Mikie is doing pretty well, once again. By the time we got back at 9 AM he had slowed down to the 120’s and before I left for a meeting at church at 12:30 he had calmed down completely, with heart rates in the 80’s. These episodes seem to keep occurring, sometimes very bad, sometime not. He had a small episode this evening before we left at 10 PM but we were able to calm him down by repositioning him slightly and by the nurse giving him some Ativan (aka lorazepam).
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Lorazepam (lor A ze pam) is in a class of drugs called benzodiazepines. Lorazepam affects chemicals in the brain that may become unbalanced and cause anxiety, insomnia, and seizures. |
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Lorazepam is used to relieve anxiety, nervousness, and tension associated with anxiety disorders. It is also used to treat certain types of seizure disorders and to relieve insomnia (induce sleep). |
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Lorazepam may also be used for purposes other than those listed in this medication guide.
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I really don’t know if anything we did really had anything to do with his improved condition. And I wonder about that when we try to hard to calm him down during a 4 hour episode like early this morning. I am starting to believe that just like his episodes with vomiting (that suddenly ceased), these episodes may likely do the same thing, if they don’t kill him first.
I found something out about the tests they plan to run Monday and Tuesday. They are going to ‘tag’ some of Mikie’s white blood cells and put them back into his body. These tagged cells can be seen under scans and they will be able to see where they go. If the body has an infection or trauma somewhere hopefully the cells will attempt to do their job by going to the source of the problem.
Another thing they have scheduled for tomorrow is an EEG. One of the ID docs thinks what we are seeing may actually be seizure activity. I even suggested that it was possible early on because of the way the episodes came on and then ended, but now I am convinced they are not. I have seen Mikie have a real seizure in the midst of one of the anxiety episodes and they are very different. If one watches Mikie during the anxiety episode you will see one arm clearly draw into the midsection and the fists clench, a very similar reaction anyone would have to abdominal pain. Also, the episodes seem to happen when Mikie is having a BM and the results of those BM’s have been very high in acid (scorching his behind). Don’t tummy aches and diarrhea usually go together? I may have mentioned this before, but the docs reassure me that such things as stones and swollen organs would have been revealed in the CT scans. (But then, how can anyone say that any of Mikie’s organs are normal? He is not arranged inside like the average human.) I won’t be there for the EEG, Lorraine will probably see it. It won’t be pretty. I can imagine that there will be a lot of flat lines. I think it would be hard to record brain activity when large sections of brain are missing. We’ll see. I remember the first CT scan of Mikie’s head as an adult. There was lots of black area. I remember asking Dr. Mauldin what that was and he told me it was were the brain had basically dissolved away. In other words, it was nothing, just fluid. It is incredible that Mikie functions as well as he does. It is a remarkable testimony to God’s creation. Don’t get me wrong, and any of you that know Mikie can vouch for this, Mikie is far from being brain dead, he is full of life, though I am speaking of his condition as it was a few weeks ago. I have to admit I haven’t seen a lot of life in Mikie for over a week now. Dr. Mauldin assures us that his scans have not changed much from 2 years ago to now.
I’m off to bed, it has been a long day. My desktop computer is down so I can not send out the usual email that I usually do, since I don’t have access to my main address book. I hope interested people check the blog. I appreciate any and all comments and welcome and encourage you to leave them on the blog. I appreciate the private emails as well. Your love and prayers are coveted by Lorraine and me and we thank God for all of you.
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