Meds...The big debate

So we got all of JT's labs etc back and he has a duplication of the end of one axon on one gene. Its not a gene that we know much about but it is related to neuron development, apoptosis, etc. No syndromes or symptoms have been linked to this duplication yet either (that's a good thing). It could be hereditary or could be a random duplication. The good thing is that if it is hereditary, we know his birth parents are both normal without issues so that would lead us to believe that if they had the duplication that it's not expressing itself with any issues and hopefully means he wont either. Its not worth testing them to see if they have it because it won't really give us any helpful information since even if they do have it they could express it differently. Since they don't know much about the duplication, it may or may not be the cause of his seizures. He also has the meningitis history which is also a likely cause and really we will never know which it is if it even is from either of them. Many childhood seizures have no known cause.

So after having a LOT of resident issues (we hadn't seen the consultant/staff physician at all just the resident), we finally saw a consultant (who I also was not impressed with and who blamed me for not hearing the resident except that the resident obviously told her a different story than what really happened). But that aside, we have a plan and I feel much better getting actual answers to my questions.

So our new plan... Start meds (Keppra) and stay on them for 2-3 months. If the seizures decrease in frequency or go away then he will stay on the Keppra for 2 years and if still seizure free then we will attempt to wean off and hope he grows out of them. If during the 2-3 month trial they don't decrease or go away, then we will up the dose once and if no results then we will need to be admitted for 24 hour EEG monitoring for a period of time to see if we can catch one on EEG to determine if they are forsure epileptic in nature or if there is another cause. Staring spells are much harder to diagnose than tonic clonic seizures. We know he is non-responsive during them and with the one that he slouched to the right it makes us pretty sure that they are.

So I'll be filling our prescription on Monday and we'll start the med and see how it goes.

Please say some extra prayers for ZERO side effects and good seizure control!