Back at work and on the blog

This update is even more overdue than the last one. I have already finished my maternity leave and started work on 1 September. Leo will be 6 months old tomorrow. Crazy how time flies. The last few months have been fantastic and so different to my maternity leave with Bella which was spent mostly in hospital and in Doctor’s rooms. It was wonderful to just enjoy a healthy baby and as a result I spent very little time blogging but only managed to keep up with the blogs I follow.

While I was on maternity leave I also started my own business. I opened up an exclusive children’s toy shop called Chasing Fireflies. I have employed someone to run the store for me while I am at work so my day to day involvement is now just on the buying and accounting.

We have had lots of news and development with Bella since I last updated. We had been slowly weaning Bella off her Tegretol and took her for an overnight EEG in May. Unfortunately it showed some epileptic form activity in her right temporal lobe. All her EEG’s for the last few years have been normal so this was quite upsetting. Her Neurologist decided to increase her Keppra and to do another EEG in June. The EEG in June was much better thank goodness. It still showed some “abnormal” activity but not epileptic activity in the right temporal lobe. Her Neurologist increased the Keppra a bit more and we did another EEG in August. In the meantime her Neurologist thought she may have a focus on her brain. The EEG in August was done by another Neurologist (for a second opinion) and again showed “abnormal” activity but this time in the central temporal lobe which he said meant she does not have a focus but rather a generalised epilepsy. He said the “abnormal” activity does not need to be treated and we should stay on the current dosage of Keppra and Tegretol. He felt that she may have a Channel Disorder but they only way to do this would be via genetic micro array analyses. These are not available in South Africa so we would need to find an overseas research laboratory who would be willing to do it for us. Is it worth it? I don’t know!

In the meantime we have been carrying on with the Yasko protocol. We went on holiday to Mauritius in August so I decided to give her a break from most of her supplements and just kept a few of the key ones on board. I don’t know if it was coincidence but she seemed much better with no signs of detox and now seems to be doing better in terms of understanding and getting glowing reports from her therapists. She is more focussed and her understanding of her environment seems much better. I am now in a dilemma as to whether push the Yasko protocol again, because in theory the more detox the better her future development, or to give her a break and let her consolidate with this current developmental spurt. Any ideas or thought from anyone especially anyone who knows the Yasko protocol?

Leo and Max are both doing very well. Max is besotted with his little brother and takes every opportunity to cuddle him and love him. It is very special to see. I have just loved seeing Leo develop and grow, although it has sometime saddened me to see how easy some things are for him compared to Bella. I try not to compare but it is difficult not to.

I tried to post a picture of Leo here but am having problems with blogger so will try again next time.