0 days and counting...

You know how they have those counters at worksites, '28 days since our last accident' etc.?  Well, we sort of feel that way about Monkey's seizures.  She only has them with fevers, and as she's gotten older, the fevers haven't been as frequent, therefore giving us a larger space of time between fever seizures.  The last one was on November 24th, American Thanksgiving.

Until this evening.

She was cranky all day, and threw a massive temper tantrum at the Children's hospital where we had an appointment with the ear, nose, and throat doctor.  In addition to epilepsy, she has big adenoids which caused her to be sick constantly last year.  The one kid that really doesn't need extra chances at illness lucks out with her mother's gargantuan adenoids (I had them out when I was seven - and no, the ice cream didn't make up for the discomfort.  If I recall, the idea of ice cream was completely unappetizing, and I stuck with Flintstones popsicles.  Barney was lemon.  As he should be.).  She didn't want to eat much at lunch, and woke up from her nap (again, sans xumet) a right grump.  So, I took her temperature.  Since it was only 37.3 (99.2 for the Americans out there), ibuprofen was not in order, so I plunked her down with a 'Wonder Pets' and she cheered up.

We headed over to the grandparents' house for an afternoon visit, as Iaia (grandma) has been feeling a bit poorly (stomach bug, and some sort of cyst on her head which is supposedly not serious, but irritating just the same).  Monkey ate some cookies and milk, and was playing with her toys in the living room, when BAM, she toppled over, luckily hit the floor backside first before seizing for 45 seconds.  We have been through this many a time at this point, and while it is not a walk in the park, we get through it.  Remembering that when this all started when she was just a week shy of six months old (and on an airplane halfway between Australia and Japan, no less - another story for another day), and that her seizures used to last upwards of 35 minutes and require a trip via ambulance to the hospital, IV drugs, and a team of doctors surrounding her in the emergency room, I'd say we've come quite far.  Even last year, she was having seizures about every three to four weeks, always coinciding with a fever, and her last one was back in November, and prior to that, June.  Our life is slowly, but surely gaining normalcy.

She takes three medications each morning and night to help prevent these seizures, and the doctors say that they are having an effect as seen by the duration of the seizures having dramatically lessened.  I have my doubts, as I have also read it is very difficult to control fever seizures, and that as children mature and start to grow out of them, they shorten up and are fewer and far between.

I do hope the day comes when our girl is both seizure and medication free, but until then it is what it is, and this is just part of our life

That being said...again, our trip to the outlet mall to bargain hunt has been put on the back burner.  Car is healed (to a tune of about 400 smackers), but our little girl needs her rest now.  Poor hubby gets to camp out in her room for the next few nights, as we want to keep the kids separate while she is ill, and someone needs to stay close in case she has another crisis during the night.

Fingers crossed she heals quickly.  Off to beg for antibiotics tomorrow!