2/6/09 - 9:15 PM

It's been a very exhaustive day for Alyssa. Here's a brief recap:

Had another rather bad headache early this morning. The pain is bad enough, but of course this gets us worried about seizures. Worrying causes your blood pressure to rise...well, you get the picture. A little medication seem to do the trick this time. It did however scare Alyssa enough for her to ask us "if her body was quitting on her." She has been so positive up to his point, so goal number # 1 today is get that optimism back!

Next up - an Apheresis treatment. Her levels were so good after the treatment that she's not going to need a treatment tomorrow. This will be the first day w/o Apheresis in over a week.

Next an EEG http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/common/standard/transform.jsp?requestURI=/healthatoz/Atoz/dc/tp/tpeeg.jsp. This was a precautionary test to make sure that her headaches aren't causing more issues with swelling on her brain from last week's seizures. No results yet.

Moving right along the yellow brick road of tests, our next stop is for a ultrasound looking at the kidneys. Again, no results yet. Then a quick trip across the hall for a brain CAT scan. Results due tonight.

...and last but not least, every one's favorite, three hours of dialysis. This has been the process that has caused her blood pressure to spike over the last few days, and true to form, it started to creep up again. However, this time they tried a new med which brought it right back down again. The plan now is to skip dialysis for two days to see what her tolerance levels are. Again - good news.

As before, the care in the MICU has been fantastic. Her nurse today was a fellow Athena graduate Elise, who was a few years ahead of Alyssa and also a fellow cheerleader. They shared many great stories and laughs and you could just see Alyssa's spirits rise; but most importantly Elise is a great nurse who was on top of every issue while providing Alyssa with a reassuring voice that she so needed today. She's smiling again tonight and ready to beat this thing!

Goal accomplished!
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