Ramp? What Ramp?

The weather's been pretty rough around here. VERY cold, lots of sleet and freezing rain. One of the sliding doors on the van was frozen shut....I've never experienced weather like this in the South. It's kinda pretty though. All those icicles hanging from my big pecan trees. And I actually got the opportunity to tell my boys, "Don't you put that icicle in your mouth! It's not clean!" Ahhhh, the joys of motherhood.

So, I've decided that the inclement weather must be the reason why I haven't heard one word about the ramp since Dana called me that day. Been waitin', but alas, no ramp. Not even a phone call. Oh well. I'm not going to end up paying for this ramp, so who am I to complain? I'm all but positive it'll get done (Dana's no slouch), but they've probably had to put their plans on hold because of all the ice. Michaela's been on winter break since Friday, so I'm not even really needing it right now. She's just making her way through the house, sans wheelchair.

She's had a couple of good days. She's been eating, talking, and walking, so I'm comfortable with her having her freedom. Her arms have been looser, and that means she can get them to do what she wants them to do---play the computer! It's nice to see her able to enjoy herself.

NOW, since I've said all that, let me clarify something: all this "good day" stuff happened at the end of last week (Thursday, Friday, most of Saturday). If she had been going to school on Fri or Sat, I would've sent her without the chair, it was that good.

Unfortunately, it's not like that now. Saturday night she started "slipping". What I mean is, she started zoning out, not talking, not eating or walking so well. Slipping happens before a full-fledged "crash", which is where she CANNOT do any of those things. Slipping is just the precursor. She will eat a lot of the meal, then have trouble near the end. She'll start to stumble when she walks. She won't say much. And crashing is the absence of it all.

She's been very sleepy too. Which, interestingly enough, is a side effect of the Felbamate. I was worried about her NOT sleeping with this drug, but come to find out, different kids get effected on both sides of the extreme. So far, she seems to be very sleepy a lot. Cat napping. Which is fine for now, because all drugs have this period at the beginning where the body's getting used to it. It may phase out eventually. It may get worse. We'll just have to wait and see.

Although, if slipping turns into crashing, and the crash lasts more than a couple weeks, something will have to be done. She won't be on the regular dose until she's had it 3 weeks. If things aren't better by then, we'll have to say something. I'm kinda jumping the gun with this line of thought, but it's happened before with another drug, so I'm on guard.

I trust that we'll have a ramp to help, in the event of another crash. I'll keep you posted.