The EEG

I was hoping that my update on Zane would be filled with good news. I wanted to be able to report that Zane had completely overcome his seizures that either were triggered by medicine or somehow coincidentally coincided with the start of the new med. Zane did go a full week without any visible evidence of them. Unfortunately, this past Monday, they restarted. And each day, leading up to yesterday, they have intensified. In fact, he had eight of them throughout the course of the day yesterday.

 

Jeff filmed one of his seizures and showed it to the pediatrician. She ordered an EEG—a sleep-deprived study that typically requires 24 hours of wakefulness. It was initially scheduled for December 5th. However, I asked the nurse what we should do if they continue to get worse. Do we take Zane to the ER? Though only a week away, it seemed like a long time to wait for an EEG for someone whose seizures were worsening. She said she’d call the hospital to see if they could squeeze him in sooner. And she did. In fact, she managed to get him an appointment for yesterday after school. He was able to forego the sleep deprivation. We have the most awesome pediatric group ever!

 

The EEG could not have been more ideal. The whole process took nearly two hours. It was a time-consuming procedure to prep his skull and place the many electrodes on his head. This is always made more difficult because Zane loves to wiggle. He knocked a few of the electrodes off. But the technician was extremely kind and patient. Once she was set to conduct the test, Zane was moving and shaking on the bed a bit. But as soon as she turned off the lights, he settled down.

 

The test captures brain wave activity and response to hyperventilation, strobe lights, and sleep. The technician said that Zane’s upset during the set-up phase created some hyperventilation that she was able to record. She moved immediately to the strobe lights. In the midst of that portion of the test, Zane ideally fell asleep. We watched him snooze for at least twenty minutes. He woke up and immediately had another series of seizures, which the tech captured, as well.

 

So now we wait on the pediatric neurologist in Denver (that’s who our local hospital sends all the EEGs to) to interpret the results. Luckily, I have a close friend who has epilepsy. She has been a wealth of information for me. I also know of an awesome mother whose kiddo has seizures (in fact, she’ll likely read this). I’ll surely rely on both of them to enlighten me during this new phase in Zane’s life.

 

As a sidenote, both of my boys received several compliments from the technician about their behavior during the EEG yesterday. I am so proud of both of them. Older brother even entertained Zane with puppets while Zane was getting hooked up. I am so blessed and lucky to have them in my life.