Medications

I got so wrapped up in all the events of September I forgot to mention that we are starting to taper off some of Noah's medications. This is so exciting since he is on so many right now. Noah
has been on Keppra since April 2010. We are not concerned about his seizures appearing again since he has been on Keppra for so long and it hasn't been helping since last Christmas. The thought of eventually tapering off of his other non-convulsant scares me very much. Thankfully, we are doing one at a time.

Also, even though it has only been a few weeks and we have gone down very little, Noah seems to have extra energy in the afternoons. More than we have seen in a long time. Praise God for

his blessings!! He had a blast walking around camp yesterday trying to find the biggest puddle he could jump into.

Thanks again for all the prayers and encouragement!!

September...one crazy month!

September was a busy, busy month. Noah started Kindergarten and has been loving every moment. He is learning to read, add and subtract and making lots of new friends. I was a little reserved about him going since we had just started his "miracle diet" a few months before. The biggest concern was snack and lunch time. Everyone in his class takes turns bringing and sharing snack. I thought this was going to be a big struggle. My brave little man has proved me wrong. He hasn't once complained (although I know it is difficult). I have a surprise bag that he chooses from on days I know he needs a little "pick me up". Today for instance was a friends birthday at school so the whole class had special cupcakes, his cubby had a bag full of candy, and he got to take home a special bag from school to practice sorting (of course the item to sort and then eat was M&Ms). He was very happy to exchange his candy for a pair of goofy glasses. Noah is a champ!

Since Jon's summers are so busy we always take our vacation in the fall. A week after school started we planned Noah's meals out for the week, packed out van and headed to eastern Washington to go camping. The first night there I (Candice) started having severe stomach pain. I ended up in the ER in Wenatchee with appendicitis. My parents drove over to watch the boys during my surgery and then took them home while I recovered. We are so blessed to have amazing family nearby who we can fully trust to make Noah's meals. It was such a blessing to have most of his meals already made since we were planning on camping.

Shortly after recovering from surgery we went to Disneyland. Yay! We had been looking forward to this trip for a long time. There were many times in the past 6 months where we did think we would be able to go due to Noah's seizures. We are praising God for his "miracle diet" and the fact that he can enjoy his life like most other 5 year old boys. Once again my mom and I spent days preparing his meals ahead of time and it really paid off. We were all able to relax and enjoy our trip without worrying about what time we would be back at the hotel room to make his meals. Noah was a trooper and did amazing when the rest of the family had something different than him. Noah loved every single ride he went on (arms always waving in the air) and because of his epilepsy we were able to get a pass that skipped all lines! We joke about putting the pass on ebay. I am sure we could make a fortune.

I know Disneyland will be a trip that Noah will never forget. It was so fun to see his eyes light up whenever he would see a character he knew. After a year of many ups and a lot of downs it was a huge blessing to have a week forgetting about Noah's struggles and enjoying having fun and being with our family.

Oh...and in case you were wondering about seizures...what seizures?!?