I'm almost afraid to post anything about this. Don't want to jinx what looks like it might be successful. Milk started the liquid, grape-flavored Keppra (I apologize to him every time I squirt it into his mouth) on Saturday, August 25, 2007. I was able to use the prescription that Dr. L gave me for Canada to buy a bottle of the liquid at a compounding pharmacy on Friday, but the pharmacist added chicken flavor to the grape flavor, and I couldn't bring myself to give him that horrible crap. So, on Saturday, Dr. G. called in a prescription for a couple days' worth of the liquid Keppra until I can talk to Dr. L.
So far, so good. (It's Friday, one week later.) No seizures. But my life has disappeared. He's still not eating, so I'm still bottlefeeding him four times a day. (He will eat treats, thank goodness. Bribery exists.) I did switch from AD (full of all sorts of liver and chemicals) to Wellness, which seems to have been an okay idea. Then he gets .9 ml of grape Keppra liquid three times a day - has to be every 8 hours exactly. He hates this. I have to capture him, wrap him in a towel, and then figure out a way to squirt the Keppra into his mouth without getting it all over both of us. The last two doses, I have no idea how much got into him - it was all over my chin and shoulder, and there is, of course, no way to know how much was wasted, or what the actual dosage given was. Then we add the lowered phenobarbital dosage of 12mg BID, which also is supposed to be at exactly 12 hours apart. In between that, I feed the other three, and test and shoot Scruffy whenever. I've got - with luck - (it didn't work today because Scruffy for the first time in weeks was actually dropping - way too fast and too much, but dropping - when I wanted to go out) four hours in the afternoon for my life. I can't figure out a better schedule for Milk's medication, either. I don't want them too close together, in case one or the other makes him throw up. I'd rather not be chasing him around all day to shove stuff into his mouth. I asked Dr. L this afternoon when he will be able to switch from Keppra liquid to pills, which would hopefully be cheaper, and which would definitely be more dependably dosed, and less messy and less repulsive to poor little Milk. She said, given that he still won't eat, it's going to be quite a while, since she's basing the dosage on his weight. I don't know what they'll do if he starts to have seizures again. The phenobarb is to be lowered again on Monday or Tuesday, with a goal of having him on 8mg BID. She didn't say anything about increasing the Keppra. Maybe she wants to see if he has a seizure first. He's much less clumsy and uncoordinated, he's not sleeping as much, and he's more active. If only he'd eat...
