Elle's Follow up from the Neurologist & Ophthalmologist

Part of Elle's care is that she is seen by her Neurologist every 3 months. You'd think they would play a pretty big part in her care since she has a brain disorder, but to be honest...all they due is monitor her medication that is prescribed to treat her seizures. I will say that I like Dr. Hammond, however, he is very traditional and claims to be unaware of any leading-edge treatments for either preventing or controlling seizures. I do think he means well, I just wish the first line of defense, for any disease or disorder wasn't medication. Anyway...we discussed all the things that Elle CAN do and he felt that based on those things, there was a good chance that Elle could learn to sit unassisted. It would take time, but he felt we would get there. He also suggested increasing her current dose of Keppra by another .5ml but I declined. "Let's see where we go", I told him. If what we are currently taking has no side effects and Elle had a seizure once a month, then right now...we choose to accept that. The alternative is adding another anti-convulusant drug and weaning her off the Keppra. I really don't want to start "playing" with meds. Nothing new to learn from this appointment.

On to the Ophthalmologist, Dr. Hunter. Of all Elle's Dr.s, we like him the best. He is straight forward, kind, and restored successfully restored Elle's sight. During this check up he dilated her eyes & confirmed that the inner ocular lens implants are perfectly aligned and he doesn't feel that Elle will need glasses until she is of school age. Elle will most likely need to have Eye-Muscle surgery when she is 2 to straighten her eye. It is turned 20 degrees and anything over 12 requires surgery to be realigned. Over all, a great check up!

Elle is currently on a waiting list with Dr. Loveless for her hip surgery. By the 2nd week of August we should have a surgery date. Most likely for October. We are hoping that this will give Elle even more flexibility and enable her to position herself in such a way that she can have a more stable base when sitting. We are working on sitting about 5 times a day. We seat Elle in the Boppy and get her hands on the floor next to her, palms down on the floor. Once she is stable, we give her a medium sized ball. Elle is able to position her both hands on her own onto the ball. She rolls in towards her feet and back for a bit before falling over. She is tolerating it much more and we are hoping that this will help build a connection for her. She is physically strong enough to hold a sitting position, it's just such a highly coordinated skill that her brain hasn't yet caught on. It will, we know it will. Kuddos to Andy for figuring out the trick with the ball. Daddy comes up with some pretty good ideas :)