Tatyanna's Hope

Since diagnoses are kind of like Lay's potato chips, in that you can never have just one, Yanna's recent trip to the pediatrician yielded us with another diagnosis....epilepsy. The EEG report indicated that she has been suffering from left side posterior temporal and occipital complex partial seizures. Try saying that one 5 times quickly. While it wasn't exactly what we were hoping to hear, it didn't come as a surprise either. And, because seizuring brains are not happy brains, she was given a prescription for Tegretol in an attempt to control the irregular electrical activity. The pediatrician admitted that he wasn't entirely thrilled with this diagnosis and felt that she could potentially be difficult to treat. Not exactly words every mom hopes to hear. Given the nature of the seizure activity and the fact that they are occurring in two different lobes of her brain, the chances of being able to control them in the long term with just one medication is extremely small. We are probably looking at using a combination of ever changing drugs to keep the seizures at bay. It's funny, in the doctor's office, I went into my old "nursing student mode". I asked my questions, got the treatment plan and left the office planning to consult with Dr. Google and numerous other more reliable medical sources once I arrived home. There was no emotional response. It was what it was...could be better could be worse. It wasn't until that evening when I picked up the bottle filled with tiny white pills that the impact of everything really hit. My hands were literally shaking as I handed her the first of what will be many and encouraged her to chew it up in a voice that overly cheerful. Normally I try to treat things as naturally as possible and would prefer to seek the advise of a homeopath before a standard western physician. But this time, I feel that I have no real choice. There are no effective natural treatments. There is no "wait and see". There are no herbal remedies with a minimum of side effects. I have no choice but to take my daughter and embark on a sea of chemical cocktails and hope for the best. The thing that pains me the most is that this crappy alternative is the best I can offer my little girl.