Guest guest Posted July 25, 2001 Report Share Posted July 25, 2001 St. sburg Times The Storms behind those eyes St. sburg Times; St. sburg; May 16, 1999; Abstract: Dominique Bacci is a 5-year-old Port Richey girl with great almond eyes and a head full of firestorms. Sometimes she is a shy, sweet girl. Sometimes the electrical misfirings in her brain make her scream. Day by day, seizure by seizure, her parents, [bacci] and Roy, watch as epilepsy slowly kills her brain. She can't trace her ABCs, and crowds terrify her. Drugs don't work. Neither do diets. A year ago, a doctor there saved Dominique's toddler brother, Destin, from infantile spasm seizures by taking out half his brain. Full Text: Copyright Times Publishing Co. May 16, 1999 Dominique Bacci is a 5-year-old Port Richey girl with great almond eyes and a head full of firestorms. Sometimes she is a shy, sweet girl. Sometimes the electrical misfirings in her brain make her scream. Day by day, seizure by seizure, her parents, and Roy, watch as epilepsy slowly kills her brain. She can't trace her ABCs, and crowds terrify her. Drugs don't work. Neither do diets. Late last month, the parents took their daughter to Miami Children's Hospital, to its leading-edge epilepsy program, with hope of curing the seizures. A year ago, a doctor there saved Dominique's toddler brother, Destin, from infantile spasm seizures by taking out half his brain. On the way to Miami this time, the Baccis wonder if they can hope for a second miracle. The family knows this: Doctors will have to implant electrodes in the girl's brain to isolate the source of the epilepsy. Depending on where the bad tissue resides, cutting it out might leave her crippled, or worse. What does Dominique Bacci know? That she will return home all better. That she will have a scar to match her little brother's. That doctors will make the firestorms go away. They tell her to be brave. There's something they don't tell her: the odds. PLAYTIME: Dominique Bacci blows bubbles in her hospital room while her mother, , tries to rid herself of a migraine. Dominique had to be tethered to the bed because of the electrodes implanted in her brain. THE OPERATION BEGINS: From left, Dr. Prasanna Jayakar, left, and Dr. Edwin Liu confer with Dr. Prats as he prepares to make incisions on the surface of Dominique's brain. "It's really a very ugly operation," Prats said. "It's traumatizing the brain." HOPING FOR A MIRACLE: Roy and Bacci are left to wonder whether they did the right thing for their daughter. Dominique couldn't speak or blink after the surgery because of brain swelling. "I just have to remember she's had two brain surgeries in a week, and I wouldn't be feeling too good either," said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 25, 2005 Report Share Posted October 25, 2005 How everyone is safe and healthy after the storms. Bobbie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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