Easter Smiles

Love Oliver's expression here...

My boys in matching seersucker- how cute is that?

We've had a joyful Easter Sunday. Oliver had a great day at church and he was even able to make it through the potluck afterwards. It seems that even though he is having a few seizures each day he is doing well. I think the side effects of the Topamax are much worse than the side effects of the seizures. Oliver has even gotten back into his fine motor activities and general mischief. Every time the "real" Oliver goes on hiatus we eagerly await his return. For the past few days he's been back. That makes our hearts so happy and grateful!

We are getting ready for our appt at Duke this week. Oliver will have a MRI and EEG first thing Tuesday morning. We won't get the results of all this until late Wednesday when we meet with Dr. Mikati. Please pray for clear direction for Oliver's treatment based upon these results. Please join us in praying that Oliver's brain waves will be normal this time. This would be a miracle! If they have returned to normal (in between seizures) it would be a very good sign for his long-term cognitive development.

As we consider different treatments for Oliver one particular area of interest for us is the Vagus Nerve Stimulator (VNS). We plan to talk more specifically about this with Dr. Mikati.

What is VNS you ask?

The VNS is a small device, similar to a pacemaker, that delivers a burst of electrical energy to the vagal nerve to reduce seizures.

The vagus nerve serves as one of the many highways of information carrying messages from the body's organs to the brain, and has connections to areas in the brain instrumental in producing seizures. By stimulating the vagus nerve, the brain's potential to generate seizure activity can be significantly reduced.