November

There are a lot of things that come to mind when I think of November, my birthday, Jackson's birthday, Thanksgiving, the hope of snow, to name a few. November means something else to 3 MILLION Americans, Epilepsy Awareness Month.

Just a few years ago, we never gave second thought to seizures or epilepsy. Sure, I knew a few people that had Epilepsy, but I didn't think much of it. Then came Kade. Kade was a great baby, with few issues. We noticed that he was having a hard time holding his head up on his own, but we were giving him time. We started asking his Dr about therapy to help gain some muscle strength in his neck. We even scheduled therapy sessions. On the day that he was to have his first therapy session, something happened. It started very small, and hardly noticable. My mom was watching Kade for the morning and she was getting him ready for a nap. He was just about asleep when he got a strange look on his face and his hands started to twitch. My mom couldn't make his hands stop twitching and she could get him to react to stimulus. She called me, thinking he might have had a seizure. I quickly called Kade's Dr, and he wanted to see him right away. We saw the Dr. and he told us to goto Children's hospital right away because he thought Kade did infact have a seizure.

Over the course of the next 3 weeks we were students of the human brain, genetics, and became fluent with medical terminology. None of which I wanted to do, but we were thrown into this without choice. Kade had more tests done on him in a 3 week period than most people have done in a LIFETIME. At the age of 5 months he was having a MRI, CT, and multiple EEG's done. All the while still having seizures, uncontrollable seizures, that might last 2 minutes, and the longest lasting 15 minutes.

Kade was discharged and was seizure free for several months, but the seizures returned. Again, they were uncontrollable. Medicine was add, removed, increased, and decreased desperately trying to control what was going on.

We have ups and downs as a family, and Kade has ups and downs as his Epilepsy is concerned. Epilepsy is a very cruel and mean condition. Each time I see Kade have a seizure it feels like someone has punched me in the stomach. I would never wish this condition on anyone.

People with Epilepsy can have happy, productive lives. Others have more difficulty controlling their seizures and therefore make their lives harder. Medications work well controlling seizures for some people, while others are not as lucky. Unfortunately not a lot is known about Epilepsy and the brain. Thankfully there is research happening that is leading to new medications and new treatment procedures.

On December 5th the St. Louis chapter of the Epilepsy Foundation is holding it's Epilepsy Awareness Walk. We will be walking with other St. Louisians affected by this condition. If you would like to join us please let me know. We are calling ourself's "Kade's Krewe". Also, if you are so inclined, you can make a donation to the St. Louis Epilepsy Foundation via this website.

If you would like to read my blog entries from those 3 weeks of hell go here.

Kade's Krewe

We will be participating in the Epilepsy Awareness Walk 2009. It is going to be held Dec 05, 2009 at Crestwood Mall. Please feel free to donate by clicking the donate button to the right. If you would like to walk with us just let me know.

josh

Fun at the Cards Game

We were able to go to the cardinals game Monday night. It was so much fun. We got everyone to go with us. Josh's parents and my parents got to go along with us. We got the all inclusive box seats. It was really nice! The food was good and there were tables we could keep Kade at the entire game. Jackson was able to run in and out and not bother too many people!! We all had a really good time!

Kade has some exciting news.... he is now eating all real food! That is right no more baby food! He is enjoying the new flavors. He still has his sweet tooth though! He has taken a real liking to yogurt and pudding!

Check our most recent pictures!

We are still alive!!

It has been quite some time since we have posted anything on here. SORRY!!!
We have all been very busy!

Jackson is as crazy as ever! Whoever said terrible 2s were bad, hasn't met Jackson at 3 years old. He has sooo much energy! He is now playing soccer (by playing, I mean crying the whole time for now apparent reason while his team mates run around after the ball.) We are hoping this will get better as the weeks go on.

Kade is doing well also. His seizures are still continuing, some days less than others. He is making slow progress with his physical therapy. He has lifted his head a few times (which is HUGE!!) He is also really starting to show interest in standing and putting more pressure on his legs.

We did make a trip to Kansas over Easter to see both great grandmas. Great grandma Henderson had never seen Kade. It had been a while since we had seen great grandma Bills also. We had a wonderful visit with both of them.

Amidst all the craziness, we did find time to hunt Easter eggs, eat lots of jelly beans, and dig through Easter baskets! Jackson had a blast. Kade had a good time to!!

Thanks to all of our friends and family who have reminded us to update our blog. We will try to do a little better in the upcoming weeks!

Check out our most recent pics!!

Happy Birthday Kade

Saturday was Kade's 1rst Birthday. We had scheduled a party for him on Sunday afternoon. Everything was going according to plan until 4am Sunday morning, Jackson woke up puking. We called everyone later in the morning warning of the sickness. We ended up just having family and celebrating. Kade really enjoyed the cake icing, and loved the balloons. He got cloths, a few toys, and some new stuffed animals.

Field Trip

Today we took a field trip. The Magic House was hosting clients of the Delta Gamma Center. Since Kade is getting vision therapy from DGC we were invited to the early open. This was Jackson and Kade's first visit and my first visit in a long while. Jackson had a blast playing in the the mock town they had setup and fishing in the pond. Kade got to play in some water and got some time with mirrors. Jackson also took an important phone call while in the Oval Office.

News

Kade had an appt to check his progress with his helmet yesterday. The news was good. He has made great progress, and he is able to go without the helmet for the next 30 days!