Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Wishing you.....

A very safe and Happy New Year!


We are all doing great, the kids had a fantastic Christmas and I'm happy to say they are finally both over their colds. Thats right no school means no runny noses, coughs....zippo to the germos....LOL! I've not downloaded my pics yet from Christmas so I'll get those up soon. No big plans for New Years, staying in watch the fireworks out the backdoor by myself. The kids are usually fast asleep along with the hubby :)
So hoping your day is more exciting than ours. Oh and my goal is to not wash clothes on New Years day seems its true what they say. Whatever you do that day is what you will do all year long, and washing clothes has become a daily thing for me...ugghhh not a favorite. Funny story is Caleb had brought home his reading homework a few weeks back and the book was called My favorite Hobby. It was about a girl who didnt know what her hobby was. At the end she finally figures it out. So I ask Caleb what his favorite hobby is and he says Art. Then I ask what he thinks mine is and he actually said Washing Clothes, he then said well you must like it because you do it all the time....LOL! Oh silly boy, thats what I love about them the most! So heres to 2009 a new year full of many more silly days, new words for my Cami, Loads of fun camping and lots of love!

Happy New Year!!!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Merry Christmas


Well its finally here and I made it! The gifts are bought and wrapped and are lying under the tree and I can finally relax and enjoy Christmas Eve and Day! I've baked all day today and cleaned my house so its nothing but rest, love, and relaxation with the family! The kids are so ready, Caleb has been rolling down the days on his Christmas place mat in the kitchen and he was overwhelmed with excitment when he got to move it down to just 1 more day! Cami is just curious to what all these boxes are under the tree but she has been so good and not gotten into them she just browses by and looks with a sparkle in her eye. Cant wait to see their excitment it makes all the Christmas shopping and bad traffic and rude people worth it all! Although Jen I think I would have been outraged at someone smashing in my mirror in a Wal-mart parking lot and not leave a note. You know I've had a car run into my car while trying to park and they kindly left me with white streak marks about a foot long along the left side of my car while I was in the Dr.s office they too just left me with the gift of it and them no where in site....ugghhhhh!!!! Come on people these vehicles arent cheap and its the Holidays, slow down will ya!


Anyhow this season has really flown by and here we are about to approach a new year! Can you believe that?? I mean we are about to celebrate Camerans 4th Birthday in less than 2 months and also approaching is her 2 year seizure free mark! Man I tell ya I just dont know where the time is going to! Oh forgot to blog about her latest. In school they where practicing for their Christmas Program(which sadly got cancelled because of our snow day) but they worked really hard with them on some songs. So they had sent home a letter with the songs for us to work with them on. Well one of them was Jingle Bells...so I started to sing it and my girl shocked me and started to hum the EXACT tune.......WOW, I was impressed. So ask my girl if she can sing Jingle Bells....Why yes she can she might not be able to sing the words but my girl can hum it and thats just as good as anything! She KNEW the tune!
She has also been putting lots of mubo jumbo words together, you never know what you are gonna get but its sure cute to listen to. She really tries to carry on a conversation with you. She has got the I wants down, I want and points to what it is that she is wanting. Her fav word is still ByeBye and Daddy! A new one and its sweet, I asked her the other day if she was hungry and she said UnGee for hungry she siad it over and over. I just love it, huge progress she is making. And it makes Caleb so happy, he'll say momma momma did you hear Cameran she is really talking! I told her to say this word and she said it, I taught her something huh. I LOVE IT!!!! Such excitement here in our home this Christmas!

We wish everyone a warm Christmas, sad we wont be seeing a white one this year but theres always one next year, right?

Merry Christmas!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

All I want for Christmas....

Is my 2 front teeth!

Hooray he finally lost his other front tooth last Wednesday the 10th. And I have to say I have never been happier to see that thing go. He had whinned the last time that night after supper about having to chew on just one side of his mouth in fear of that thing falling out.
So after he was done I told him it was coming out that night no matter what. , I wiggled it, he wiggled it and then his daddy wiggled it. He didnt wont the paper towel near his mouth because he knew we were gonna try to pull on it. Finally I just held him down and he started screaming and his daddy put his hand in his mouth and Caleb went Ahhhhhhhhh...then said Ohhhhhhh all in the same sound because it was that quick that thing was out. I looked at Jason and he said its out I said what? He said all i did was barely squeeze his gum and that thing just popped right out. Caleb was jumping for joy, He said well that was easy, yeah right....LOL! Now he is set on his daddy pulling the rest out because it didnt even hurt.


Talk about him having a lisp, it was hilarious....

Well because that tooth didnt come out till bedtime I told him he didnt give the toothfairy enough time to bring him something. So she came Thursday night, well I tell ya when that boy woke up all I heard was the sound of his pit pat feet running back and forth on the floor full of excitment. I could tell he was wanting so badly to come in there to show me what he got but it was a snow day for the kids so he didnt want to wake me so he kept coming down the hall and standing at the end of the bed checking to see if I was awake yet. It was so funny. But man did the boy get some good stuff for that pain in the butt tooth...come on folks I had to play it up to make it worth the others to come out easier.



Anyhow he got an art book, glitter art glue, an electric pencil sharpner and 2 mini staplers. He said she must of known that I want to be an artist when I grow up! Dont ya just love it????

So speaking of that snow day, man was it pretty. 3 inches is what we got that night along with a big slushy, icy mess so there was no school that day. You know us southern folks go pure crazy on a small snow like that its not like we get it that often...LOL! I know Jen you are probably thinking no school because of 3 inches, funny huh! But people panic here.


In the below picture in his hair is 2 snow flakes, the front one was huge. We couldnt get over how big the flakes where.

Needless to say it was beautiful watching it fall that night, the flakes where so HUGE, Caleb said wow momma its a blizzard. So I said go get your shoes and coat on so I could take them out, so off they ran fast and grabbed their stuff I got them dressed and went to the back door and as soon as I opened that door I said look Cami its snow and no sooner did I get those words out she screamed in fear of it and turned the opposite direction and ran crying. She hated it, wanted nothing to do with it, I couldnt pull her in that direction, she didnt even wont to look out the window at it :(
The only picture I got of her and this was after she stripped in fear she wanted those clothes off in a hurry so I couldnt take her out. She was terrified!





Not sure why it scared her. But Caleb loved it and I got some cute pictures of him in it. Guess it'll just take a few more snows to get her use to it and right now its looking like its gonna be a good year for it. So maybe just maybe we will have a white Christmas!

Here he is measuring the snow! This is part of his weather machine he got for his birthday!






On to other news, Camerans EEG results finally came in actually it was last week but it was a busy week last week. But her test came back normal, no seizures seen. So excited about that. Unfortunately since she has been so sick with this never ending cold she couldnt have her MRI today. So it had to be rescheduled for January. She ended up having to go to the Dr. twice last week for this horrible cough and runny nose but never a temp. They ended up having to switch her antibiotic because the amoxicillin wouldnt work. This new med doesnt seem to be helping much either, her cough isnt occuring as much but it still sounds very wet and nasty. But they say her chest still sounds clear. So I guess its just all sinus stuff. But since she is coughing it would cause her to move during the MRI which you cant do and also since they have to put them to sleep a cold makes there stats read lower and they dont like that so it was a no go. So hopefully since school is fixing to be out she can get well. Seems its going around up there in her class. So 3 weeks out for school should do the trick, she goes on the 12th for her MRI thats the day they start back to school so the timing worked out pretty good. No chance for her to go back to school and pick up another germ before the test....Fingers Crossed!



We've not seen anymore "absent seizures" so hopefully it was nothing. They do however want to check her blood this Friday morning before her GI appointment. Its to check her Depakote levels we've been instructed to not give her any meds before the blood test and just bring them with us and give them to her after the test so they can get an accurate reading. I guess just to know if she is still tolerating it well and if so if a seizure should arrise they can up the med.
Cameran still continues to do so well in school, talking up a storm, she impresses up daily with her skills. So happy to have our Christmas Wish to finally come true and have our girl talking this year and seizure free!


Happy Holidays Everyone!


Oh I forgot here is her lovely picks of her pink eye. Poor gal had it in both eyes. I have never seen it personally, so I didnt know what to expect. She was crying pink/red tears I felt so sorry for my girl.




On the 2nd day her eyes where swollen shut took them 3 hours to be able to open them.....Ouchy! That was on her EEG day too that almost got cancelled once we got down there. But they let us go ahead with it since the Peditrician told us not to cancel.




I dont know about you but that hurts my eyes just looking at these!

Monday, December 08, 2008

No results

Just wanted to drop in and say I still have no results from her EEG. I have called and called and I really am beginning to think those receptionist have no idea what they are doing! I keep getting the run around and the wrong messages relayed and passed to the wrong offices. So folks I give up, I'll just wait till next week when we go in for her MRI to talk with the Nurse in person maybe then we will get somewhere. Man I miss our old Neuro, hes still in residency hes so close to having his office up there. So our countdown is beginning now till we see him again. Hes so fantastic at getting right back with you in minutes time. Man I miss those days, but thankfully we had him full time during her worst time!



Camerans eye this week is much better man did it ever look bad last week.
And this week she has a minor cold consisting of a cough and clear runny nose....ugghhh! Does it ever end? And Caleb well I'm still waiting for his stinking tooth to fall out. The boy wont let me touch it, screams and crys if my hand even gets near his mouth. He would rather go to the dentist and have it pulled maybe I should tell them what they actually have to do to him to get it out....Can you say needle. They did that too him last time to pull his first 2 stubborn teeth but he had no clue. You would think getting $10.00 from the tooth fairy would be enough for him to let me pull it out. Nope he will not budge, so for now we will listen to him whine every time he takes a bite of his food and bite down only on the left side of his mouth in fear that it might fall out....LOL! Kids arent they crazy?

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Good News, Bad News!

Well its always good to start off on a good note so lets do start there. First let me say we had an amazing Thanksgiving with both sides of our families. It was really great to see everyone and the food was all so yummy!

My family-Back row is Me and Cami, my mom in the center, My oldest sister Angie and her daugther Natalie(2yrs) in front of her is her other daugher Cheyenne(12yrs), and then there is Caleb(the only boy) and my youngest sister Kelli! Arent they all beautiful I love this picture. I miss you guys already and cant wait for the next visit!
Cami has been babbling up a storm and not really babbling anymore its all really starting to come together now. She is saying basketball(b-b-baw), spongebob (b-b-bob), Car(caw), Purple(pupl), thank you(tankdo), Night-night(just as it sounds she says it perfect), water (wawa), I want, Done, book, ball, ready go(weay uh), 1,2,3, she will go uh, uh, uhhhh....but hey its counting and its mimicing so I will take it. Got a few new little surprises from her she now calls her Dada- let me spell it exactly how it sounds cause she drags it out....Dadeee Dadeee so cute all you hear all day is Dadee Dadee Dadee Hi Dada, Bye Dadee, Dadee Go byebye....she loves her Dadee!

Next was a good surprise for my mom, while down visiting her Cami walked over to her and said Mawmaw(thats what the kids call her), it was perfect, it wasnt forced or asked she knew who she was it was so great. Now back at home she will see things that remind her of her mawmaws house and say her name.

Next shocker really happened on the drive down to my familys, Cameran was flipping through her NEW favorite book "Pinkalicious" well let me just tell you its such an adorable book. Its about a girl who eats so many pink cupcakes her whole body turns pink and she cant figure out why. Lots of graphics in it, with the mom and dad, the house, outside, bath time a little of it all. And we all know my Cami LOVES LOVES LOVES books. Well she was flipping through the book and came across a page and she said Mama...Duckee and she was pointing to the middle of the page and there it sat a rubber ducky in the bath tub. I was so excited that she new what it was. I said yes Cami that is a ducky and a ducky says quack quack and she goes MmmmMmmmm(growling sound) it was hilarious. More happenings from this wonderful book is she associates the man in the book for her daddy because he wears a hat just like her daddy. She pats her head and says Dadeeee. And the top of toppers was she flipped to a page where it shows a big picture of the little girl chest up solid pink holding her hand out and Cami said Mama getting my attention(dont you just love it) she showed me tha page of the little girl and I said she is pink Cami and Cameran held her hand up and was flipping it back and forth studying it trying to figure out why she was not pink........OMG that is amazing to me that she reconized the difference.

Oh speaking of did I tell ya that at school they have those peg puzzles of different shapes, colors, animals and such and yes my girl can do them now!!!! Go Cami! So lots of great news!

Now to the bad.....Bummer! Where to start let me just start off on an easy one if you will. Well its not so easy for the hubby.....LOL!
Remember that pretty little truck he got about 2 weeks ago. Well we drove it on our trip to Louisiana. And if anybody lives south dont take this offensive but yalls roads just suck!!!!!! They are bumpy, uneven and rocky! And rock being the main word in this next sentence. Yes you may have guessed it by now.....A rock flew up and hit his windshield and made a crack starting out about 4 inches. Let me just say that thing kept going and going and going. Now let me tell you when this happened, it was about 3 hours into the trip in good ol Alabama(not the worst state of bad roads, Arkansas takes the cake for that one) but still I had to listen to that crap the rest of my trip......7 freakin hours at that! Men and their vehicles.....teehee! Me I'm just like a car is a car and it can be replaced but stress me out would ya we havent even paid the 1st note on that thing and here we are already having to replace the stinkin windshield. Which mind you aint cheap!!!! Ugghhhh....

So on to the avoided subject but this is what this blog is for our many ups and downs and this is a BIG downer! Seizures....the worst word in my vocabulary! I hate it and I hate even talking about it because it brings back so many bad memories. So this go round we think they are absent seizures. Her teacher called me one day a couple of weeks ago that they think Cami had an absent seizure. Said they where in the middle of an art project and she was happily participating when she just stopped! They called her name and was rubbing her face and got no response and seconds later she snapped out of it and was back to her project. Take it back about one week prior to that and here at home me and the kids where loading up to go out and she had just gotten on her coat and shoes and was walking into the kitchen and she just stopped I said come on Cami and I got no response...I said Cami....still nothing, I had to have said her name 6 times with no response clapped my hands, waved them in front of her face not even a blink then all of a sudden she blinked and looked around smiled real big and was out the door! So seizure or no seizure???? We know she had one in her sleep a few weeks back.
She goes for an EEG bright and early tomorrow morning and really it couldnt have come on a worse day. Why well my bad news just keeps coming.
Today she woke up with one crusty eye that looked like it had been sewn shut. I tried my best to wipe it clean but it was just to nasty and man did she ever kick up a HUGE fuss! So anyhow after we got back from dropping Caleb off I checked her temp because she had a pretty good cough as well and her temp came back as a low grade of 99.4 so I kept her home. Good thing becuase both of her eyes kept getting worse and worse, gunky, oozing stuff out of them. So I took her to the Dr. and yes my girl has pink eye in both eyes. And man does it look painful and disgusting...Caleb actually describes it as runny green boogers.....thats a kid for ya, but the boy is right. She will not let you wipe it, she goes crazy if you even get close to her face with a rag. Its very contageious but he gave us some drops to put in them 3xs a day for 7 days. Said she will be contagieous up to 24 hours after the first eye drop has been given so she should be good to go back to school on Thursday. But the way they are looking now I just dont know. Tonight before she went to bed they looked like they where bleeding, light pink tears actually. They are all swollen and red. I feel so sorry for my girl but all I can think of is who is gonna be the 2nd one in our household to get it!!!!! This ought to make her in a chipper mood tomorrow morn for her EEG! Yay me!!!!

I'll keep you all posted on how the test comes out. Not making any promises on how soon considering the above but hopefully I'll have it up by this weekend :)
Glad to see the other kiddos doing great....And Go Dawson on your 180+ days seizure free and your new walking skills thats amazing buddy! And Madie, girly you will be sf in no time, seems you are making great progress and getting so close to being on less meds, then mom watch out she will be impressing you every day with her skills, just you wait! Just try to keep those nightly awakenings to a minimum us moms need a good night rest everyonce in a while ;)...LOL! Its a nice thought anyways!

Have a good rest of the week!

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving





Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! We are enjoying our trip with my family down in Louisiana. Kids are having a blast with their cousins, they are running circles through the house laughing.....Good Times! We cant wait for the Turkey dinner gathering, my mom is in the kitchen and has the house smelling good as I type, smells wonderful. Tomorrow she is passing on her Dressing recipe, she'll have us all in the kitchen teaching us how its done. That I am really looking forward to she makes the best dressing/stuffing! I've missed my family so much so this trip is such a blessing! Lots to be Thankful for this year!




I've got lots of updating to do, lots of bad news, but I cant bring myself to talk about it right now. So when we return home I will update you all of the downs but right now just good notes here! Warm turkey wishes to you all!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Monday, November 17, 2008

New found love



Ok so when we took our venture out and was looking at vehicles I found a new love of a car. Have you seen them its called a Ford Flex http://www.fordvehicles.com/crossovers/flex/gallery/
Man this thing was awesome, looks like the old station wagons. I always loved those cars and now here it sat one on the lot we where at. It was a cinnamon color and had loads of room. I think it just may be my next car, of course in the years to come. I'm still loving my Tahoe, you know in the 4-5 years that we've had it we havent had to do one thing to it. Now thats a good car, I sure hope his truck turns out to be just as good. Kids will probably be teenagers before I get a new one...he told me no more cars....LOL!
Well there you have it my blog of the day....Sorry not a lot going on! Kids are being kids fighting then being sweet, then back to fighting again, the usual sibling arguments. But with my two it consists of Cami snatching and Caleb saying hey you arent being fair then he takes it back and she screams and then she starts hitting and then he cries and then she runs trying to look innoncent like she wasnt in the room when it happened....teehee. Shes is a stinker and we are trying to teach him to stand up for hisself, I mean for goodness sake they are 3 years apart and she beats up on him! But at school she is the perfect angel and shares, guess she does it here because its her brother. You know the one she is so protective over. Like if he gets hurt and starts crying she drops to her knees beside him and crys with him not letting me or Jason near him....Its a love hate relationship....LOL! Goof balls they are. Now I look over at them and they are sitting in the rocker together watching Icarly and she is rubbing his ear and all is calm but they where just figthing and screaming at each other 2 minutes ago over a rolling bag. Believe me I dont even try to understand, guess its payback from our wild figths when we where younger!
Update of this week:


Camerans speech is getting more clear she is saying Hi and Bye to everyone, its the sweetest. She has also joined the runny nose and cough team this week.....ugghhh remind me again why I so love this time of year! Sick kids every where you turn. The thing going around schools now is fifths disease. Last month it was chicken pox and bad things about both of those is you are most contageious when you dont even have signs of having it, and then when the rash appears its too late to take precautions, its already been passed....lovely huh! Gotta love schools.



On to Caleb the boy is braking me at the bookfair, he could never have enough books, guess thats a good thing though. But of course he is way over the reading level of those level 1's and 2's ...the 3.99 or 4.99 books he is reading chapter books that cost $8-10.00.....that really adds up. But they have some awesome stuff this year, so I dont mind besides the sales help the school!
So there you have it another boring but busy day in my household! A little wishful mommy thought, a little sick, a little fight a little money and a whole lot of love ;)

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Gearing up for the Holidays

Ok so where has this year gone, can you believe its almost Thanksgiving! The 1st part of the year for me always seems to drag by, usually not alot going on. But come September it flys by faster than I can even keep up with. We usually get jammed with Birthday Partys, camping, school activites then there is the Holidays. Could it slow down any please. I'm not ready for the big Holidays to start yet but its coming and the kids well Caleb is sooo excited, actually couldnt get here soon enough. Funny thing is that as soon as Christmas is over he'll say how many more days till the next Christmas......ACCKKKK! And for those people already putting up their Christmas Decor stop it already.....its too soon! Wal-mart was already putting out their Christmas trees about a month ago, I would still like to enjoy the fall please and Thank you! Can you tell I'm not ready, not one thing bought and typically I'm considered one of those last minute shoppers. I put it off as long as I can,usually the 2nd week of December. I hate the large crowds, its already started so I think I'm sticking with online shopping ;)

This week is gonna be a busy week, Calebs school is having there bookfair and I have volunteered for the week! Calebs turkey day lunch is scheduled for this Thursday, and then Friday its to Nashville for a Vandi appt for Cami, a follow up sleep study. Wonder how that will go, we never did try the Lunesta, never felt the need to. Right now things are going good she is sleeping pretty good. Some nights she is sleeping through the night and others she is only waking once. I did have a scary night last week, I think I may have seen her have a seizure. She was in the bed with me and she started moving around alot then she did it....her arms went up real tight then it paused then she did a quick jerk her arms came down and she started to cry, but she never woke up! Not sure what it was. SO I wonder if she is still having them occasionally. I just dont know and would it be worth another sleep study? What are the chances to catch one? Uggghhhhhhhh! I almost dont want to tell him because I know thats even longer on her meds. But it has to be done!

After this week time will really start to fly. Saturday we have a birthday party to attend at 3:00 then we are hosting a baby shower for some very close friends that same day at 5:30. Dont know how I'm gonna pull that one off, probably send the kids with their daddy to the party so I can get my cooking done for the shower and then go set it up. Then Sunday its packing day we are headed to my familys for the Thanksgiving. The kids will have to be taken out of school Monday and Tuesday but its well worth it. I've never been to my moms on an actual holiday for atleast 11 years now. My family is all in Louisiana so its a long drive 9.5 hours but it is well worth it. I miss them so much, dont see them nearly enough maybe twice a year. Its really hard not getting to see my neices grow up....Man the fun we would have if we lived closer lots of movies, park trips, visits and maybe even some shopping for the moms ;) So this trip is gonna be a great one, now thats a Holiday date I would happily count down too!
We leave Monday the 24th and return on Friday the 28th. Jason has to be back at work on the 29th. And me and the kids will spend Saturday relaxing from the long drive. Then Sunday the 30th its Thanksgiving with Jasons family....so yummy for the tummy for 2 turkey dinners! Hopefully I'll be able to get into my pants after its all over with....TeeHee!
Now my tradition since me and Jason have been married is we always put our tree up after Thanksgiving dinner and this will be the first year a lil different. So we will put our tree up that Saturday of our return. I tell you I'm worried though, Cameran has really showed alot of intrest in the trees in Wal-mart, she reached out and grabbed that thing and was shaking it. So I may just leave it with just my pre-lit lights....lol! I just dont think I have the energy to fight with her this year about staying out of the tree. Last year she climbed underneath it, shook it, pulled my ornaments off and even broke a few. Come Christmas last year Jason took that thing down as soon as the gifts were open, he had had enough....shes a lil stinker! I guess we shall see how it goes this year.

For my hubby Christmas came a little early this year. We ventured out this weekend and when you have too much time on your hands, well unexpected things happen. Well last night we came home with a brand new truck. Its beautiful and a long time coming. He has been wanting a new one since we got married. Every time we went to look we ended up getting me a new car because the time called for it. Well when my car got payed off back in July he has been on a search. We had it narrowed down to 2 but once we got to the lot the one he had really been interested in was being drove off the lot.....SOLD! SO there it sat the other one we had looked at the week before thinking this is really nice. We where very picky this go round, the dealer had a tough time with us. Our window of specifics was very strict. We either wanted blue or gray, had to be a full four door truck, full front console the list just went on and on so! This truck far exceeds what we wanted its great and rides so smooth. Its great, 6 disk changer, controls on the steering wheel for the radio, and ac., leather interior, sunroof, only 41,000 miles, new tires, tonneau(sp?) cover, Power memory seat, and heated seats woohoo for that felt like a heating pad on my back perfect for a gal thats had two back surgeries, it will come in handy!
Cant wait to see how it does on our drive to Louisiana. So Merry Christmas Hunny guess it was well worth the 10 years of wishing! Heres some pics of his new Pride and Joy, its a 2004 Ford F150 Lariat super crew.















Coming soon pics of Cami in her new bed. We finally took down her Pediacraft bed. So anyone out there who is in need it is still up for sale. It came down very easy so Please contact me if you are interested. Oh and stayed tuned for some cute fall pics of my sweet peas!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Generic vs. Branded Drugs


I dont know why I never shared this before! I was reading Jens Blog and this was one of her latest blogs. Its about Generic vs Branded name drugs for Epilepsy. Now Camerans Neurologist has always warned us of this from the beginning making sure we always stayed clear of the generics when it came to her seizure meds. For many it can make a difference and he wanted to make sure she always got the full pontential of the medicine he prescribed. So I'm glad Jen put this out there, maybe it will make a difference for some! Heres her post:

November 12, 2008 at 2:42 pm by Jen S.
I learned some interesting stuff at the Epilepsy conference last week.

Many know that a generic drug varies from a branded drug in terms of binding agents and inactive ingredients, while still maintaining the same medicinal component. But here is what I found most interesting.

The FDA law approves a generic drug if it provides 80-125% of the medicinal drug component of the branded drug 90% of the time. So you can get anywhere from 80% to 125% of the actual drug. Also, the drug may hit your bloodstream at different intervals or “last” in your bloodstream for less (or more) time. For most drugs, this isn’t a concern, but for people with Epilepsy, this is critical.

Also, it is important to note that generics made by different manufacturers vary also. So a generic by Company A may work for your child, but a generic from Company B may allow breakthrough seizures. The pharmacy that dispenses your medication may vary the manufacturer MONTH TO MONTH!!

By law in most states (and here in NY), the pharmacy HAS to give you the generic drug version (if available) and the doctor has not written “Dispense as Written” on the script.

For instance, if you are currently on Keppra with a 12 month script renewal, come January 09, the pharmacy will switch you to the generic, levetiraceratim. (note this website says March 2010 http://epilepsy.emedtv.com/keppra/generic-keppra.html not sure of the correct info)

I urge everyone to talk to their neurologists about this and get their opinion based on your child or your scenario.

One last thing, I also learned there are about 6 new neurology drugs in the pipeline for the next 2 years. So for those that just can’t get seizure freedom, keep hoping!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Fall Fun Day





Oh what a great day with Cami! I so enjoyed watching her in her school routine even though it wasnt actually their everday routine. But even through a different schedule she had the rules and listening down perfectly and did everything she was asked to do, it blew my mind. And then I started asking myself why she doesnt act this way when we go out.
The kids where so cute, outside participating in their Fall Fun Day. They had a face painting center, marker center, bean bag toss, fruit loop necklace center, spider ring dig and potato sack races. There was much more but we didnt get to it all. But I tell you I was really impressed with Cami's classroom and how they handled themselves outside. To be a special needs class they held it together nicely.
First stop was face painting and Cami really didnt care for it made lots of faces. But she ended up with a cute little pumpkin. While waiting for our turn at the next table they played on the slides and then once our turn was next they called them over and Cami turned those listening ears on and followed all her friends over and waited in line. Whoa baby girl!!!




When asked to sit down and wait in line she would sit and wait....Perfect! Why cant I get her to do that? She amazes me that she is capable of doing this at school but why not at home???? What am I doing wrong?
She didnt try to run off from her group and even in a tempted outside setting with playgrounds all around she stayed focused on what they where doing! I was truely impressed!




On the necklace making section I had to help her alot she couldnt get those little fingers grasped right on those fruit loops to string them on the yarn but she was giving it a great shot. She can grasp them good just cant figure out to turn them on the opened loop to get it on the string. But in the end she had a great little snack of a necklace.


"Cami and her teacher"



Next was the sack races and my girl was ready. She ran over and grabbed that sack and started climbing in. And get this she had figured out how to do it by watching the other kids and started hopping it was so sweet. She then got tired and started walking/shuffling those feet and wasnt getting far so mommy stepped in and helped hop her down the rest of the way. She loved every minute of it!!!!




At the end of the outing they asked all the class to go line up at their door. They where 2 playground areas away and Cameran dropped what she was doing and ran to their door and stood in line waiting for her teachers to get there. WAY TO GO CAMI! I would have never pictured her doing that but she did and is doing great following directions.
So proud of my girl on all these things. Just 6 months ago she would have never understood how to do these activites. Weird thinking that it was just that short of a time that we had to work soley on getting her to sit still for longer than 30 seconds. And now look at her sitting and waiting in line for her turn isnt that amazing! She is such an inspiration to me, Love you baby girl.


This is Camerans buddy Mr. "J". He was one of her teachers last year and this year she mainstreams with their new class. And get this she can say his name so clear they say. I'm so happy that she is settling in well at this school! They are all really great with her.