12/10/07 Update

Today was a great day at therapy. Amanda is finally back to normal following an eventful end of last week. Toward the latter half of last week, Amanda started dropping (i.e. collapsing) frequently and making odd jaw movements (similar to lip smacking or jaw popping). She got to the point that she was doing this very frequently (nearly 100 times per day). We talked to her neurologist and we were all concerned that she was having seizures. Thankfully, an EEG set up by the wonderful ACQUIREc staff at UAB (thanks Stephanie!!!!!!) indicated that the episodes were not seizures. Amanda had been on a new medicine for about a month and we were hoping to transition to that medicine from Topamax. Unfortunately, it appears that these "behavioral tic/episodes" were caused by that medicine so we have totally discontinued it. Her odd behaviors have decreased steadily over the past few days. The other big benefit of discontinuing her medicines is that her speech has picked back up again. Today, we saw only one or two odd episodes and we heard a lot more talking. She is also much happier and more attentive as well! Praise God!!!!

We had a wonderful weekend, especially knowing the good results of the EEG, because Katie and Papa flew to Atlanta from Wilmington and we met them there. We stayed with my brother Dana and his family in Atlanta and had lots of fun. The only negative was that Dan stayed in Wilmington because he was too busy with finals to break free. Other than that, it was a wonderful weekend. Katie had a blast and has decided that she wants to start skateboarding at home (she borrowed Will's skateboard all weekend). Tim and Will (Dana's kids) ride Waveboards now (those things with two wheels that seem impossible to me to ride) and are quite good, so Will didn't mind sharing the skateboard. Heather (Dana's wife) was a great hostess and made everyone feel comfortable with her good cooking and hospitality. It was tough to say goodbye on Sunday but it was great to see everyone.

Amanda's therapy today was probably her best yet. Last night, she learned how to get to a sitting position with her cast on by throwing her right hand and shoulder forward. Once she figured it out, she wanted to keep practicing it. Today, she showed off her new skill for Dory and Mary Rebekah (her therapists) as well. See the video below to see her practicing her skill. Amanda continues to be in good spirits and find ways to use her cast as a toy. She has found it to be very effective at smashing things like cereal and making lots of noise. It is also a very effect tool for waking up people who may be sleeping or napping when they should be playing (especially around 4:30 am). When she combines wacking you in the head with a cast and squealing at the top of her lungs at the same time, I would venture to bet there is not a more effective alarm clock on the market. Seriously though, I am so proud of how hard she works. She is definitely not a quitter. She has made a lot of positive progress with the right arm and uses it with increasing frequency. We are looking forward to more progress in the next two weeks.

Here is the video of Amanda showing off her "get to a sit" skills with a cast on. She could do this before we came without a cast but the cast made it harder to do so she had to figure out a new way to do this. She is having lots of fun practicing.....