12-14-08: Sarah's Mental State Improves

Sarah has been up on the pedi. floor since Thursday night and so far she hasn't had any more hypertensive events. That means her blood pressure has not gone too high and has been controlled by oral meds.

Since Ben last posted, Sarah has had an MRI and EEG to check out her brain. The MRI was normal. Great news! But the EEG did show some slowing in her brain activity. The neurologist told us that the brain waves of children Sarah's age are 6-8 cycles per second but Sarah was only at 4-5 cycles per second. We don't know exactly what this means but we sure do know what it looks like. Sarah is definitely not herself. Upon waking in the morning or even from a nap she can talk and tell us what she needs or wants. Saturday she woke and said she was hungry (at 4 am...thanks dexamathasone). Sadly we had to tell her no, since she was NPO (no food or drinks) from midnight on, due to a scheduled Lumbar Puncture that morning. Even on the way to her procedure she continued talking and asking for things like candy canes. As the day progressed she went inward. When we talk to Sarah she does make eye contact and smile sometimes. But most often she stares off into space and doesn't respond. Her walking is less coordinated and her speech becomes more slurred as the day progresses.

We think she is improving though. Today she has managed to "stay with us" mentally and is talking more with less slurring. Walking has improved too. The Dasatinib was held all day Saturday and this morning. One of Sarah's oncologists suspects the Dasatinib is the culprit for her reduced mental capacity. She'll go back on the Dasatinib tonight. If the doctor is right, Sarah's mental capability will diminish again. Personally, I think its related to the high blood pressure incident from last Monday. Either way, it does not appear to be permanent and we are hopeful her mind will recover 100%.

Sarah is scheduled for a bone marrow biopsy this Wednesday to evaluate her remission state. Her blood is still free of Leukemic cells. We think Sarah will be released to outpatient visits within 1-2 days.

Take a look at our new van below. The ice storm in the North East got the most of us this year.

-Susan