Friends and family-
As most of you know, Alannah was diagnosed with epilpesy in 2008. Things went well with her medication, Trileptal, until April of this year, when she started developing hyponatremia. This is a condition in which her sodium levels go too low, and this is a serious condition. The doctors first attempted to treat it by changing her anti-seizure medication; however, over the course of the summer, they tried 3 different anti seizure meds and none of them worked. By August, Alannah was having 100 seizures per day. At this point a repeat MRI was performed, and we found out that Alannah has an area of cortical dysplasia in her brain's right frontal lobe. Cortical dysplasia is an area of brain tissue that did not form right in utero. Alannah was put back on Trileptal, becasue it was the only drug which could control her seizure activity. Then, the hyponatremia came back. We are currently treating the hyponatremia with sodium supplements and another drug which is suppose to help her kidneys retain sodium, but it very difficult to control sodium levels and her levels continue to go up and down. This is not good long term, for if the sodium levels drop too low, it can cause brain swelling and subsequent brain damage. Alannah's neurologist is convinced that surgery is her best option, and we have decided to take this option. It's Alannah's only chance for a cure. Her surgery is scheduled for early December.
No comments:
Post a Comment