Thursday, February 11, 2010
Halloween pizza
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Starting with Today and going backwards
Today, Karen and I took Lisa to Peoria to see her neurologist. We have been meeting them (the Dr and a team of 4 or 5 specialists) for about 6 months or so regarding brain surgery. Lisa has been to different neuro's all of her life. More on that later. Oh, and please forgive all my grammar errors:) I loved English in school, just never wanted to teach it. Getting back on track though, we met with the Dr who is very excited to be a part of the decision to have brain surgery. Lisa has had seizures, both grand mal and petit mal all of her life, since she was 9 months old.
A grand mal is when she drops to the ground and her whole body trembles uncontrollably. Usually, she does not know she is going to have one, or even had one. She is extremely tired afterwards and she sleeps.
Last fall, the team did an MRI on her brain to study it. They looked at both her R and L lobes of the brain and saw something on the L side that was not normal. They told us that they think they know where her seizures are stemming from. They were very excited as we were of this new discovery!!!! Lisa is 45 years old and they think they found where her brain was injured when she was 9 months old! WOW! Exciting!
Well, Karen is her caretaker, so to speak, and she has been taking Lisa to ALL of her Peoria appts. Thank you Karen. Karen has taken on the mom role since mom died as have I and my other sister Amy, but mainly Karen. Last December Karen took her to have a neuropsychological exam that lasted 5-7 hours. The psych asked her thousands of questions, well maybe hundreds, to determine what she knows and to compare to the following tests that will occur. They found out that she is really lacking in the short term memory skills department. She used to be able to remember everything, I mean, EVERYTHING! She doesn't now. That is due to her seizure activity. Not good.
About a month ago, Lisa had what is called a WADA Test.
A grand mal is when she drops to the ground and her whole body trembles uncontrollably. Usually, she does not know she is going to have one, or even had one. She is extremely tired afterwards and she sleeps.
Last fall, the team did an MRI on her brain to study it. They looked at both her R and L lobes of the brain and saw something on the L side that was not normal. They told us that they think they know where her seizures are stemming from. They were very excited as we were of this new discovery!!!! Lisa is 45 years old and they think they found where her brain was injured when she was 9 months old! WOW! Exciting!
Well, Karen is her caretaker, so to speak, and she has been taking Lisa to ALL of her Peoria appts. Thank you Karen. Karen has taken on the mom role since mom died as have I and my other sister Amy, but mainly Karen. Last December Karen took her to have a neuropsychological exam that lasted 5-7 hours. The psych asked her thousands of questions, well maybe hundreds, to determine what she knows and to compare to the following tests that will occur. They found out that she is really lacking in the short term memory skills department. She used to be able to remember everything, I mean, EVERYTHING! She doesn't now. That is due to her seizure activity. Not good.
About a month ago, Lisa had what is called a WADA Test.
The Wada Test
To make it easier for me (I am all about that)... I am including the email I wrote to Aunts, Uncles, and cousins who have been apart of Lisa's life to explain the WADA test, and to prevent me from rewriting everything I already wrote. Call me lazy or smart, I am both I think.
Hi there! I hope all of you are doing well and staying warm! We are getting a break from the below 0 temps today and the rest of the week which is a welcome sight!
Just wanted to update and give you a heads up about Lisa.
Last summer, the neuro drs studied Lisa's brain and determined where they think her seizures are stemming from. They were very excited to tell us this. Since then, Karen has been making trips back and forth to Peoria for several tests to see if she is a canidate for brain surgery.
Last week, Lisa had a WADA test, which they had to go through the groin to reach her brain. They put one side of her brain to sleep and tested the awake side. They determined that she has memory and language skills on her right lobe, which most people have it on the left...which she probably did when she was born, but after she got sick at 9 months old, her R brain took over what the left was supposed to do.
They put her other side to sleep too and I don't remember which side it was, but when they put it to sleep, the frontal part on the other side went to sleep too. They said this is not abnormal, but it is definately not common. The good news is that her seizures stem from the left side. They were worried that if something were to happen should she have surgery ie. stroke...that it would lose memory and language. This makes her a good canidate for the surgery.
They are 85% sure that she has language on her R brain, behavioral issues (stubborn) made it a challenge. They said she did better than they expected during the test.
From a psych test she had recently, she has very poor short term memory skills. (Karen said she got a tear in her eye when Lisa was talking about how much she missed Mom.) Dr Kurth told us that if Lisa was her sister, she would do the surgery. She had tears in her eyes as she told us this. She told us that although the surgery is risky, with a chance of Lisa losing more memory, the odds are even worse each time she has another seizure. It is because of her seizures that her memory is getting worse.
Lisa's seizures have become more violent and frequent within these past few years. We are lucky that she had had only a few incidents when she was badly hurt. One time, she hit the floor in her apt and did not catch herself and had two black eyes and a bloody lip and nose. No one knew. She was not able to help herself. We are thankful that she hit the floor and not the edge of a table or had something sharp in her hands. She has seizures and doesn't remember having them most of the time.
Just wanted to update you with what is happening with Lisa. Mom would have been thrilled with this news! It is all she ever wanted for Lisa.
We will keep you informed as to when and if we will proceed with the surgery. Lisa is her own guardian and we need to explain everything to her. Ultimately, it is her decision. She has said that she is leaving it up to her sisters to decide for her:)
We hope to do the right thing.
take care!
Love
Karla
Hi there! I hope all of you are doing well and staying warm! We are getting a break from the below 0 temps today and the rest of the week which is a welcome sight!
Just wanted to update and give you a heads up about Lisa.
Last summer, the neuro drs studied Lisa's brain and determined where they think her seizures are stemming from. They were very excited to tell us this. Since then, Karen has been making trips back and forth to Peoria for several tests to see if she is a canidate for brain surgery.
Last week, Lisa had a WADA test, which they had to go through the groin to reach her brain. They put one side of her brain to sleep and tested the awake side. They determined that she has memory and language skills on her right lobe, which most people have it on the left...which she probably did when she was born, but after she got sick at 9 months old, her R brain took over what the left was supposed to do.
They put her other side to sleep too and I don't remember which side it was, but when they put it to sleep, the frontal part on the other side went to sleep too. They said this is not abnormal, but it is definately not common. The good news is that her seizures stem from the left side. They were worried that if something were to happen should she have surgery ie. stroke...that it would lose memory and language. This makes her a good canidate for the surgery.
They are 85% sure that she has language on her R brain, behavioral issues (stubborn) made it a challenge. They said she did better than they expected during the test.
From a psych test she had recently, she has very poor short term memory skills. (Karen said she got a tear in her eye when Lisa was talking about how much she missed Mom.) Dr Kurth told us that if Lisa was her sister, she would do the surgery. She had tears in her eyes as she told us this. She told us that although the surgery is risky, with a chance of Lisa losing more memory, the odds are even worse each time she has another seizure. It is because of her seizures that her memory is getting worse.
Lisa's seizures have become more violent and frequent within these past few years. We are lucky that she had had only a few incidents when she was badly hurt. One time, she hit the floor in her apt and did not catch herself and had two black eyes and a bloody lip and nose. No one knew. She was not able to help herself. We are thankful that she hit the floor and not the edge of a table or had something sharp in her hands. She has seizures and doesn't remember having them most of the time.
Just wanted to update you with what is happening with Lisa. Mom would have been thrilled with this news! It is all she ever wanted for Lisa.
We will keep you informed as to when and if we will proceed with the surgery. Lisa is her own guardian and we need to explain everything to her. Ultimately, it is her decision. She has said that she is leaving it up to her sisters to decide for her:)
We hope to do the right thing.
take care!
Love
Karla
Here we go again
It is so not me to blog...but I was encouraged, shamed? no, encouraged by my lovely sister Amy, to blog about my other sister Lisa and her story.
I am going to do my best this time to do this on a consistent basis...this will be an endeavor that I know that I will love because I am so proud of Lisa and her many, many accomplishments. She is someone whom I dearly love and she has taught me so much over my lifetime. I can not remember a time in my life without her, I can not imagine my life without her... She is my sister...this is her story from my point of view.
I am going to do my best this time to do this on a consistent basis...this will be an endeavor that I know that I will love because I am so proud of Lisa and her many, many accomplishments. She is someone whom I dearly love and she has taught me so much over my lifetime. I can not remember a time in my life without her, I can not imagine my life without her... She is my sister...this is her story from my point of view.
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