What a blur...

The last couple of days have been a blur. Is it really only Tuesday? I will try to recall the details but everything seems to run together. We arrived at the hospital at 8am on Monday morning. Sophie was doing okay so far with the fast. She fell asleep during the orientation meeting with the dietitian and slept through the meeting with the pediatric neurologist. Around 11am, we checked into our hospital room. She was in and out of it for the rest of the afternoon. Around 3pm, she threw up a bit. Then FINALLY it was dinner time. She got one-third of the amount of a normal "keto meal" which was ONE OUNCE of keto eggnog (heavy whipping cream, eggs, vanilla and oil). You can either drink it like a shake or heat it up for scrambled eggs. We chose to heat it up for Sophie so it was more like "real" food. Sophie loved it, like always. She loves to eat. Her meal schedule for the hospital is as follows: one-third keto eggnogs for dinner, breakfast and lunch; two-thirds keto eggnogs for dinner, breakfast and lunch; first real keto meal for dinner Wednesday night.

After dinner, Sophie did really well. She played a bit and stayed up until 9:30pm. Sophie has a new friend named Angelo. Angelo is 21 months old and is a lot like Sophie. He is playing hard to get but Sophie is charming him with her precious smile.

Under the circumstances, Sophie slept great. Brandon and Debbie went back to the RMH while I stayed the night in the hospital. Sophie woke up a few times in the middle of the night but fell right back to sleep. She even slept through the nurse taking her vitals and checking her glucose by pricking her toe. She has her glucose checked every 6 hours.

Tuesday morning, Sophie woke up around 7:15am. She threw up 3 times by 8:30am including her entire breakfast. Even though she threw up her entire breakfast, she still could not have anything else to eat until lunch. Needless to say, Sophie was very lethargic and slept most of the day. It was really hard to get a smile out of her. If she wasn't sleeping, then she was staring off into space.

No worries, though. It is normal for Sophie to be acting lethargic and nauseous. It is a total metabolic shift for her body. By fasting, Sophie's body is highly ketonic. Her body is now burning fat which turn into ketones for energy. Normally, the body burns carbohydrates which turn into glucose for energy. It is hard to watch her like this but it is actually a good thing.

Sophie is having a few more seizures than usual. Again, no worries. It is not abnormal to have more seizures because of changes to her schedule and environment. Sophie usually has seizures upon waking up. Since she is drifting in and out of sleep so much, she is having seizures more frequently. The doctor said that you should at least see some improvement after two to three weeks and not to judge the first few days. We still believe that this diet is going to work! I am anxious to have her completely on the diet and eating normal keto meals.

Tonight, Grandma Debbie is staying the night with Sophie in the hospital. Sophie was ready for bed when Brandon and I left for the RMH at 8:30pm. The nurse took her vitals and checked her glucose level. Everything looked great, so the nurse felt she wouldn't have to check Sophie's vitals or levels in the middle of the night. Now that Sophie is on a two-thirds meal plan, we do not have to worry much about Sophie's glucose levels. It was hard for me to leave the hospital but I knew she was in great hands. Sophie fell asleep soon after we left. Grandma Debbie had all the lights turned off and just crawled into bed herself when Sophie woke up and was ready to go. I haven't talked to Grandma Debbie since then so who knows what they are doing now. Good luck tonight, Grandma Debbie!!!