The Peggy Report

One of the reasons that I started this blog was so I could keep Peggy's friends apprised of what's going on with her.

For those of you whom I haven't called or emailed, at the end of March, Peggy had a bad fall in the bathroom at 4 in the morning. She was admitted to the hospital for two days for tests to find out why she fell.

It turns out that her Tegretol levels, though therapeutic, were just too low. I guess she's become acclimated to the drug after 10 years on the same dose. Anyway, it was allowing stray neurons and nerves to fire, cause the tone in her arm and the spasms in her leg, in addition to nausea and dizziness at night when her blood pressure was low. The neurologist at the hospital put her on an anti-seizure medicine called Keppra, even though she was already on Tegretol.

Her neurologist took her off the Keppra, wanting to keep her on as few medicines as possible. I'm not sure why, but I think he was afraid of having side effects of her having two anti-seizure medicines. Anyway, she was supposed to get a blood test two weeks later to determine her levels.

It's not quite been two weeks, but we've both noticed changes.

When she got home from the hospital at the beginning of April, she was much more fluent, verbally. Now, her aphasia has returned in force, making her all that more frustrated because she remembers how much easier it was to speak only a few weeks earlier. Also, to me, she seems depressed and uninterested in anything, whereas before she was really pushing me to get the jewelry package, photographed and onto the web.

She has complained of tightness in her arm and spasms in her leg, just like she was experiencing before she fell at the end of March. Last night, she had to buzz me for help to get her to the bathroom, something she hasn't had to do since a couple of days after she left the hospital.

I decided that she didn't need to wait the full 2 weeks to get the levels since she was showing such obvious signs of decreased levels. I hope her neurologist gets the results and increases her dosage ASAP, because watching her slip backwards is just too sad. We went this morning.

I'm hoping she shows as much progress with an increased Tegretol level as she did when they put her on the Keppra. This will, I hope, also avoid any potential side effects we haven't encountered because she's been on Tegretol and we know how her body reacts to that.

Keep your fingers crossed!