A good news day!

Bertrand calmly reads books with his Nana while waiting on the anesthesiologist.

Bertrand has been on the longest streak of good--or at least "not bad"--news that he's ever had! I've been "knocking on wood" all day. Thursday's procedures started with the easiest time Bertrand has ever spent NPO (Nil Per Os meaning without oral food and fluids). He went into sedation without any tantrums or issues.

His "dental restoration" consisted of x-rays, a cleaning, and getting his molars sealed. According to the dentist his teeth actually look great for a special needs kid! There was zero sign of nerve damage! In the future, any time that Bertrand is put under anesthesia, the dentist recommends another thorough dental exam and cleaning.

His esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) involved his gastroenterologist looking at his esophagus, stomach and part of the intestine along with a stomach biopsy. Everything looked "fantastic" according to the doctor (no ulcers or other visible damage) and the biopsy confirmed that everything is normal (no sign of celiac, allergies, or other issues)! Bertrand will stay on 15mg of prevacid for now and we will discuss removal again in a year.

Bertrand had blood drawn while he was sedated for his usual panels--Comprehensive Metabolic Panel (CMP) & Complete Blood Count (CBC)--along with his Lamictal and Depakote levels. His CMP showed that... *drum roll* ALT was 72 (normal range 5-45) and AST was 58 (normal range 20-60)!!! Both of these values are the lowest Bertrand's liver values have EVER been and the AST is now in the NORMAL RANGE! Yippee!

Bertrand gets the CBC drawn mainly as a way of checking his platelets--if the liver isn't functioning well then platelet counts drop and one experiences difficulties clotting. Well, the test was invalid because his sample clotted, so I think that answers the question.

The last results to come in were the medication levels. Bertrand's lamictal levels still aren't back, but his depakote level was 28.3mcg/mL. Effective range for depakote is 50-125mcg/mL, which means that the depakote in his system (a dose of 125mg once a day) isn't high enough to see any effect yet! This is good news because we hadn't really seen any changes in him--seizures, mood, or otherwise--while on the depakote. We're keeping our fingers crossed to see what upping his depakote to 250mg per day does next week!

I hope the "good news" streak continues for Bertrand's genetics appointment on Monday! :)