Josie's Journey

How Nicole Zeitzer Johnson, Communications Director and Special Needs Parent, Does It By NICOLE ZEITZER JOHNSON, AS TOLD TO KJ DELL'ANTONIA AUGUST 27, 2014 3:20 PM September 3, 2014 10:37 am Nicole Zeitzer Johnson is the director of communications at Qello, a digital streaming service for full-length concerts and music documentaries, and the mother of two children, Tanner, 7, and Josie, 2. Josie has a rare genetic neurological condition called FoxG1, which is associated with impaired development. In the “How I Do It” series, Motherlode asks parents, from members of Congress to retail clerks, to share “how they do it” on one typical day. We’re spending the summer in Montauk. My son goes to camp out here. I was hesitant to do it this year because our neurology team is by our home in Port Washington, and the nearest hospital isn’t close, but our doctors all said do it. Live your life. So we’re here. This morning we got up at 7:30. Someone sleeps in the bed with Josie every n

Josie turned a corner this week in her walker. She would always just push herself a few steps backwards, but now she is taking steps forward! Her foot positioning might not be there yet, but it doesn't matter right now. Isn't that what 'baby steps' means? She is wearing her new AFOs (ankle foot orthodics). They were molded to fit her perfectly and then painted with hearts :) She's so fancy. It's still hard for her to keep her head up while using her leg muscles, but again, she'll get there. Go Josie Go! * Step is a song by Vampire Weekend (I've actually mentioned it before).

I am incredibly moved by the outpour of love and support that is coming our way since I went public about Josie's diagnosis. Three weeks ago I was interviewed by a writer at the New York Times for a column called "The Motherload: How She Does It." She had learned about my life as a working mom with a child with a very rare disorder. Ahead of this call, I realized I should use this opportunity to finally start the online fundraiser I've wanted to start. It was the right time - hey, maybe they will add the link to the story. So I signed up for Crowdrise, which by the way is a fantastic company, and I wrote Josie's story. At the same time I came out of the closet about Josie on Facebook. Up until this time, I hadn't mentioned anything about Josie for all to read. I wasn't ready. I knew that something would come up that would make me ready. With the fundraiser set up, I made the first donation and posted it to Facebook. The emails came pouring in - donati

One that won't keep me up all night or make me sleep all day. Did Huey Lewis write this song for Josie in the '80s? Well, since my last post, the anti-seizure medicine trial-and-error continues. Josie went two weeks without a seizure recently, but last week she had two big ones. We went to the ER because she was not just sleeping once she came out of it, she was passed out. I had them check her Valproic Acid levels and learned they were max'd. That means we can't raise her Depokote dosage any more. So the next day I took Josie back up-island to where we live during the year and saw Dr. Maytal to go over our new plan - her new drug. Together we decided to ween off the Topomax, which he doesn't think is doing anything for her, and we're adding Keppra. Maybe this will be the trick. I'm hopeful! Sleeping is very difficult for us. Someone needs to be watching Josie at all times, including all night as she has had many seizures in her sleep. So we're take

The past month has been all about trial and error - or maybe I should say trial by fire. Since my last post, Josie has had a handful of seizures, large and small. Each new seizure leads to an increase in her medicine. I'm writing this on June 10th at 8 a.m. just two hours after I jumped out of bed when I heard her "seizure scream." Parents with kids who have seizures know that scream - unmistakably. It's not a screech, it's deep and kind of animalistic. And it typically happens once the seizure has already started. We are starting to feel more comfortable handling Josie's seizures on our own without calling 911. We have an oxygen tank that we bring everywhere we go with her. And we have two types of emergency meds. The heavy artillery is the diazepam syringe that we administer in her butt if it's a really bad seizure, and the lighter, but so far effective solution, is a dissolvable Klonopin. There are times when we need both. I won't go through

Driving home from the hospital the other day, just to take a shower, this new song by the Black Keys came on the radio. It's a good one and so appropriate for the title of this post. In my last entry, when I described Josie's FOXG1 diagnosis, I spoke too soon when I said it's still unknown if her "attacks" are seizures. I have been sure that they are seizures, despite four neurologists telling us they are not as all the EEGs did not pick anything up. Well, we know now that they are, in fact, "*ominous" seizures. On April 18th at 7:30 pm and on April 30th at 2:30pm Josie had the worst versions of her "bad attacks" (now known as seizures) that caused her to become unresponsive and turn blue. On both occasions I gave her breaths until her color came back. We knew right away that they were very bad because she was staying stiff for too long. It's usually one second of stiffness, eyes stunned, break, then again. But, in these two episodes

[This is the blog post written in 2014 when we got Josie's diagnosis and years before I knew I'd be co-founding the FOXG1 Research Foundation to find a cure] On April 8th I got the call we have been waiting for since November. Katie, from Dr. Iglesias' office (the Geneticist at Columbia), asked "Is now a good time?" I said "yes." I think I held my breath in those few seconds between my apprehensive "yes" and her telling me the "gene mutation we found in Joise is..." She explained that Josie has something called Congenital Rett Syndrome. No, that can't be it, Josie was tested for Rett Syndrome a year ago. But this is Congenital variant of Rett Syndrome and is caused by a different gene than the MECP2 gene that is responsible for about 90% of all Rett Syndrome cases. Josie has a mutation on her FOXg1 gene. There is a significant difference. Most Rett Syndrome children develop quite well until about 18 months, but the word Co