Getting ready.

We leave for Lucille Packard Children's Hospital tomorrow morning, at 7:30. We decided to fly down earlier to spend time with friends in the bay area before Abigail has to check in at 7:15 Monday morning. I think a nice big dinner before she goes on the restricted diet will be nice. She will stop eating at 8pm on Sunday night and we are not sure when they will let her eat again. It will depend on how long it will take her to get into Ketosis. Abigail will have a schedule metabolic test at 8am on Monday and then we get to wait for a room. We were told this could take all day. All day with a cranky 3 year old that hasn't eaten...oh the anticipation is so hard to bear.

Abigail and I have a weekend morning ritual where we go to Starbucks to get coffee and a donut. We share the Donut on the car ride home. I am really going to miss that.

Melinda got magnetic drawer locks and a refrigerator lock to keep Abigail away from the food once she is on the diet. We don't know what the impact of stray carbohydrates will have on her so we have decided to play it safe. Both Melinda and I have read about kids on the Ketogenic Diet getting a hold of a cookie or even stray cheerios and then having a seizure.

Melinda and I are often asked what this diet does. The best explanation that I have heard is we are changing her brain chemistry the same way a drug would do, but with food.

Abigail, even with her delays, is doing well. Each week brings new words, phrases, and levels of cognitive improvement. She continues to be delayed about 9 to 12 months which at this point makes her a really cute precocious 2.5 year old. I figure she will catch up eventually. You really can't tell the difference between a 7 or 8 year old like you can between a 2 or 3 year old. We are very hopeful about the diet and our research indicates that other children with a similar diagnosis of Intractable Idiopathic West Syndrome respond very positively to the diet. Currently she has 8 to 10 sets of seizures on a good day and upwards of 20 on a bad day. If we can get them to stop or even reduced considerably then all the work and worry of being on the diet will be worth it.

We are going to spend the day packing and cleaning up the house. Shelby, Abigails older sister, is going to spend the week with her Aunt. Thanks Michelle!!!

Below is a picture of what happens when Abigail does not get a nap during the day....