Down and Out (Again)

Lisbeth is down with seizures again. And so it goes. At least there were no big long seizures this time. But she is in the postictal fog and on these days she behaves alot like someone with Autism: she is non-verbal for a while, and does the same things over and over, like trotting back and forth, and clapping and snapping her fingers. When she gets a little clearer she repeats phrases, and asks for the same foods - chadder cheese (Lis-ism) and vanilla ice cream. She also craves eggs and peanut butter during these times of recuperation. This is interesting, because these are the high fat foods found in the Ketogenic Diet that is used to treat certain seizure disorders.

Here are a few shirts that we just listed on Lisbeth's Etsy store, her Big Heart mandala in a couple of new spring colors - a Robin's egg blue, and a soft teal green! Pretty! This mandala reminds me of the Pennsylvania Dutch Hex signs. (Hmmmm, now that would be another cool way to use Lisbeth's designs - on painted wooden signs!)

Lobster

Lisbeth's Lobster Moon mandala is for sale in her Etsy shop (see the four black lobsters?)

Lisbeth with her brother-in-law, Cory Duggan.

Cory brought fresh lobsters down from Islesford where he lives with Lisbeth's big sister Kaitlyn.

Lisbeth was weaving in and out of cloudiness on Friday after having that rugged seizure on Thursday. She alternated between bouts of staring, and then coming to and circling the kitchen, saying "lobster, lobster!" over and over. Lis loves lobster. It's her favorite meal, and knowing that she was invited to a surf and turf dinner at our house cut through the thickest postictal fog! She is clearing up slowly, and on the mend, once again. She is a trooper.

Recuperating

Lisbeth and I worked on her shrine today. We are painting these little shelves PINK.

Her hand got scraped during one of the several seizures she had this week. Lis began to seize and fell on the ground when she and her helper went outside to get the mail - she sometimes goes down fast and without warning - she has broken fingers, lost teeth, and cracked her head open. Usually we can catch her, but sometimes we can't.

When I arrived at Lisbeth's house today she was spacey, but up and about. When she has a cluster of tonic clonic seizures like she's had this week, it takes several days for her to come out of the fog. She paces and wanders, is at times non-verbal, or she repeats the same phrases over and over. Here are some of Lisbeth's time worn perseverative phrases:

Oooooh, little monkey, monkey!

Oooooh, George Washington!

Ooooooh, Bill Cosby!

Plus and take away! Plus and take away!

Ooooooh, what a cute little BUTT you got there!

You're fat as a cat!

You gotta fart!

You got the GAS from your big fat BUTT!

Chadder cheese! (sic) Chadder cheese! Chadder cheese!

Sometimes Lis trots quickly from room to room. (When she was younger, if someone was seated and she was trotting by, she would come right up and wack them hard in the back of the head! We learned to duck...). This is an example of the perseverative behavior she displays on these days. She'll line up her crayons over and over and over, or flatten a washcloth repeatedly. She snaps her fingers and claps rapidly and loudly (we call these snappy/clappy days). She also draws. I have a collection of her postical artwork - it is strange and powerful. Lisbeth has no recollection of these days. When she was younger and experiencing 12-20 grand mals a month, she had only a handful of clear days. The rest of the month was a black hole.

So today I helped Lisbeth get washed and dressed, then we worked on a little painting project and had lunch together. After lunch Lisbeth laid down to rest and went into some petite mal seizure activity. She typically has this aftermath of less violent seizure activity while she is recuperating from a big seizure cluster. By the time I left, Lisbeth was sleeping comfortably. Tomorrow she will be a little bit more clear...