … everything else went well and we are safe at home resting and recovering.

If you think of Alex throughout the day, please pray that she would do well in school … especially in the afternoon. Because her neurologist (wonderful doctor that he is) doubled her afternoon meds in order to combat her daily afternoon/evening seizures. The strategy seems to be working, but the meds cause her to be very groggy and even dizzy sometimes!

Oh, and we now have a really good idea of the next steps that we will be taking to prepare Alex (and all the rest of us) for a possible brain surgery to eliminate Alex’s daily seizures. So keep praying for wisdom with all of that, and I hope to update you with more specifics soon!

- Andy

Everything is going good with Alex’s tests here at Arnold Palmer Hospital. Alex doesn’t like all the probes and electrode gel in her hair, but she’s found plenty of TV shows that she likes.

Alex’s neurologist Dr. Davis has been by twice to check up on us and explain a few things — and his associate Kay, too. And Alex’s neurosurgeon Dr. Pattisapu‘s partner Dr. Johnson has also stopped by to familiarize herself with Alex and the challenges that we’re considering here.

The best news that we’ve heard so far is that the monitoring is showing that all five of Alex’s seizures last night were originating from the exact same area — right where the pingpong-ball-sized mass is located in her brain.

So the plan is to stay a little longer tomorrow (Wednesday) after the 48-hour EEG and do a fresh MRI of Alex’s brain. Then Dr. Davis will schedule an outpatient “neoro-psych” evaluation, where Alex will be asked all kinds of questions to get a good base-line of what cognitive skills she has right now, to compare with what might be “lost” after surgery.

This is of course very sobering, but it’s good to see all the doctors taking a very measured approach to the surgery option … studying to see what strengths and weaknesses Alex has now (weaknesses including seizures every day) … so we can work toward an outcome that will benefit her most. For example, it would be acceptable for Alex to end up with a few speech issues to work through after surgery if the surgery completely stops the seizures!

So that’s the kind of thing that we’re considering right now as we look forward to the day when Alex will be able to run and play — and even one day drive a car! … without seizures. So we thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers on our behalf!

Alexandria is such a super-star patient!
I just had to take some cell-phone pics of her time here.

Alex's EEG at Arnold-Palmer Hospital (2/16/2010)	Loving the electric hospital bed & all the settings	Nurses call her "Smiley"
Cell phone camera wars! (she fights back :)	Hmmm ... these pics are little silly	EEG monitor ... reading Alex's brainwaves!
One of the more tasty hospital meals -- she ate it all!		Oh, and she just LOVED the hair-do (or would this "hair-don't"?)

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