Wow, it's been well over a month... think that's the longest it's ever been?! Update time.
So....
Orlaith recently had an admission at Great Ormond Street, surprisingly we were in and out within two weeks, so thankful!
Orlaith was started on Sirolimus... a immunosuppressant which is more commonly used to prevent the rejection of a kidney transplant, which lowers the body's ability to fight infections and diseases and it works but weakening the immune system to help the body accept the new organ. From my understanding, it came into the world of endocrine as patients on Sirolimus displayed higher glucose levels, so it is very new in Hyperinsulism patients but it appears to be working well in maintaining blood glucose levels. It is taken orally, very 12 hours so it's much better than injecting - Orlaith is still on Octreotide therapy every 6 hours via sub cut injections but hopefully she will be weaned off this as the Sirolimus levels in the blood reach a certain rate and gradually the Sirolimus dose will increase and the Octreotide dose will decrease, hopefully to nothing at all. It hasn't made the "medical load" any lighter as it's another medication for her to take but she's much more stable on it and it provides so much reassurance, especially overnight.
Side effects aren't particularly pleasant - there are the more common spells of sickness, headaches, possible swelling etc but on the other end of the scale is a viral brain infection which could cause disabilities or death. Luckily, we are only experiencing minor side effects which is trouble sleeping; before going in for this admission, Orlaith's sleeping pattern was fairly normal.. bed by 7/8pm latest and up 10/12 hours later but now we're lucky if she settles before midnight and is up between 10 am and noon - talk about teenage traits already! We're doing everything we can to shift the pattern back 4/5 hours but it's definitely taking it's time; we'll get there.. if trouble sleeping is all this brings us then happy days.
With the treatment being an immunosuppressant, there is a lot to consider - for example going out can be a nightmare; if someone has a cold/infection or whatever or a friends baby isn't well then it's best to steer clear, as Orlaith hasn't got the immune system to fight it off. We have open access to F1 (Children's ward) at our local hospital anyway, which means we can skip A&E completely and just take Orlaith straight to the ward for treatment so that also provides reassurance given the circumstances. Also, Orlaith is currently up to date on vaccinations but any upcoming ones won't be possible as she will just contract the virus or whatever the vaccination is for e.g MR etc so I'm constantly having to ask people how they are before we see them or ask them not to come over if they are ill just in case ... I'm not being rude, it's just one of those things.
We visit GOSH every two weeks now for a blood test and monitoring whilst on Sirolimus and will have an admission in the new year for other things, so fingers crossed this continues to go amazingly with my little beauty.
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