"The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.
   Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
Deuteronomy 31:8

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Holter Monitor and a Rough Night

Luella got her Holter monitor Friday morning. It was great because we were able to get it right here in town. She didn't mind the five patches on her chest too much. I had her wear a onesie so she couldn't get under her shirt to pull them off. She didn't appear to be bothered by it much all day. We just clipped the little box on the back of her pants during the day. At bedtime I found a pair of pants with a cargo pocket that was the perfect size to hold the box!

About 8:45 I was getting Luella ready for bed. She was laying on the changing table while I hooked her up to the pulse ox monitor and she was pointing in her mouth and saying something I couldn't understand. Within a minute she gagged and started throwing up. Now lately Luella hasn't had much of an appetite - she usually just picks at her food. This is a side effect of the Stiripentol that we hope will get better as she gets more used to the medicine. Well, last night I made BBQs and Luella ate A LOT!! So, unfortunately she had a lot to vomit!! Luckily a towel caught the mess and her patches and clothes stayed clean.

She was asleep by 9:30 but woke up again at 10:00 crying and vomited a little more. She woke up a few more times and coughed a little bit but didn't have anything more to vomit.

We aren't really sure why she got sick - maybe because she ate SO MUCH at supper, it could be a side effect of the Carnitine she started Thursday night (it can cause an upset stomache and vomiting), or maybe she has the stomache flu - which would be strange since nobody else has it and she really doesn't get out much to be exposed.

This morning she woke up around 7:30 and I let her eat a few saltine crackers and when she saw the kids eating cereal she asked for some Cheerios which she ate dry. I was able to give her her daily medicine (minus the Carnitine just in case) and everything has stayed down! I was a little concerned last night when she was sick that she might have vomited her seizure meds. Jim assured me that they are absorbed fairly quickly and it had been about 3 hours since she had her meds at supper.

Luella does have a runny nose now today and has been sleeping quite a bit so maybe she does have a bug of some sort. I guess this will be the test for how well her seizure meds are working. Luella usually has a seizure whenever she is sick. So please pray that she can get over whatever she has now and not have a seizure!!

So not a great 24 hours to wear a Holter monitor... we'll have to see if the doctor thinks it would be better for Luella to try it again sometime when she is feeling more "normal". I know when she was sick last night her heart rate was over 150 for a little bit.
Luella didn't seemed to be bothered much by wearing the Holter monitor. The recording device was clipped to the back of her pants.

Ready for bed! I found a pair of pants with a cargo pocket on the side that the box fit into perfectly.

 
Just thought I'd throw in this little video of Luella playing with LEGOs yesterday. She LOVES Legos and not just the big Quatro or Duplo blocks, but the teeny tiny normal Legos! She is able to put them together all on her own.  She made the creation in this video all on her own! We are finding ourselves taking more videos of Luella lately. We are so proud of where she is developmentally. I can hardly stand the thought that at some point she may start to regress and struggle with things... I'm taking in every little thing now!

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