Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Birthdays and such
It's been a long, beautiful spring month. Both Sydney and MacKenzie's birthdays are in April, so it's always a busy (poor-er than usual) month for our house. This year Sydney had her 13th birthday party with her BFF Taylor. They had a party in the church gym and it was awesome. Funny at first with middle school boys on one side of the gym and the girls on the other, but they eventually warmed up - some too much! They danced and sang. We had a disco ball and Katy and Matt played DJ. Then the next night we had MacKenzie's 11th birthday at Pump it Up! Big fun there as well.
Wooo Hooo, Glad it's another year before that happens again :)
TAKS testing is this week. Blahhh. My kids think I am their personal breakfast chef during TAKS week. They are old enough and get up every morning making themselves breakfast, but for some reason during TAKS week, we have to go to bed early and get up with a full course breakfast. If that makes them so much smarter, why don't we do it all the time? I didn't ask them that!
If Katy can make it through her senior-itis, she may just graduate from high school in June. I ordered the invitations today, so I'm really hoping it happens. She is terribly bored with the whole "school-thing" and really isn't even focusing on college at the moment. Prom seems to be the MOST important thing of the week/month. It happens May 10th. Maybe afterward we can look at what she is able to do next year!
We recently found that MacKenzie is suffering from Absence Seizures. After a month of tests, prayers and questions - not necessarily in that order - her EEG was abnormal and suggested she has a form of epilepsy called Absence Seizures. I have come to learn WAY more than I care to about the brain and medication for such seizures. We will go next week for a second opinion before we begin any medication, because there are so many conflicting opinions and side effects to the mediations. I am happy and surprised we were able to get another appointment with a neurosurgeon so quickly. These seizures are very new, I don't think it's been happening for very long. I also think the seizures may have dropped off in frequency in the last month, so I'm not SO worried anymore. Absence seizures are really weird things. The person stares off and you "lose them" for between 5 - 30 seconds. They can happen hundreds of times a day. The person dose not have any recollection of their seizure or what happened during that time. I can be having a conversation with MacKenzie and I just lose her. It's really strange. During the EEG, the doctor could reproduce them by having her hyperventilate. That was crazy. After further discussion with Mack, we discovered she does it quite frequently while running during softball practice. She also recalls moments of "blanking out" during school.
HOWEVER, there are many blessings to be thankful for! These seizures normally (80% of the time) go away in adolescence, typically before age 14. There are no long term or permanent effects. The downside are learning difficulties, while trying to concentrate, but those can be overcome with medication. Also, we'll need to keep a constant eye on her while swimming until we're 100% into the medication.
Kind of ironic how the month has been an up and down swing. I was really worried and freaked out about the seizures when we first discovered them. That lasted for a bout one day. Then I had an overwhelming sense of peacefulness about it, I really just "knew" it was going to be alright. Since then, I've dealt with MacKenzie and the doctor appointments with a calm self regard. Much different from how I would have handled something like this, say ten years ago. Maybe it's my AGE!
Anyway, that's our April 2008. I think we made it through with flying colors. And now to think our sixteen year wedding anniversary is in a couple of days. Another "wow" moment for us. Who would have thought Bob and I could make it SIXTEEN years!?!
God bless you all. I trust your spring season has been as blessed as ours.
Wooo Hooo, Glad it's another year before that happens again :)
TAKS testing is this week. Blahhh. My kids think I am their personal breakfast chef during TAKS week. They are old enough and get up every morning making themselves breakfast, but for some reason during TAKS week, we have to go to bed early and get up with a full course breakfast. If that makes them so much smarter, why don't we do it all the time? I didn't ask them that!
If Katy can make it through her senior-itis, she may just graduate from high school in June. I ordered the invitations today, so I'm really hoping it happens. She is terribly bored with the whole "school-thing" and really isn't even focusing on college at the moment. Prom seems to be the MOST important thing of the week/month. It happens May 10th. Maybe afterward we can look at what she is able to do next year!
We recently found that MacKenzie is suffering from Absence Seizures. After a month of tests, prayers and questions - not necessarily in that order - her EEG was abnormal and suggested she has a form of epilepsy called Absence Seizures. I have come to learn WAY more than I care to about the brain and medication for such seizures. We will go next week for a second opinion before we begin any medication, because there are so many conflicting opinions and side effects to the mediations. I am happy and surprised we were able to get another appointment with a neurosurgeon so quickly. These seizures are very new, I don't think it's been happening for very long. I also think the seizures may have dropped off in frequency in the last month, so I'm not SO worried anymore. Absence seizures are really weird things. The person stares off and you "lose them" for between 5 - 30 seconds. They can happen hundreds of times a day. The person dose not have any recollection of their seizure or what happened during that time. I can be having a conversation with MacKenzie and I just lose her. It's really strange. During the EEG, the doctor could reproduce them by having her hyperventilate. That was crazy. After further discussion with Mack, we discovered she does it quite frequently while running during softball practice. She also recalls moments of "blanking out" during school.
HOWEVER, there are many blessings to be thankful for! These seizures normally (80% of the time) go away in adolescence, typically before age 14. There are no long term or permanent effects. The downside are learning difficulties, while trying to concentrate, but those can be overcome with medication. Also, we'll need to keep a constant eye on her while swimming until we're 100% into the medication.
Kind of ironic how the month has been an up and down swing. I was really worried and freaked out about the seizures when we first discovered them. That lasted for a bout one day. Then I had an overwhelming sense of peacefulness about it, I really just "knew" it was going to be alright. Since then, I've dealt with MacKenzie and the doctor appointments with a calm self regard. Much different from how I would have handled something like this, say ten years ago. Maybe it's my AGE!
Anyway, that's our April 2008. I think we made it through with flying colors. And now to think our sixteen year wedding anniversary is in a couple of days. Another "wow" moment for us. Who would have thought Bob and I could make it SIXTEEN years!?!
God bless you all. I trust your spring season has been as blessed as ours.
