Initial Diagnosis
Thank you to everyone who has expressed concern about Alyssa's health status. We're confident that she will be fine but as more people pray for her -- hold her in the light --surround her with love -- keep her in their thoughts, the more certain we are of her complete recovery.
To give you some background, we began noticing Alyssa's seizure activity in October 2007. Actually, she had been complaining for months before that her nose "felt funny" but we didn't really think anything of it. Then, one weekend, after three successive days of witnessing her seizures first hand, we knew something was wierd. We didn't know that they were seizures at the time but what was happening was that her face would contort and, as she lost control of her facial muscles, she would begin drooling. These episodes would last about 10 seconds with about another 10 seconds needed to recover her speech.
Because Alyssa always said that her nose felt funny, we took her to see an ENT as we assumed that the probem was with her tonsils or adenoids. In fact, since birth, her snoring and snorting could rock the rafters!
When we got her to the ENT and described what was happening, the doctor scoped her through her nostrils and, while her tonsils and adenoids were on the large side, he said that they weren't large enough to warrant her episodes. Rather, he said that what we decribed sounded like were 'absence seizures' and that we should investigate that possibility.
So, in November 2007, Alyssa had a baseline MRI done during which was found a mass in the left temporal lobe of her brain. She also had an EEG which (after a night of sleep deprivation -- for both of us, actually) turned up normal.
Since the doctors weren't sure if the mass on her brain was causing the seizures or if the seizures were creating the mass on her brain, she was put on seizure suppression medication with the intention of checking on whether the mass was there after a couple of months.
Fast forward a few months and two MRIs later and the doctors have confirmed that there is a definitive mass on her brain. The next step is to confirm that this mass is the source of the seizure activity.
To give you some background, we began noticing Alyssa's seizure activity in October 2007. Actually, she had been complaining for months before that her nose "felt funny" but we didn't really think anything of it. Then, one weekend, after three successive days of witnessing her seizures first hand, we knew something was wierd. We didn't know that they were seizures at the time but what was happening was that her face would contort and, as she lost control of her facial muscles, she would begin drooling. These episodes would last about 10 seconds with about another 10 seconds needed to recover her speech.
Because Alyssa always said that her nose felt funny, we took her to see an ENT as we assumed that the probem was with her tonsils or adenoids. In fact, since birth, her snoring and snorting could rock the rafters!
When we got her to the ENT and described what was happening, the doctor scoped her through her nostrils and, while her tonsils and adenoids were on the large side, he said that they weren't large enough to warrant her episodes. Rather, he said that what we decribed sounded like were 'absence seizures' and that we should investigate that possibility.
So, in November 2007, Alyssa had a baseline MRI done during which was found a mass in the left temporal lobe of her brain. She also had an EEG which (after a night of sleep deprivation -- for both of us, actually) turned up normal.
Since the doctors weren't sure if the mass on her brain was causing the seizures or if the seizures were creating the mass on her brain, she was put on seizure suppression medication with the intention of checking on whether the mass was there after a couple of months.
Fast forward a few months and two MRIs later and the doctors have confirmed that there is a definitive mass on her brain. The next step is to confirm that this mass is the source of the seizure activity.
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