Warrior Zoey's Brain Surgery

Zoey is a strong, stubborn, hilarious child.
Zoey is a little sister and a big sister.
Zoey is wild and fearless.

Zoey is two-years old and Zoey needs brain surgery.

At just three-months old Zoey had her first scare.  

It was the night before Momma Trisha was going back to work from her maternity leave.  Momma Trisha had noticed weird things happening all day with Zoey where it would look like Zoey was holding her breath.

When Mommy Robin (aka Carletta Robinette Triplett) got home they called the doctor who said that maybe it was gas but to keep an eye on her and take her to the hospital just in case.  On the way to the hospital Zoey stopped breathing and began to turn blue.

Mommy Robin and Momma Trisha gunned it to the hospital.

When they arrived the ER team rushed her back and hooked her up to oxygen and other machines and immediately asked if she had access to any drugs in the home.  Momma Trisha anxiously stated she had been prescribed oxycodone when she gave birth to Zoey but there was no way that she could have gotten to that.

Regardless of the mothers' pleas to not narcan their three-month old daughter the ER team did in fact narcan Zoey.  

Trisha and Robin were devastated and quickly angered when they were informed that a drug test would have taken only minutes to rule-out drugs.

With no answers, Zoey was admitted to the neurology inpatient unit where she had many tests including CT, spinal tap, 72-hour long EEG test.  As there were no more "episodes" while inpatient the doctors stated Zoey had acid reflux and sent the family home.

Momma Trisha, Mommy Robin, big-brother Wyatt and Warrior Zoey had just experienced their first traumatic stay in the hospital with no results and a lot of left-over emotions.

Two-weeks later, it all happened again.

This time the momma's called 911 and Zoey was rushed to the hospital.  While in the ambulance she stopped breathing, turned blue and was given oxygen.

Once in the ER she coded, requiring oxygen and compressions to bring her back. 

This time she was put in the ICU.  They hooked her up again to the EEG machine and also did more tests (MRI, CT, sleep study, genetic testing).

Again, no episodes, nothing to catch, sent them home.

Momma Trisha and Mommy Robin said they wouldn't go home unless they were given something to monitor their daughter while she was sleeping.  They had been taking turns staying up at night to watch Zoey while she slept in fear of losing their daughter.

The hospital said no.  Their pediatrician advocated for them and was able to get them a pulse-ox machine that would monitor Zoey's oxygen levels and alert them if she wasn't getting enough oxygen.

One night a few weeks later the pulse-ox machine went off in the middle of the night.  Mommy Robin performed CPR on their 4-month old child in hopes of getting her to breath again while Momma Trisha called 911. 

Trisha was on hold for ten minutes but luckily Robin was able to get Zoey breathing again.

When the fire department arrived they apologized for the wait as they were at an emergency over-dose situation.  

Zoey was again taken to the hospital and admitted for her third time.  And for the third time was hooked up to the EEG machine and nothing was found.

A few weeks later again Momma Trisha and Mommy Robin were experts and saw the signs leading up to an "episode".  They jumped in the care and took her to the ER.  Once there Momma Trisha said "hook her up this minute, it's going to happen".  

The staff were pushing back saying no but then Dr. Moon stepped in and said, "listen to the parents".  

Zoey was hooked up and they finally caught what would be determined to be a seizure.  The relief of finally having the evidence that Momma Trisha and Mommy Robin were not crazy was the first step in the right direction.

Zoey spent the next five days in the hospital splitting her time between the ICU and the neuro unit.  The doctors were finally able to diagnose her with focal absent seizures in her left temporal lobe, or epilepsy.

At six-months old Zoey was put on her first medicine to hopefully stop the seizures.  Unfortunately, after just one month she had a seizure.

The doctors switched her medication at this point.  This medication stopped the seizures but Zoey was unable to sweat as a side-effect making it very difficult for her to be outside or in any warm environment.

They switched her to a third medicine. 

For one-and-a-half years Zoey was seizure-free.

Momma Trisha, Mommy Robin and big-brother Wyatt began to relax.  The treatment team thought she was growing out of her seizures.  Momma Trisha and Mommy Robin decided to have another baby as everything was calming down.

A week after they found out Mommy Robin was pregnant Zoey had a seizure.  Then she kept having seizures. 

At two-years old the treatment team decided they needed to increase her current medication and add a new one called Kepra.  Both moms were against this as a major side-effect of this medication is rage but the team was insistent.

Soon after starting this medication Zoey's rage was strong.  She was attacking herself, attacking her family, pulling out her own hair and eye lashes.  They had to again switch this medication.

In addition, they were given emergency medication to use whenever she began to have seizures.  One emergency medication costs $1000.  And every time they had to use it Zoey would be completely worn out and not herself for a few days.

Since the last MRI they had done was when Zoey was three-months old the treatment team wanted another done since she was not two-years old.  The MRI sealed Zoey's fate showing that the seizures were affecting her left temporal lobe as there was an abnormality and it was not developing correctly. 

In response to this the treatment team stated they suspected that Zoey's seizures are med-resistant and Zoey will not grow out of her seizures as they once thought.  The team stated the choices at this point were to constantly switch medications all of Zoey's life, risking the seizures impacting her brain development more and more or...
brain surgery.

Momma Trisha and Mommy Robin were just told that the best option for their two-year old daughter was brain surgery.

The team stated that to verify this is the best option they wanted another EEG test where Zoey would be taken off all of her medication in hopes of forcing seizures.  The initial intent was just three-days in the hospital but this soon turned into five days.

Five days where Zoey had to stay in one room only.

Five days where Zoey was hooked up to a monitor on her head that was hooked up to a wall.

Five days where Zoey was not allowed to leave the hospital when her siblings and either Robin or Trisha would go home and Zoey would not understand why.

Five days where Zoey's growth and development was put on hold in hopes of her having a seizure in hopes of proving that brain surgery is her best option.

Trisha and Robin are not ignorant to the fact that their situation could be a lot worse.  They knew the challenges and difficulties they might face when having children.  They never expect anyone to take care of them and their children except for them.  They rarely share their story with anyone besides family and close friends.

But they have accepted the fact that to get through this they are going to need support in all shapes and sizes.

Just yesterday (10/11/19) they found out for sure that on November 6th their two-year old daughter is going to have brain surgery.  They are both going to be taking off work for three weeks which neither of them will be paid for as they have had to take a lot of time off this year for inpatient stays and testing as well as vacation to try to normalize their lives as a family as much as possible.

They are choosing to do the surgery at this time since they have met their deductible meaning it will be as cheap as possible which really doesn't mean that cheap...

They are doing this with a five-year old son that has been the most understanding, loving child a family could hope for during this time but who they still want to smother in love and affection that they don't always have the time and energy for.

They are doing this with a three-month old daughter that they wanted desperately and thought they had found a good time to have another child.  Who is probably the best behaved baby they could ask for especially during this stressful time but is still a breast-feeding three-month old child.

They are doing this trying to tell everyone that they will be okay and don't want to ask for help and don't want to try to make people feel bad for them.

But finally yesterday after their four-hour appointment to determine if brain surgery was the right answer or not they said, "Thank you guys for all your help and support.  I think we are going to need all the love and support that we can get".

So that is what we are hoping to do here.  Provide them with that love and support that they rarely ask for and definitely don't expect.

The money we are asking for is to replace the paychecks they won't be getting while they stay home with Zoey.

It is to replace the money they would be using to pay bills, buy groceries, buy convenient meals, hopefully pay some towards medical bills.

It is to help them maintain as much normalcy as possible through a difficult time.

It is to show their children that they have nothing to fear, that they will always be taken care of no matter the stressors in life.  That family is not just those you share genes with but is a support system that runs far and wide.

If you have any questions you would like to ask before you feel okay with donating feel free to message us.