Home from the hospital

We’re home! Roxy was released from the hospital yesterday afternoon, and she’s doing just great! It’s such a relief to have the whole ordeal behind us. I knew I was stressed for weeks prior to the surgery, but I didn’t realize how much until we got home and I could finally breathe again.

She’s doing so well, we would love to proclaim, “Hurrah! She’s healed!” but we have a long way to go before we can relax. For starters, she’s still on the same anti-seizure medication that she was taking prior to the surgery. The doctors want to give her brain time to heal from the surgery before weaning her off the drugs, since the surgery itself can cause seizures, as can the scarring. The drugs can impair Roxanne’s ability to learn and think, so we are anxious to get her off them, but it will probably be at least a month before we’re approved to do so.

Also, she might still have seizures in the future. There’s no way to know. Maybe the surgeon missed a tiny portion of abnormal brain. Maybe there are abnormal areas elsewhere that haven’t shown themselves. Maybe there’s a chemical element involved. We just have to wait and hope for the best, and celebrate each good day she has.

And she’s having good days! She smiles and laughs, and even more amazing, she is more alert, focused and … how do I describe it? She seems to be more “there” than before. She hasn’t gone five days without a seizure in months. It must be a relief.

Next, we have to deal with the whole feeding tube thing. We’re hoping that without seizures and medication, her swallow/aspiration problems go away on their own. I need to make an appointment with a specialist to make some plans about that.

But today, YAY! We’re home! Roxanne is healing!