Dr. Gabriel

Noah had another follow up visit with the Neurologist in LA. He loves to go to Dr. Gabriel, mainly for the camouflage balloon afterwards. But, Dr. Gabriel is really good with him. He's an older doctor and kind of different, like most neurologists are, but he's a good doctor. He has an old black doctor bag, and lots of older looking things he uses inside, it's kind of funny. But, at the appointment, he did give a little hope that there could be an end to his medicine. Which, could mean that he could grow out of his seizure disorder. Right now is a time that kids usually grow out of a childhood seizure disorder. Usually about now they are growing like crazy and they just grow out of it. And then again around puberty. So, I'm hoping on the sooner one! So, if Noah can stay seizure free for an entire year, they will do a 24 hour surveillance on him in a hospital, hooked up to all of the EEG monitors and everything, and see how his bran waves are firing and things. It's a pretty intense testing. I'm just worried that it wouldn't show anything...he's never had an EEG, MRI, or Cat Scan that actually showed anything abnormal. That is why he was diagnosed with Generalized Epilepsy, that's what they diagnose when they can't pin point what it actually causing the seizures. It's very frustrating. We are just so grateful for modern medicine.

I know I post a lot about it, but it's an important part of our lives. I look at Noah as a miracle child. His seizures aren't life threatening, so he's not a miracle child, per say. It's really just an annoyance in normal everyday life. But after seeing his face blue, and seizing, not knowing what we could do for him. Hoping he'd be okay, and knowing that his seizures don't actually harm him, it's still hard. And then having to hold his lifeless body until he finally tenses up and starts crying as he comes out of the seizure, it doesn't get better. I rememeber a time in Rexburg after he had been hospitalized for about a week. He was having about ten seizures a day at that time. And each one is like a marathon for anyone's body, so you can imagine the toll it took on a little 20 month old body. But, we took him home and he was still just out of it. He wasn't my Noah. I would sit and cry, thinking that this time it effected his brain. I was so worried that he wouldn't ever be the same. He acted just so offish, and didn't want to interact with us. But, time and time again, he did return to his same self. The Noah we all love came back. And it happens every time. The "what-ifs" are always in the back of my mind, though.

I am SO grateful for the modern medicines we have today. At first I didn't like the idea of having him take medicine twice a day. I thought it was horrible that this little guy would have to that. But, having him not have to go through the seizures totally outweighs the negatives of having to take medicine. If it's there to help him, he might as well take it! Like an epidural. I'm SO for all of the drugs they give you to have a baby. If they are there, why not take them? We have been so blessed with good doctors to take care of our Noah. He's a newer medicine now. It still gives him an occasional headache, but we know that it's working for him. I can't imagine what life would be like if he didn't have it. Anyway, I'm grateful for drugs...I'm grateful for Doctors...and I'm grateful for Noah. He's a great kid.