Lynn,

Dr. Holmes is with the Regional Epilepsy Center at Harborview/UW and is a
researcher and associate professor as well as an excellent, personable
physician http://pcs.hmc.washington.edu/Epilepsy/Physicians/P_1.htm#holmes
Lars has been seeing him since he moved to the area in 2002 and we are
perfectly confident with his care and have no reason to switch. In fact,
Lars doesn't do well with change and going to a different group would
probably be quite upsetting to him. We've been very happy with all the docs
we've seen there and we've never had a problem getting in on an emergent
basis and the staff has all been wonderful whenever we call with questions -
they're very detailed and thorough and at times have gone out of their way
to help Lars not with just his seizures!

It's a shame that when Lars started having seizures in 1982 that they didn't
know as much then as they know now and the drugs weren't as good. Dr. Holmes
has mentioned that if a patient has gone through three meds without success
at control, then the chances of getting control are slim. Disappointing.
We know that Lars has had better control in the past but the condition can
progress in some people and apparently that's what's happening now for Lars.
He doesn't have the tonic-clonic grand mals any more but there are still a
lot of tonic falls - definitely not drop seizures. It's as if the grand mals
are being aborted. He doesn't have the long post-ictal states any more.
Unless he's having clusters, he's usually through a seizure in a few seconds
and the post-ictal can be maybe 5-10 minutes where he's confused and
disoriented. It's just that they're so darn frequent - he can have up to 20
falls in one day!

I think of all the visits he's had with Dr. Holmes over the years that he's
had only one seizure while in the office! It was frustrating when he had
long-term monitoring - he had been having a ton of seizures and while he was
in the hospital and they were tapering him off his meds, he didn't have any
seizures that they could really use for almost a week!

I'm glad that you're happy with your doc. We know another person who is
going to Swedish.

I forgot to mention that Lars also has a VNS. My big question was if anyone
has used Felbatol and how it worked or if they had reactions to it....

Sherry


-----Original Message-----
From: Cent_Wa_Epilepsy_Support@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:Cent_Wa_Epilepsy_Support@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
LMEvans926@...
Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2007 9:04 PM
To: Cent_Wa_Epilepsy_Support@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Cent_Wa_Epilepsy_Support] Felbatol

I don't know anything about the drug.  I also don't know anything about his
neuro, but I've started seeing David Vossler, he's at Valley in Renton now,
was at Swedish.  I am really impressed with him!  He's one of the top-rated
neuros in the nation and all he does is Epilepsy.  He also has 2 children of
his own that have Epilepsy.  He really has a wonderful "bedside manner", and
he knows his stuff to boot.  You may want to call him for a consult on a
second opinion if you have questions or concerns about the advice you are
currently getting.  Just my 2cents, for what it's worth.
 
Lynn