EEG and MRI Results

Late Wednesday night (later than I had planned!) I grabbed Preston and we headed off for his MRI and his 23 hour EEG.

We drove and stayed at a hotel that was about 10 minutes away from the hospital. We decided it would be easier than me trying to drive there the morning of and freaking out on the road, which is what would have happened.

The price was right on the hotel, but the skeeve factor was off the charts. We settled in at about 11:00 pm and went to sleep.

Needless to say, I didn't sleep well. I woke up just about every hour. Anyhow, grabbing everything and checking out went pretty smoothly and we were off.

I managed to find everything okay at the hospital, and I may have even been on time. I took advantage of the free valet parking, and then it was more waiting.

Preston was given some Versed around 9:30 am and then he was wheeled off for the MRI. I waited in the waiting room and inhaled a few muffins, because I hadn't eaten breakfast (since Preston hadn't either, I thought it would be mean to try to eat in front of him or to sneak food). A couple of times someone stopped by to let me know things were going well.

And then, he was done and I got to see him in recovery. He already had his EEG leads on him. It took a while for him to wake up, and once that happened we went up to his room.

He fell back asleep and so did I. Then, Child Life Services woke us up to see if he wanted to play. Umm, no. Later, when I wanted their help, they were gone for the day.

He drank some OJ and ate some chicken nuggets and promptly threw up. The nurse took her sweet time in helping, so he was already all clean by the time she showed up. Fortunately, I had caught much of it in the fun puke bucket. He then promptly ate a muffin and drank some water.

It got a little rough at 7:00 pm, because he was very energetic and it was hard to follow him around with the leads and everything. By 8:00 I was exhausted and he was getting his second wind. I turned down the lights by 8:45 and prayed he'd sleep. Not quite. He finally fell asleep at 10:45, and I was asleep soon after. He had a very restless sleep, and was tossing and turning and I had to keep getting up to fix his leads so he didn't get tangled in them.

He woke up at 5:45. Nooooo! He did fall back asleep, except he knocked a few leads loose, so someone came in to fix them. So, he then was up and that was it.

After breakfast we had Child Life come in and play with him while I showered. He did very well with them and had lots of fun playing.

Then, it was about another hour of trying to keep him entertained till it was time to take the leads off. He was very uncomfortable and kept scratching at two of the leads.

Then, they came in and did some fun things with a stroke light and a pinwheel. And then the leads were removed. We packed up and headed for his appointment with Dr. Smith to discuss the results.

Basically, no abnormalities were found in the MRI and the EEG was good. So, there was no structural reason we shouldn't see great continued progress. He said that he didn't see why Preston wouldn't be in-line with his neurotypical peers by kindergarten. Which is what I have always said! So, it was wonderful to have a doctor's confirmation of that thought. And it was nice to think I wasn't being overly optimistic or unrealistic.

I finally feel like we can put this issue to rest. We will continue to have yearly appointments and we will keep an eye out for puberty, which is when some kids start to have seizure issues.

All in all, Preston did really well. The nurses thought he was absolutely cute and he was quite cooperative and tolerant of everything they did.

I have to say, I highly recommend Rush and St. Alexius for their seizure/epilepsy program. Their facilities looked top-notch and everyone was very pleasant to deal with. And again, I have to say how much I liked Dr. Smith. I am very happy - not just with the outcome, but the entire process.

And yay - no issues for Preston! We will keep doing what we're doing. I'm so incredibly proud of my little dude for all he goes through. I have the best son in the world.