Stuck in status - Part 2

Doing the EEG

Written Friday, November 10 (but posted on November 11)

Well, 20 hours later we are ensconced in the ER and, true to form, the medical team is swamped. In the last eight hours not much has been done for C.

Here's the sum total of intervention thus far:

1. An EEG (see the photo). No surprises. The usual haywire scribbles.
2. Two rounds of Valium IV (intravenous). Result: Longer intervals between seizures and an "out" C.
3. Keppra IV - even though she received her morning dose before we got here. No clue as to reason. Didn't bother asking.
4. First dose of Vimpat. The neurologist intended to start her on that but she later learned that the hospital's wards had none and that the hospital pharmacy was closed. She notified us she'd give something else instead of Vimpat when I remembered having purchased some a year ago. The neurologist had first given us a prescription for it - to replace Valproic Acid - but then nixed it at the last minute. She had discovered it poses a slight risk of liver damage. Not something we needed again. But I had already bought the stuff so I stashed it away in my old-drug closet.

So I brought it from home and C. has had her first dose of Vimpat. Sometimes it pays to be a hoarder.

She's had only one meal today. The rest of the day, due to her seizures or her Valium-induced sleep, eating wasn't feasible.