E! E! G!
I was going to let Krys write about this, but she's been doing motherly things - I know, how selfish can you get? I also apologize for the lack of posting - my parents are in town, and suddenly, it's been a week! I know the five people who read this blog are DYING for their Mia updates!
Last Thursday Mia had an EEG. For those of you who aren't fortunate enough to have someone with a serious medical problem in their lives, and EEG is an electroencephalogram - it measures the electric currents in your brain. We have been worried about Mia's recent increased seizure activities, especially when she's trying to nap - it takes her a hour to go down for a nap, because she keeps having seizures and waking up. Even later during her nap she occasionally has seizures that wake her up, but since she moved into her big girl bed, she's been able to put herself back to sleep, which is nice. Her neurologist wanted her to get an EEG, so back to the hospital we went!
The actual process is more annoying than anything. Krys and I both went (yes, we're both still unemployed), and we decided that Krys should spend the entire time in the testing room with her (hence my insistence on her writing about it, but again, she's selfish - right now she's reading to our child - the nerve!). First, we had to get her up at five in the morning so she would be sleep-deprived. We were going to wake her up at six, but she woke up herself at five, so all was well on that front. When we arrived, the technician took us into a room and Krys held her while she (the technician) swabbed some goopy-looking goo on Mia's head. This, naturally, went over rather poorly with the child, and the screaming began! The tech had to put the goo on key spots on Mia's head, and then place electrodes on those spots - the goo keeps them in place. There's quite a lot of them, actually. Finally, the tech wrapped her head in a bandage so Mia didn't do what anyone would do - pull them all out. Krys sat in a rocking chair and held Mia, who by this point in her sleep-deprived, screaming fiercely day was all tuckered out. Then I left. The EEG tracks Mia's brain patterns, and the hope was she would have some seizures while hooked up to this thing so that the EEG can show what kind of seizures they are.
According to my wife's extensive research (I let her do all the research and then tell me about it), there are three kinds of seizures: localized seizures, universal seizures, and seizures that start one place and migrate to another. I don't know what kind Mia has, nor what kind is the worst. I do know that the last time she had an EEG, some seizure activity had migrated from the right side of her brain (where her injury was) to the left side of her brain. So that was fun. We're still waiting on results from last week's test.
As I said, I left. I had a snack, read my book, found out Terri Schiavo shuffled off this mortal coil, and was surprised when about forty minutes later the technician came out and said the test was done. The last time she had one it lasted a little longer. I found out she had something like seven seizures during the test, and they woke her up from her doze that she had drifted into. The tech also did a strobe light test (it's annoying) and said, all was well. She told us that Mia's neurologist would review the test on Friday or Monday, which in the real world means he might get to it by the end of this week. We are, however, going to start calling the hospital tomorrow to check up on him. The squeaky wheel and all that (sad but true, especially when it comes to medical stuff).
We're hoping that it's simply a case of her metabolizing her medicine more quickly, because then, we assume, we can just up her dosage. Now, that's not good news, but it's better than if her neurologist wants to change her medication to something like phenobarbitol, which is irritating to Mia's stomach (she was on it briefly when she was in the hospital) and can also impede her cognitive development. We'll take the seizures if it means she doesn't slow down her development. So that's that.
Mia's doing fine - babbling a lot, enjoying the visit from the grandparents, working hard in therapy. Soon, there will be more pictures!
Last Thursday Mia had an EEG. For those of you who aren't fortunate enough to have someone with a serious medical problem in their lives, and EEG is an electroencephalogram - it measures the electric currents in your brain. We have been worried about Mia's recent increased seizure activities, especially when she's trying to nap - it takes her a hour to go down for a nap, because she keeps having seizures and waking up. Even later during her nap she occasionally has seizures that wake her up, but since she moved into her big girl bed, she's been able to put herself back to sleep, which is nice. Her neurologist wanted her to get an EEG, so back to the hospital we went!
The actual process is more annoying than anything. Krys and I both went (yes, we're both still unemployed), and we decided that Krys should spend the entire time in the testing room with her (hence my insistence on her writing about it, but again, she's selfish - right now she's reading to our child - the nerve!). First, we had to get her up at five in the morning so she would be sleep-deprived. We were going to wake her up at six, but she woke up herself at five, so all was well on that front. When we arrived, the technician took us into a room and Krys held her while she (the technician) swabbed some goopy-looking goo on Mia's head. This, naturally, went over rather poorly with the child, and the screaming began! The tech had to put the goo on key spots on Mia's head, and then place electrodes on those spots - the goo keeps them in place. There's quite a lot of them, actually. Finally, the tech wrapped her head in a bandage so Mia didn't do what anyone would do - pull them all out. Krys sat in a rocking chair and held Mia, who by this point in her sleep-deprived, screaming fiercely day was all tuckered out. Then I left. The EEG tracks Mia's brain patterns, and the hope was she would have some seizures while hooked up to this thing so that the EEG can show what kind of seizures they are.
According to my wife's extensive research (I let her do all the research and then tell me about it), there are three kinds of seizures: localized seizures, universal seizures, and seizures that start one place and migrate to another. I don't know what kind Mia has, nor what kind is the worst. I do know that the last time she had an EEG, some seizure activity had migrated from the right side of her brain (where her injury was) to the left side of her brain. So that was fun. We're still waiting on results from last week's test.
As I said, I left. I had a snack, read my book, found out Terri Schiavo shuffled off this mortal coil, and was surprised when about forty minutes later the technician came out and said the test was done. The last time she had one it lasted a little longer. I found out she had something like seven seizures during the test, and they woke her up from her doze that she had drifted into. The tech also did a strobe light test (it's annoying) and said, all was well. She told us that Mia's neurologist would review the test on Friday or Monday, which in the real world means he might get to it by the end of this week. We are, however, going to start calling the hospital tomorrow to check up on him. The squeaky wheel and all that (sad but true, especially when it comes to medical stuff).
We're hoping that it's simply a case of her metabolizing her medicine more quickly, because then, we assume, we can just up her dosage. Now, that's not good news, but it's better than if her neurologist wants to change her medication to something like phenobarbitol, which is irritating to Mia's stomach (she was on it briefly when she was in the hospital) and can also impede her cognitive development. We'll take the seizures if it means she doesn't slow down her development. So that's that.
Mia's doing fine - babbling a lot, enjoying the visit from the grandparents, working hard in therapy. Soon, there will be more pictures!
posted by Greg at
5:57 PM
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