Otis had a really difficult 2015. An enormous increase in the frequency and intensity of his seizures sent us all into survival mode, especially during the second half of the year and over the summer. By August, he was having up to 30 short (5-30 second) tonic and tonic-clonic (grand mal) seizures per day. He was miserable, spending most of his time either seizing or recovering from big convulsive seizures. His quality of life was at an all time low. An IV push of a rescue medication at Colorado Children's Hospital helped somewhat, but it wasn't long before the big seizures started increasing again. Things took a sudden and surprising turn toward the better at the end of September, when a 2-day fever reset him. He has been back at his seizure baseline (mainly just his typical clusters of epileptic spasms, or, "the devil we know") ever since. It was so wonderful to see our little boy start to smile again.
Here is a small preview of what Otis has been up to this year. He loves learning and hanging out with his friends at preschool, and continues to work so hard with Daddy and at PT, OT, Speech and Vision therapies each week. He is getting so big and so strong, and his progress in just the last couple of months since these videos were taken has been incredible. We are working on getting him started with hippotherapy (equine therapy) very soon!
There are so many more updates to share (a move from our apartment into a house with Otis's Grandma and Grandpa Reed, who moved to Manitou last summer, an unexpected job change for me last September, and so much more), but we will save those for future posts. In the meantime...
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| Eating breakfast in his sit-to-stand |
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| Since this photo was taken, he has graduated to walking with Daddy just supporting his hips! |
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| On his favorite swings at Soda Springs Park |
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