Puffy

Something new to figure out with Abbie. As I had her up on her knees last night I noticed that her feet were severely swollen...red and puffy, turning white when I touched them, and her toes looked like little sausages. After elevating her feet for a while the swelling went down quite a bit and I put her to bed for the night.

She awoke this morning with much higher tone than usual, and seemed to have a tummy ache. The first feeding of the day only made her grumpier. I was pretty exhausted from some late nights when Nurse Cori arrived at noon. So, I gave Cori the scoop on what had been happening and then went to take a nap. Abbie did great with her noontime feeding, worked through her exercises cheerfully for Cori, and was happy until around 2 when the complaining started again. Around 3 I lifted the blanket off her feet and saw little sausage toes again. Her feet had been perfectly normal 30 minutes before when Cori put the pulse-ox on her toe.

One potential side-effect of her new seizure medication, Trileptal, is a lowering of salt in the blood. After seeing these strange things with Abbie's feet, as well as noting that her hands were cold and clammy when her feet were swollen, I called her neurologist, Dr. O.

Dr. O. has ordered a battery of blood tests to see what is going on, so I will be taking Abbie in later tonight to have that done (lots of good parking, not a long wait at night). At first we were just going to check her electrolyte levels, with sodium being the main target, of course. But, Dr. O. called back and said that since we have to stick Abbie anyway we might as well do more comprehensive testing which will cover things like kidney function. I will be grateful to have as much information as I can get.

I did relate to Dr. O. that we have seen some good things since starting Trileptal and told her specifically about Abbie moving her legs to command in the bathtub, both in and out and up and down. She was very pleased and surprised to hear this, and the tone in her voice encouraged me greatly.

So, please just pray that we can get to the bottom of this. Pray that we'll have the wisdom to do what is very best for Abbie. She gets to go to her first birthday party tomorrow, and is thrilled about it. All the girls will be wearing princess crowns, so Abbie has hers out and ready to go. Even in the midst of her complaining this morning I could prompt a smile and win some temporary peace by reminding her about the party. Please just pray that she'll be comfortable enough to enjoy it and interact with the other princesses.

May God bless you with a great weekend!