July 10th 2009 - Times are Changing

It has been a long adventure with Alicia over the past little while. About four months ago Alicia started having seizures. The seizures came with more strength and frequency, and the epileptic activity that showed up during her EEG's progressively became worse. Then a month ago we had to go into the hospital when Alicia's EEG showed that the epileptic activity had developed into infintile spasms, the worse type of epilepsy that a child can develop and one that Alicia had already had. Since then we have been in the hospital every day, at first for observation and then for her daily shots of medicine. The medicine that Alicia was taking was really strong and it caused her to be super uncomfortable, and swell up a bit.
During the past two weeks I have been back in the States with my Stateside family. The time back there gave me an opportunity to recharge my batteries. Linda and Alicia, with the help of some of Linda's family and friends had to fight through the tough two weeks without me. Linda held it together and as we talked every day I felt so bad for Alicia and Linda. But my two girls are warriors and they made it! Great work!
The day I got back was the same day as Alicia's last shot. It was a lot easier coming back to Sweden knowing I was going to see Linda and Alicia. It was great to give Linda and Alicia that first hug and kiss when I got off the train in Malmö.
I was pretty surprised that Alicia was still so sad and her face had swollen up quite a bit in the two weeks that I was gone. The next day Alicia was crying for most of the day. Then on Thursday we had a major breakthrough. Alicia gave us her first smile in almost 5 weeks! Today Alicia has been much happier and she has been giving us lots of smiles. She even banged her hands on the table while listening to her classical cd's.
She is not the real Alicia when she is on the strong meds. It is awesome to see our little girl coming back. When you go through tough times like this, you realize how much the small things mean. Even a little smile can make your day.
We are heading out to Norway tonight for a much needed family vacation. Alicia should be getting happier and happier every day as the medicine exits her body. Along with that she should start getting back to being her old self again soon!



Alicia with her chunky cheeks from the medicine.




Alicia's first smile in five weeks. Five weeks is a long time
to wait to see those beautiful teeth.




Alicia is happy to be feeling better.