Noah

Noah had another Neurologist appointment in Los Angeles with Dr. Gabriel. It is quite the drive for a doctor, but it's only like every 4 months, so it's worth it. Noah likes his doctor. Everything looks good for little Noah, which is a good thing. He's been seizure free since July. Which is a VERY good thing! The doctor said he is developing at a normal rate and doesn't have any effects from the medicines or anything. So that was definately good news. His next appointment is in June and if he still hasn't had any seizures, they will schedule a 24 hour thing where they take him off his medicine and then monitor him for a full 24 hours with strobe lights and all the works to see if any seizure activity is triggered. And then if all goes well we can start to taper off the medicine. So, we're hoping for that.

Lately, we have been so worried about him. It's hard to be his parents and not really know what is "normal" and what is medicine induced and what we should be worried about. One of the medicines he was put on does cause development delays. That was our biggest fear when he was put on the medicine, and the big reason we switched from it. It's a really effective medicine, but if you are on it for a prolonged period, it does significantly alter development. As soon as we took him off, we noticed such a change in him. He started talking so much better and started to act a lot better. But we really don't know if it was the medicine change or just that he was and is getting older. It's hard to distinguish it. He's been having a stuttering thing lately, but the doctor said that was nothing to worry about. Many kids his age have the same problem, who aren't epileptic and who haven't ever had the same medicine he had. He just thinks a lot faster than he can talk. He is a very busy busy boy. We asked about a speech therapist, but he didn't think it was necessary, really. He figures Noah will eventually catch up on his own, and won't need any special attention, which is such a relief for us. He is just a regular boy, who happens to have seizures sometimes, but it doesn't really affect him. He's a trooper though. He's been through so much, so much more than I have ever gone through: Many hospital stays, doctor visits, blood draws, and EEGs. And he's still such a happy little boy. I'm so glad to be his mother and I love him so much. He really is my little hero.