Magnetic resonance imaging | Blogging For Lucy

Lamotrigine

Other wise known as LaMICtal, this is an anticonvulsant drug which is also a mood stabilizer. Lucy is slowly being weened from Keppra to LaMICtal over a 9 week time period. She’ll receive two doses of Keppra as usual, with a dose of LaMICtal at night, slowly adding in LaMICtal while thinning out the Keppra. The eventual goal is to have her on 25mg of LaMICtal, twice a day. She still has the Diastat as needed.

Getting Lucy ready for her appointment today was going well until I had to brush her hair. She hates her head being touched and will hardly let anyone come near her with a hair brush. Her Daddy had to hold her long enough for me to brush it out, which I hate doing, but that’s one of the things she unfortunately has to get use to.

Her MRI was normal, which was a huge relief! Her epilepsy isn’t interfering with her gross motor skills or learning abilities. Now we just have to find the culprit behind her right-sided weakness. Orthopedic appointments are in the works to see it the problem is skeletal.

Happy Birthday/Happy Holidays

I was waiting for Lucy’s MRI results before posting another entry, but since Lucy turned 3 and also celebrated the holidays, I decided to continue with this post.

Lucy’s MRI was less complicated than I imagined it would be. She attends CMC/Levine’s children’s hospital for her specialist. Anyway, the hospital is HUGE with wide, colorful halls and different sections to fit each individual need of a particular child, with each section and each floor having escorts. Once admitted and all the paperwork was completely, Lucy was sedated using anesthesia gas. This took only a matter of seconds, so once the anesthesia took effect, I was escorted by the waiting room with a buzzer that actually felt more like a taser when activated. After the MRI, Lucy was taken to the recovery floor. It took her less than an hour to wake up, but the effects of the gas remained with her for the entire day. The entire process, from signing in to signing out, took about 3 hours.