Martha McCarthy

Martha McCarthy

Sunday 17 April 2016

Martha’s Health in the Spotlight


Martha has a number of on-going health issues that have taken some attention in the last few months. These have required travel to multiple hospitals, seeing many consultants and having numerous medical tests. At the beginning of 2016 Martha had a number of visits to the Chelsea and Westminster to further investigate her recurring kidney infections. Martha had a “nuclear medicine” test where they inject nuclear material and then monitor its journey through her body. We are pleased to report that Martha’s kidneys were given a clean bill of health during this process, but we are still working hard to keep the infections at bay. Martha also attended the Nuffield Orthopaedic hospital in Oxford around the same time to review the on-going problems she has with her hips. Further X-rays and a CT scan were carried out and we expect to have the results and a plan of action from the consultant shortly. We have also been working to try and better control Martha’s epilepsy.

Martha and Orla in Martha's Bed

Martha still has multiple seizures each day, despite being on the maximum dose of her current  medication - Epilim. Following a review with her epilepsy consultant we have agreed to try a different medication (Keppra) to see if this will better control Martha’s seizures. We are currently in the transition phase of introducing the new medication and will start to reduce the original medication shortly. We are hoping that this will reduce Martha’s seizures to a level where they are not impacting her day to day life, as this will hopefully promote her development.

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