Post by lilyella on May 10, 2006 14:23:50 GMT -5
Hello, everyone. I've gotten Mandy's permission to fill you in on a very serious situation with her son, Eliott (he is 6 months old). I don't know if she'll have time to be here regularly but I know that many of you would want to know about this and send your love.
Last week Eliott began having Infantile Spasms (West Syndrome). To make a very long story short, Mandy and Clay took Eliott to the hospital and he is now on a medicine called ACTH (more about this here: www.epilepsyfoundation.org/answerplace/Medical/treatment/medications/typesmedicine/acth.cfm) - which is administered through twice daily injections that Mandy herself has to give. This is extremely difficult for her, as you can imagine. Mandy has been amazing through all of this and is holding her family together, being so strong. ACTH is known to produce some bad side affects, which I'm praying do not affect Eliott.
Mandy and Clay also found out that their little man suffered a stroke (believed to occur at birth, which was a traumatic event). I think some of you remember that Mandy had to have an emergency C-section with Eliott. Directly quoting Clay: "From the CT Scan was that Eliott had a stroke affecting the right side of his brain. His right hemisphere, in some CT "slices" (thats all I can describe them as being a layman looking at CT scans for the first time) shows up to 15% of the cross section of his brain having a significantly low density. I'm not sure if that means that that part is "missing" or is fluid or what, but it was certainly obvious that that part of the brain wasn't symmetrical with the other half."
I think you can imagine the pain and fear that Mandy and Clay have been through these past days. Eliott has not had another spasm since starting the medicine, and he will go for an EEG on May 17th to see if there has been improvement and to see if the medicine is helping.
I know that Mandy could do with a few extra prayers, some good vibes, and love.
Mandy, I hope I did justice to the many trials of Little Man. Much love from Emma, Jae and I! Give those babies all my love and a kiss!
To learn more about Infantile Spasms visit: www.epilepsyfoundation.org/answerplace/Medical/seizures/syndromes/infantilespasms.cfm
Last week Eliott began having Infantile Spasms (West Syndrome). To make a very long story short, Mandy and Clay took Eliott to the hospital and he is now on a medicine called ACTH (more about this here: www.epilepsyfoundation.org/answerplace/Medical/treatment/medications/typesmedicine/acth.cfm) - which is administered through twice daily injections that Mandy herself has to give. This is extremely difficult for her, as you can imagine. Mandy has been amazing through all of this and is holding her family together, being so strong. ACTH is known to produce some bad side affects, which I'm praying do not affect Eliott.
Mandy and Clay also found out that their little man suffered a stroke (believed to occur at birth, which was a traumatic event). I think some of you remember that Mandy had to have an emergency C-section with Eliott. Directly quoting Clay: "From the CT Scan was that Eliott had a stroke affecting the right side of his brain. His right hemisphere, in some CT "slices" (thats all I can describe them as being a layman looking at CT scans for the first time) shows up to 15% of the cross section of his brain having a significantly low density. I'm not sure if that means that that part is "missing" or is fluid or what, but it was certainly obvious that that part of the brain wasn't symmetrical with the other half."
I think you can imagine the pain and fear that Mandy and Clay have been through these past days. Eliott has not had another spasm since starting the medicine, and he will go for an EEG on May 17th to see if there has been improvement and to see if the medicine is helping.
I know that Mandy could do with a few extra prayers, some good vibes, and love.
Mandy, I hope I did justice to the many trials of Little Man. Much love from Emma, Jae and I! Give those babies all my love and a kiss!
To learn more about Infantile Spasms visit: www.epilepsyfoundation.org/answerplace/Medical/seizures/syndromes/infantilespasms.cfm
