Rich D
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2001
- Messages
- 2,555
- Reaction score
- 0
Hey all,
I haven't posted an update in a while, so thought I would share this. Unfortunately Russ is still struggling with seizures. Below is my sister's email.
'Hey Everyone - Just in case you have not heard Russ is back in the hospital. He had multiple seizures at home Friday morning. Up until Friday, Russ was doing well. He was really starting to progress past the point of the December seizures. So good in fact his cousin Larry B took him to a Baldwin basketball game last Tuesday night. Which he enjoyed. We even had made plans to go out to breakfast with friends this past Saturday. Russ was really feeling good and coming along.
This is what's going on so far - the Neuro docs ruled out the shunt being the cause of the seizures. They said all along that it was highly unlikely that a shunt would cause seizures. But after talking to them extensively on Friday they wanted to make sure that the shunt was working properly. In our conversation I had mentioning Russell always having a headache, and that he did have problems with his balance, incontinency and his occasional short term memory loss. All of these symptoms they felt could be caused by the shunt malfunctioning. I did mention that I felt all of these issues were slowly getting better with time and therapy. But they still felt it was best to aspirate the cerebrospinal fluid from his shunt to check it for infection and pressure. All the testing from the fluid came back negative, but they did mention that the shunt pressure seemed low. So they did a ct scan of his abdomen to make sure the shunt was draining properly. This also came back that the drain was working fine. The doctors said it was good that they checked it all out and that unfortunately all of these symptoms could also be caused as a result from his meds or just the fall itself.
In the meantime Russ continued to have seizure activity since being admitted Friday morning. They weren't as noticeable on Friday and into late Saturday morning because of the different meds they were giving him to try and calm down his brain. He just looked like a bullfrog at first. His neck would go out and in like a bull frog. But as the medicine started wearing off more and more his seizure activity became very apparent. His tongue was twirling, he sounded as if he was drunk, his lips quivering and the whole entire bottom of his face became very distorted. Upon my return late Saturday afternoon it was becoming more and more apparent. Russ was having seizure approximately every 7 minutes each lasting for about 3 - 4 minutes. Around 7 PM they decided to give Russ another dose of Ativan to try to calm his brain down. This seemed to take the harshness out of the seizures and it also allowed Russ to get some much needed rest. Up to this point Russ never mentioned anything that would have indicated that he was hallucinating. Sunday morning when I arrived I knew immediately that he was having hallucinations. He asked me why I had blood all over my face and all over the walls, to help him get rid of all the ants that where all over his bed, he told me to be careful and not fall off the cliff by the sink, etc.... Dr Zaretsky was called immediately. After examining Russ she reassured me that she felt these hallucinations were all a part of the focal seizures as she described to me on Saturday. She said once the seizures stopped this would go away also. She explained that when Russ has a grand mal seizure like he did on Friday usually afterwards his body will just sleep it off. For some reason this time he continued to seize. Not allowing his brain to sleep along with the fact that his seizure medicine was in the therapeutic range was keeping him from having grand mal seizures but the medicine alone was not a strong enough combination to keep him being seizure free. She changed Russell's secondary seizure medicine yesterday morning. He was on<
I haven't posted an update in a while, so thought I would share this. Unfortunately Russ is still struggling with seizures. Below is my sister's email.
'Hey Everyone - Just in case you have not heard Russ is back in the hospital. He had multiple seizures at home Friday morning. Up until Friday, Russ was doing well. He was really starting to progress past the point of the December seizures. So good in fact his cousin Larry B took him to a Baldwin basketball game last Tuesday night. Which he enjoyed. We even had made plans to go out to breakfast with friends this past Saturday. Russ was really feeling good and coming along.
This is what's going on so far - the Neuro docs ruled out the shunt being the cause of the seizures. They said all along that it was highly unlikely that a shunt would cause seizures. But after talking to them extensively on Friday they wanted to make sure that the shunt was working properly. In our conversation I had mentioning Russell always having a headache, and that he did have problems with his balance, incontinency and his occasional short term memory loss. All of these symptoms they felt could be caused by the shunt malfunctioning. I did mention that I felt all of these issues were slowly getting better with time and therapy. But they still felt it was best to aspirate the cerebrospinal fluid from his shunt to check it for infection and pressure. All the testing from the fluid came back negative, but they did mention that the shunt pressure seemed low. So they did a ct scan of his abdomen to make sure the shunt was draining properly. This also came back that the drain was working fine. The doctors said it was good that they checked it all out and that unfortunately all of these symptoms could also be caused as a result from his meds or just the fall itself.
In the meantime Russ continued to have seizure activity since being admitted Friday morning. They weren't as noticeable on Friday and into late Saturday morning because of the different meds they were giving him to try and calm down his brain. He just looked like a bullfrog at first. His neck would go out and in like a bull frog. But as the medicine started wearing off more and more his seizure activity became very apparent. His tongue was twirling, he sounded as if he was drunk, his lips quivering and the whole entire bottom of his face became very distorted. Upon my return late Saturday afternoon it was becoming more and more apparent. Russ was having seizure approximately every 7 minutes each lasting for about 3 - 4 minutes. Around 7 PM they decided to give Russ another dose of Ativan to try to calm his brain down. This seemed to take the harshness out of the seizures and it also allowed Russ to get some much needed rest. Up to this point Russ never mentioned anything that would have indicated that he was hallucinating. Sunday morning when I arrived I knew immediately that he was having hallucinations. He asked me why I had blood all over my face and all over the walls, to help him get rid of all the ants that where all over his bed, he told me to be careful and not fall off the cliff by the sink, etc.... Dr Zaretsky was called immediately. After examining Russ she reassured me that she felt these hallucinations were all a part of the focal seizures as she described to me on Saturday. She said once the seizures stopped this would go away also. She explained that when Russ has a grand mal seizure like he did on Friday usually afterwards his body will just sleep it off. For some reason this time he continued to seize. Not allowing his brain to sleep along with the fact that his seizure medicine was in the therapeutic range was keeping him from having grand mal seizures but the medicine alone was not a strong enough combination to keep him being seizure free. She changed Russell's secondary seizure medicine yesterday morning. He was on<
I start paying again even harder Rich. Good wishes are on the way.
