update

Hi all.
Thanks for your prayers for James. He is better now, but it was very uncertain not too long ago. Since there is a lot to write, I will copy the e-mail my husband sent to his co-workers and some friends. So, below is Matt's rundown of the last couple days:

*Thursday - James had 5 grand mal seizures within an hour (basically in a constantly seizing state) and was rushed to the ER. Mary, Matt's mom, noted that his breathing was very shallow so when they got to the hospital, they put him on a ventilator, where he remained for the rest of the night. He was also given a massive dosage of Ativan (similar to Valium) for seizure control. He takes this medicine regularly in smaller doses but, due to the repeated seizures, the amount in his blood equaled up to a very large dose. He was fairly stable and remained in the ICU.

*Friday - Mary called Matt at 2:00 and told him to come to Walnut Creek immediately. He picked me up at home and we arrived. The doctors told us that earlier in the day, they had tried numerous times to pull James off of the ventilator but that he would not start breathing on his own. After running some more tests, they determined that the Ativan was not only suppressing the seizures but also preventing his brain from telling his body to breathe. There were two long-term possibilities (barring anything unexpected): 1) Stay on the ventilator in a drug-induced coma for the rest of his life or 2) take him off Ativan (meaning no seizure control), allowing him to breathe on his own, but ultimately leading to organ failure since the trauma the body experiences during the constant-seizure state is so taxing. Matt and his parents talked about it and decided that they'd wait out the weekend and see is James improved. There was little hope that he would improve, so they were preparing to take him off the ventilator and allow him to pass away peacefully. This was not being morbid or fatalist; the doctors told us that this was going to happen and that they were not expecting anything else than the above.

*Saturday - Mary calls us early in the morning to say that James is off the ventilator. He is still very groggy from the drugs he is on, but he is able to nod and look at people when they talk to him. The drugs keep him constantly struggling to maintain consciousness, but he is doing much better. Saturday evening, the doctor tells us that they see no reason why he cannot get back to where he was before this all started. There is a small scare around midnight right when we're saying good night and about to leave when he stopped breathing, but it was shortly after another dose of medicine so it was chalked up to the shock of the drugs on his system. Matt went over to his bedside and shook him awake and he started breathing again.

*Sunday - James is awake more and able to speak. He behaves much more like himself (smiling, being a 'stinker', soaking up the attention of nurses/family) and is even able to play cards (sort of). He was taken out of the ICU and off all of the breathing monitors. They are looking at releasing him at the end of next week.

So...things are alright now...but it was a little touch and go for a little while. Everyone is doing well and are hoping James can regain the lifestyle he lived before his seizures became difficult to control Continue to keep James in your thoughts and prayers as they seek out what to do nest. There is some worry that this will be a recurring problem...so we're hoping the doctors can suggest anything that could help or make his life/health more stable.
Hope you all have a great week and I'll update again soon. :)