Upswing

All in all, things are definitely on the upswing around here. Even though Em and Maya are still in Wyoming, things are getting better. Emily had an appointment with her neurologist last Tuesday... they deemed her healthy and decided to start weaning her off the meds. I will be flying there a week from Friday for spring break, and they are coming home with me the next week. I sent my resume to quite a few places in Utah, a place in Idaho and another in Denver. I heard back from one practice in Salt Lake (Hanger prosthetics and orthotics) and I have an interview set up for the 10th... Im really excited, and I am hoping to hear back from other facilitiles this week. I really miss Em and Maya, s I can't wait to see them. Here are a few videos Em sent me of our little girl.


This is Maya's first Balloon ever




She loves suckers!



Just a video of her eating.

Gonna keep on keepin' on

So... I haven't blogged for a few weeks (mostly due to my lack of blog-worthy material), but here we go again. I am still holding down the fort (or apartment) while Em and Maya are in Wyoming. Em has been getting steadily better, and has now gone a month without a seizure. Though the recovery seems near complete, she is still easily fatigued and doesn't know if she is yet able to be alone with the little-girly all day while I'm at school/clinic. People keep asking when they are coming home; the answer is...well...I don't have an answer. We origionally planned that they would come home after the neurology appointment on Feb. 17th; but if she does that, less than 2 weeks later, I will be gone for 10 days interviewing for a residency position. We are thinking that she may just stay there until after I interview, and we can just all come home together. We will see.
So after a lot of complaining, I finally got a video of Maya taking a few steps. This is from a few days ago...I think Em said 4 steps in a row is her personal best.


This one is Maya doing a little dance while playing with her toy dog.

Lately, we have been able to communicate despite the distance thanks to the magic of technology.

1200 miles have never sucked so bad...

School has started for me again, and with clinic hours this semester I am gonna be really busy. Emily and Maya are still in Wyoming until Em is recovered enough to come home. Yesterday the headaches had gotten bad, and she was vomiting again, so her mom took her back to the ER. They did yet another lumbar puncture (spinal tap) to check the pressure in her head/spine. Normal pressure is apparently 15 or so mm/hg. Last week the pressure was up to 47, and yesterday it was 52! After the LP her headaches get a lot better. This time her white cell count is finally normal, so her body is actually winning the battle. She was released with more medication (this one to bring down the pressure). She went home and slept most of the day and night (ativan is a good drug). She is feeling a little better today, but exhausted as usual. Maya has been getting better and better at standing in one place, and today actually strung 2 steps together. Unfortunately, nobody had a camera turned on, so I will have to wait to see it. Her favorite words are: mama, dada, kitty, wow, and almost says uh-oh. She is learning patt-a-cake too. Even though this sucks for me, our parents are really enjoying the bonus time with Maya. 1200 miles is way too far away!
-Branch

Stagefright...

I get the feeling that Emily has stagefright, and is shy about having a seizure here. She has been off her Kepra for 2 days now, and has not had an "event". The Doctors think she looks a lot better now, and I agree. She is about to go for one last MRI, and if nothing comes back abnormal (besides the usual abnormal mind she has always had) they will release her. They are going to put her back on Keppra again to prevent future seizures... I can't help but think she is going to have one just after they cut her loose. They took off the EEG leads, and she has a lot of work to do getting all the glue out of her hair. She actually allowed me to take this picture full-well knowing it was going to end up here on my blog. Em is in good spirits, and though it will be a few weeks or more until recovery, she will be fine. Thank you all for caring, calling, texting, praying for, or just thinking of us.... It will (without a doubt) be a Christmas vacation to remember forever.
-Branch