As Rachel started 8th grade, we felt a lot of support from her school. They met with us to discuss how to best help our family through the difficult year ahead. Her teachers were very compassionate, and ready to accommodate her upcoming absences as best they could. Rachel’s favorite part: no penalties for late homework!

There were certainly a lot of absences. Her new medication, Trileptal, did not seem to control the seizures at first. When Dr. Porter upped the dosage to a high level, Rachel immediately got so sick that she missed many days of school, on separate occasions. She then backed off the dosage to a place where Rachel didn’t get sick, although she continued to have about a seizure a day.

Rachel, for her part, has worked very hard to make up for the many missed days of school. Many times her teachers have been very surprised when she turned her work in much earlier than expected. We are very grateful that school is not adding stress to our lives.