The University of Kansas Health System is treating a total of 46 COVID patients today, up from 42 on Monday. Other significant numbers:
- 20 with the active virus today, down from 22 Monday
- 5 in ICU, up from 3 Monday
- 1 on a ventilator, same as yesterday
- 26 hospitalized but out of acute infection phase, up from 20 yesterday
Key points from today’s guests:
Dr. Carol Ulloa, epilepsy neurologist, The University of Kansas Health System
- Epilepsy is definitely a family journey. The patient experiences it in one way and the family experiences it in a different way.
- Deep brain stimulation is a type of device for epilepsy. It's one of three FDA approved devices for epilepsy. And basically, there's a battery that goes under the chest wall, and it connects through a wire to two electrodes in the brain. One on the right one on the left. And those electrodes go to the thalamus which at the core of the brain.
- The electrodes send electrical impulses to the thalamus on and off throughout the day. The thalamus is known to be a big part in how seizures form and grow. And so those impulses can sort of interrupt those connections and over time help decrease the number of seizures a person has
- I usually tell people it takes a year to really assess what the treatment is doing. Based on the studies, on average, at one year, there was about a 45 percent reduction in seizures. By six years, it's about a 70 percent reduction in seizures.
- Candidates for this procedure are patients who do not respond to medications. It means you are considered to have drug resistant epilepsy and that is the time you should be seen at a Comprehensive Epilepsy Center.
- It is important for patients and families to don’t ever give up, because I meet people so often that have been going through this for decades and just didn't know that there were other options out there.
- Be an advocate for yourself. If your doctor is not talking about these other treatments, you know that you haven't heard about then you can call us and make an appointment.
Sarah Bateman, deep brain stimulation patient
- Lived her whole life with cerebral palsy and seizures due to epilepsy.
- Was definitely happy to try deep brain stimulation, and it improved her quality of life, reducing the number of seizures.
- As a patient, I want other patients to know that they aren’t alone. There are many people with epilepsy and also there are support groups. There are there are lots of websites that you can go to that that you could be a part of become a part of. I'm a part of an organization for people with disabilities in Missouri. That has been an important part of my life.
Donna Bateman, Sarah Bateman’s mother
- Dr. Ulloa is the best kind of doctor because she really listens. It's the beginning of a path to wellness. Because if you can listen and you can hear and you can see who the person is, we have options.
- Brain surgery is intimidating, but we had joy in thinking that we could finally have something that would really work and give Sarah the life that she deserves. It's the hope of the future that someday she can do what she wants.
- I think the most important thing is to find a doctor that you can communicate with and that you feel really listens to you. Everything starts with that.
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control, The University of Kansas Health System
- On news about nasal sprays designed to help prevent COVID, it is one more potential step on the preventive measures we can take, especially for people who are traveling or higher risk.
- Good news on the Ebola front in Uganda, as Uganda's Health Minister announced officials will evaluate three Ebola vaccine candidates in the coming weeks and reported that some health care workers are already testing some new treatment options.
- When it comes to your own health, whether it is epilepsy, cancer or another condition, continue to advocate for yourself. Seek that second opinion.
Wednesday, November 2 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Show Me the Science Program. The guest is the assistant surgeon general of The United States who will outline the latest long COVID research and explain how anyone can participate in a new national study of long COVID.
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