It's a Beautiful Day

For Valentine's Day, I chose a song  that reminds me of each family member as their special "Valentine".   Ellie's song this year is by India Arie and it is called, A Beautiful Day.  Here are the lyrics: 

Life is a journey, Not a destination,
There are no mistakes,
Just chances we've taken
Lay down your regrets cause all we have is now

Wake up in the morning
And get out of bed
Start making a mental list in my head
Of all of the things that I am grateful for

Early in the morning
It's the dawn of a new day
New hopes new dreams new ways
I open up my eyes and
I open up my mind and
I wonder how life will surprise me today
Early in the morning
It's the dawn of a new day
New hopes new dreams new ways
I open up my heart and
I'm gon' do my part and
Make this a positively beautiful day

La la la la la la la la la
It's a Beautiful Day

Life is a challenge not a competition
You can still smell the roses and be on a mission
Just take a moment to get in touch with your heart
Sometimes you feel like you've got something to prove
Remind yourself that there's only one you
Just take a moment to give thanks of who you are
Early in the morning
It's the dawn of a new day
New hopes, new dreams, new ways
I open up my eyes and
I open up my mind and
I wonder how life will surprise me today

Early in the morning
It's the dawn of a new day
New hopes, new dreams, new ways
I open up my heart and
I'm gon' do my part and
Make this a positively beautiful day

La la la la la la la la la
It's a Beautiful Day

Let's make this a wonderful
Let's make this a powerful
Let's make this a Beautiful Day
It's a Beautiful Day

Life is a journey,
Not a destination,
There are no mistakes,
Just chances we've taken
Lay down your regrets cause all we have is now

Every day I'm with her Ellie reminds me that it is indeed, no matter, what a beautiful day.  Today Ellie is doing incredibly better than yesterday.  She has been awake for much of the morning, able to carry on a conversation, with much less seizure activity.  The neurologist came in last night and also this morning to tell us she has been wracking her brain trying to come up with a solution for Ellie.  She explained that Kepra (the medication Ellie was on a few years ago that seemed to cause more seizures) is the very best drug they have available, with the least severe side effects.  Some of the other medications would not work for Ellie because of Ellie's numerous other medical complications.  For example, one of the other meds causes lowered sodium levels.  Another one may cause weight gain and liver damage.  Another one (rarely, but still) may cause a life threatening skin rash.  The neurologist explained that Trileptal (the anti-seizure medication she has been on) could actually be causing the seizure activity she is having, because this side effect can occur at any time while taking this medication.  The doctor felt confident that Ellie will do better on Kepra.  Basically the plan is to increase the Kepra as we ween her off the Trileptal.  Her seizure activity has decreased so much that there is even talk of moving us to the oncology ward today.  Quite an abrupt change from yesterday.