Seizures and Such

Little had another seizure - actually, I think two more.

March 31, 2006 was when she had her first seizure. We were in the car on the way to Children's Hospital where she was going to be "exhibit A" for a class lecture on Physical Therapy and the Special Child. About 2 block from our apartment I heard something in the back seat and when I looked in the rear view mirror Little's eyes were glazed over, she was softly grunting and frozen in place. As Providence would have it, at the intersection I was approaching, there were cops directing traffic due to a huge fire another block down the street. Two policemen rush to my car and I screeched to a stop while sitting on the horn. After accessing the situation (Little had ceased seizing at this point), one radioed up the street and had paramedics leave the fire to come check Little. She ended up going home with me and her new teddy bear - given to her by the firemen whose hearts she had won over in mere minutes. (Obviously, this was during her hair pulling phase.)

At that point we made an appointment for an EEG at the recommendation of the neurologist and no seizure activity was observed during our hour in the doctor's office with wires hooked to Little's head.


Anywho, two years later (almost to the day) on March 20, 2008 we are driving just blocks from that same intersection after Little's swim therapy. I heard something in the back seat and upon looking saw Little having another seizure. I turned across oncoming traffic and pulled over on a side street, jumped out and ran around to where Little sat. This seizure was worse than the other in that it involved "posturing" - - or "voguing" for you Madonna fans out there. Her muscles stiffened up again, like before, but contorted for the duration of the seizure. As I opened her door the seizure ended and she threw up on herself and me (great!).

Since we were only a couple blocks from student housing, I drove to my friend's house - she wasn't home - so I went to friend #2's house. Friend #1 and #2 were there. Friend #2 provided Little with clean clothes and friend #1 took us up to her apartment and a bath for Little and a clean shirt for me.

Little had thrown up the week before on the way home from swimming and I realized as I saw her in the rear view mirror this week that her face had contorted just the same way. So, had she had a seizure the week before too?

So, today we had our second EEG - a sleep deprived EEG. That means that Little go to stay up until 8:45PM last night (and watched her first episode of American Idol) and was awakened this morning at 4:15AM. Yes, it was an "Entire Family Sleep Deprived" EEG. Little was a champ and I was so thankful and proud. Here's how the testing went:

I had told Little that we were going to the doctor and they were going to put stickers all over her head. She sat very still, reading her Dora book, while Brenda measured and marked her head for the stickers:



After the marking was complete, Brenda let Little hold her measuring tape and that was all Little needed to entertain her for the duration. It was fun to watch her pull the tape out and jump every time she pushed the button and the tape zipped in. They put one sticker down her shirt. I hadn't told her that was going to happen and she asked about it. So funny!When all the stickers were in place, Brenda wrapped Little's head in gauze so that the electrodes wouldn't come off. We called this her special sleeping hat. You can see she is getting more and more tired. Just minutes after all the lights were out, she was too!
They only let her sleep about 15 minutes (so mean) and then blinked lights into her eyes and took the stickers off. YUCK! That is one sticky mess they left. So, it went off without a hitch. My Little is my hero, really. The way she goes through her life is such a challenge for her weak, lazy, critical, doubting mother. She is strong, persevering, trusting, friendly, and winsome. I love her so.

We don't find out the results for a couple days. We are basically waiting to see if the activity in her brain has changed in such a fashion that we can anticipate increased seizures in her future. With her brain malformation, seizures are common. There is medication but we don't want to put her on the meds if we are looking at one mild seizure every two years.

Pray with and for us as we wait, please.