Afterward breaking our fast, we went to the farmers market and bought some vegetables, fresh Salman, halibut, and large gulf prawns.   We also bought 3 or 4 baskets of strawberries.  The keto diet does require some good planning to make tasty creative meals so eating doesn’t become so boring.  

I really don’t care what I eat; I could eat the same thing every day and it wouldn’t bother me, but I did not want to force my daughter to be like me in that regard.

Well, now I have this great, fresh, wild-caught fish from the farmers market, and I want to make something tasty.  I started searching recipes and came across a seafood soup type dish.  I normally grill the fish which is fine but again I wanted something different since we just broke our 40 hours fast; kind of like a celebration meal.  

I cut the fish (both Halibut and Salmon) into cubes and created a seafood dish in a heavy white cream sauce with lots of parmesan cheese for thickness and taste.   Remember Sarah loves this cheese so I bought some fresh shredded parmesan cheese.  I also seasoned the dish with one of her favorite Ranch Seasoning Salt.

She loves this Ranch Salt so much she puts it on everything she eats.  Even in the morning when she eats a whole avocado, she would just smother it with this Ranch Salt.  She recently discovered this salt a few months ago, so I started buying from Costco in a two-pack because we were using so much of it.

Between herself and me just starting to put this salt on everything we/she was eating, she was getting this Ranch Salt all day long, every day and more and more each day.  Yes, I’m going somewhere with this.  

8/2/2021

The kids and I had planned a trip to Ohio on August 3^rd back in May to visit with my father and stepmom.  My father has stage 4 lung cancer and it’s been a while since we have seen them, so we were looking forward to this trip for many reasons.  I still have many friends out there, so we planned a week in various cities with various activities such as camping, white water rafting etc.

Up until today we have had no issues since the first event on July 18^th and we were all feeling very good that 15 days have gone by and everything has been great!  We’ve made some changes, primarily the keto diet, some fasting and some supplementation.

Although berries are generally ok when on keto diet in small amounts, Sarah did eat about 3 baskets of strawberries on Saturday when we broke the fast.  I later learned that the 3 baskets of strawberries contained about 80 grams of carbs and 73 gram of sugar.  I do believe this would have popped her out of ketosis and since she may not have been fully adapted it may have taken a little longer to pop back in.

Although it was not my intent to pop her out of ketosis I was feeling pretty good about everything and wanted to relax a little and let her enjoy whatever she wanted to eat.

On Sunday (8/1/2021), we had the left-overs from Saturday’s dinner.  So more of the fish in white cream sauce with lots of parmesan cheese and lots of the Ranch Salt.  And we were putting parmesan cheese now on our salads.

Back to August 2^nd (a Monday), it was a standard morning about 9am, Sarah and I were in the kitchen.  I was close to her but turned when I heard water hitting the kitchen floor.  I turned to Sarah and asked what happened there?  

I was just thinking she hit the bottom of the cup against the counter and spilled some water.  No big deal.  But also, hyper-sensitive to arm tremors.  She said, “ I just had one of those arm things”.  

Talk about being instantly crushed!  But that doesn’t matter right now.  I said, “Sarah, I told you if that ever happen you go directly to bed to get yourself laid down, come on, let’s gets to bed.”  

I now for the very first time was able to witness the arm tremors.  They were uncontrollable, usually both arms, just twitching or popping up in the air.  It was so disheartening to watch these happens and her looking so scared.  Of course, I texted Sheryl who came home immediately from work.

Well, besides feeling so helpless, I was destroyed feeling like everything we had been working so hard on has failed.  But as a father we simply start doing whatever we know how to do and move forward.

I immediately gave her a tablespoon of coconut oil which I had stopped giving her on 7/27/2021.  I mixed up a batch of electrolytes.  And an NAC supplement which I had bought years ago for the kids but had recently learned it is a great antioxidant for the brain.  I started rubbing her thumbs because I had recently read that the pressure points by the “drumstick” part of the thumb could help alleviate a seizure.

By about 9:20 there were no more arm tremors, and she did not have a seizure.  By 11am, still clear, by 1:30pm, still clear.  We had averted a seizure either by using the supplements or luck or both.  God only knows.

Keep in mind, I have never stopped researching since the 1^st event on July 18^th.  It’s time to talk a little bit about what is the science behind a grand-mal seizure.  There are many types but since Sarah had the grand-mal seizure that is what I focused on.

The brain has two types of neurons: excitatory and inhibitory.  The excitatory wants to fire and the inhibitory wants to suppress.  Think of a gas pedal and brakes in a car.  These two types of neurons, when not in balance, will cause a seizure.  

In the case of a grand-mal, all neurons start firing overloading the brain causing uncontrollable convulsions (clonic-tonic), unconsciousness, eyes rolled back, foaming of the mouth, stops breathing turning blue and lifelessness when the convulsions stop.

Yep, that is exactly what happened during the 1^st event on July 18^th.  In simple terms as a father, I watched my daughter die in front of me and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.