Greta had her 6 month follow up appointment with our neurologist in Fort Wayne.  This time, we saw the nurse practioner, Ms. Janet, who was so nice and wore fun glasses.  Double bonus.  I had some concerns recently because Greta's sleep has been a bit wonky lately, and she has also been rolling her eyes a bit.  While eye rolling is not that big of deal for 99% of kids, a person affected by a seizure disorder can sometimes exhibit this which indicates seizure activity.  Greta usually rolls her eyes to the right, and it is definitely NOT when she is trying to be cute, funny, silly, or sassy.  She's had some moments where she will space out.  Again, while most children do this to be silly, in Greta's case, it is a bit different.  With all these new observations, I was concerned she needed to be bumped up again on her Keppra.  Welp, she is now bumped up to the max dose, and with that, there is a strong chance they will start her on another medication.  She has only gained 1.5 pounds in the last six months, so she is metabolizing more medication without more body weight.  Again, time for possibly a new medication.  This is very normal with anti convulsants, so I am not freaked out or scared by this. 

I also mentioned to the nurse that I am concerned about her snoring, and episodes of "apneaic breathing," which are disrupted loud bouts of sleep where her snores collectively mount to a large disruption.  For kids with seizures, this is a bad news, because they are not getting enough oxygen during sleep.  Less oxygen means more seizures are likely to happen.  SO, she ordered a sleep study test.  She also recommended getting her tonsils out.  I guess they are scaled between a 1-4, and her tonsils measure large at a 3 without signs of illness or infection.  She thinks this is the reason she looks so tired.

We talked about her constipation issues and she thinks it is related to her poor muscle tone, which can manifest itself in poor digestion.  I guess your bowel muscles are different, but they too can be compromised with any sort of head injury/brain delay response.  It is common with kids who have cerebral palsy and Down's syndrome.  We never had her diagnosed with CP, because we didn't need to.  Now, the diagnosis of a mild form would be easier explaining all of mild symptoms to practitioners.  Again, she has MILD symptoms.  She has really come a long way with any motor delays, though some of these larger functions can still be complicated (sleep, digestion, speech).

Once we get her seizure stuff under control and her tonsils out, she should be golden for a while.  In the meantime, she is currently wearing big girl pants.  They are dry.  It  has been 20 minutes.  #winning