| MacKenzie's Journal 2 | |||
|
Monday, May 03, 2004 ( 7:17 PM ) Beth MacKenzie continues to do so well! Since last entry more than a year ago, MacKenzie got more than 11 months in on the ketogenic diet. She did fall off the "diet-wagon" more than a few times, cheated herself out of ketosis a few times, but overall did well. In mid-September 2003, she once again cheated herself out of ketosis and we (well, me) decided to just take her off the diet. She has not had a seizure since January 2003!!! MacKenzie continues to take Depakote ER twice a day, she has gained a good clip of weight and is more than healthy now. In January of this year after another horrible beginning of the school year at Post Oak, we chose to remove MacKenzie from that school and she is now in her "home school". She has made great strides in learning since her transfer and is now reading on a 5th grade level, is spelling in a mid 3rd to 4th grade level and is doing grade level math work! What a huge difference from last year! At the end of 2nd grade, it was unsure whether 3rd grade would be do-able. Friends are still an issue though. She left behind two "good acquaintences" at the previous elementary and has not made a good friend at the new school yet. BUT she does not have that many "problem" friends either if that makes sense?! I cannot believe I have not updated this....... In April 2003, MacKenzie was named Michigan's 2003 Winning Kid for the Epilepsy Foundation! She was honored in May at a big gala event with a nice spread of good food, an auction, and an awards ceremony. Both Dr. D and Dr. Chugani wrote fabulous letters in support of MacKenzie's nomination! When Mac found out that she was chosen as one of the Winning Kid's, she said "what does that mean?" "Am I going to be the Princess of Epilepsy? Do I get a crown?!" So of course, we tattled on her the EFA of MI, and of course she got a crown! In June 2003, she helped lead the Summer Stroll for Epilepsy at the Detroit Zoo along with Heidi the other Winning Kid! They were too precious in their tiaras! And that was pretty much it. It had been our understanding that there would be quite a few functions that she would be invited to, but she was not. The EFA of MI wrote a fabulous story on Heidi in their Fall 2003 newsletter which prompted me to write a letter of my own. "Hey! What about MY daughter?" is basically what it said. I was a bitter bitter momma I'm sorry to say. That turned into a hasty invitation to meet the Governor of Michigan in her downtown Detroit office in January 2004 during the middle of the week on a school night. We went of course. It was a weird experience, but hopefully one that Mac will never forget. She got to sit in the Governor's chair, Gov. Granholm declared her "queen for the day" and MacKenzie in turn ordered Gov. Granhold to go clean her room! HA! here's the address for the story.. http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/aboutus/loader.cfm it is at the bottom of page 5 Actually, the Gov. did invite us to go ice skating at her Lansing residence as they had apparently turned their backyard into an ice skating rink. Cool huh? We never went. Did I mention that only one person out of eight invited showed for MacKenzie's birthday party this March. It sucked big balloons for her (oh, and us too because guess who she took it out on). In the meantime, we have learned that MacKenzie is MacKenzie whether she is having seizures or not. It is definitely MUCH better when she is not having seizures, but she still has personality flaws and issues with behavior. She is growing up quickly though and hopefully will continue to grow in her personality and realize that she has got to treat others the way she wants to be treated (huh, sounds like one of the commandments huh?). #
Comments:
Post a Comment
|
|
||
