Twenty-Four

"The diaper goes on my butt, Daddy!"

The twenty-four hour EEG is over! The picture above is what they sent us home with. We arrived at around 3PM yesterday and the EEG technician, who was so very interested in talking about himself, was quick with everything. He proceeded to tell me about how much he loved his job, what a people-person he was, and how he was a hard worker. He wore a thick gold chain, was 42 years old, and had band practice after work, which he mentioned three times. You get the picture.

Underneath the gauze are electrodes that were pasted, yes pasted as in glued, to his head. There are so many, they wrap the entire head in gauze so the electrodes won't be pulled or yanked. They definitely wouldn't fall off with all that putty that keeps them on. But if they got pulled, it would pull Christian's hair. And he just started growing that so we kind of want to keep it there.

Through the span of twenty-four hours, anytime we saw anything remotely suspicious, we had to press a button that was on a box hooked up to the wiring. The box holds a memory card type thing that downloads all of the information into the computer at the end of the twenty-four hours. We were also sent home with a log to log in everytime we pressed the button, why we pressed it, and what we saw. We also had another log to explain our daily activities.

Today we went back at around 2PM to get the electrodes removed. Now a pediatric neurologist will read the EEG, compare it with my notes and everytime I pressed the button, and he'll formulate a report. I'm actually excited (yes, excited) because the neurologist that will be reading the EEG is supposed to be the best at pediatric neurology and seizures. Wanna know why we can't go see him? Because we've already seen the other less than favorite neurologist (Dr. Death anyone?) and they have a policy at their practice that once you've seen one doctor you can NEVER see another one there. Lame.

Oh, it was a glorious twenty-four hours. Pretty much non stop crying and whining. I think it's fair to say he HATED it. I don't blame him in the least. He was up all night so I didn't get too much sleep. And then he cried all day until we went to get it removed. As soon as it was all gone - silence.

The gauze "hat" finally loosened from his head and wouldn't go back on. So we changed it up.

Instead he wore a winter beanie with a chin strap. Why don't they distribute these instead? It was way more efficient and way more comfortable for Christian, even though the picture doesn't look like it. It was so snug (as you can tell) that it didn't allow for any pull. So we got some peace.

Even though the crying and whining are absolutely mind numbing at times, and I would even go so far as to say it burns a hole through my heart, it is good!

Everyone keeps telling me that and I only halfway believe them.

But it is really good. This is the only way Christian knows how to communicate. And, dammit if he's not going to use his only mode of verbal communication to tell me when he doesn't like something!

We won't have results for about a week. I'm okay with that. That means they'll be thorough. No room for guessing or interpretation. I'm not so much nervous anymore as I am anxious for more information so we can move forward. Dare I say, excited? I actually did say that to the full-of-himself EEG tech.

I've already primed my brain. I've already prepared myself for the worst (remember my whole self preservation thing), but, of course, I'm hoping for the best.

So I'm off to enjoy my last week of ignorance.

And if it is seizures, we're going to kick seizures' collective ass.