MRI Results

Got my 3-month MRI scan today and also had the follow-up with Dr. Lai. The good news is that today’s MRI compared to the one from October, shows a slight shrinkage of the remaining tumor. This is a good sign because radiation doesn’t always result in shrinkage of the tumor, and if it does, it normally takes awhile ( at least 2-3 months normally). So, suffice to say, I was pretty happy to see this.

On the downside, Dr. Lai has again increased my Keppra dosage up to 3,000 mg from 2,500 mg due to my continued issues with simple mini-partial seizures. He also wanted me to switch to the actual Keppra brand from the generic brand (leviteracetam) I have been using to see if it will make a difference. He stated that the actual Keppra brand is normally more accurate in terms of the dosage and would help in ruling out possibly increasing to an even higher dosage. However, this plan to switch to the Keppra brand name was nixed as I recently just had my prescription refilled and have to wait for another 2.5 weeks before I can refill the prescription again. It is disappointing because the plan originally was to try the new 3,000 mg regimen with the Keppra brand for two weeks and check in with Dr. Lai to see if it makes any difference. However, I will go ahead with the 3,000 mg regimen using the generic Keppra prescription that I have.

It took awhile for my body to adjust to the 2,500 mg initially, but once it did after a few weeks, the frequency of seizures went down dramatically starting around mid-December, from 5-8 per day to 5-8 per week. However, for the past two weeks, my seizure activity has increased again and has gone back to about 3-5 episodes per day. I think it might be due to my Keppra prescription turning bad. It had this weird smell emanating from it unlike my previous bottles and my current refill. Fortunately, the severity of the episodes hasn’t gotten any worse. Hoping the increase in the dosage will help. If it does not, it will probably increase to 4,000 mg and if that doesn’t work, then I may need to switch to another anti-convulsant and go see a seizure specialist. Dr. Lai stated that there are generally two types of people who have seizures, those who gets prescribed medication and it works the first time and those who may need to figure out exactly what may work for them (i.e., increase in dosage or change in medication). It seems that I may fall into the latter group. Anyways, will see how the next two week goes. Hopefully, returning to work won't be too much either on the brain.