EEG Report

We just got home from the hospital. It's been a long 24 hrs!

We stayed up till midnight watching movies and playing games. Then we had to get up at 4am after only sleeping about 3.5-4 hrs.

We arrived at the EEG lab early and got checked in with no problem. Shae did really well laying still as the tech measured, marked, scrubbed and attached electrodes...until he got down to the last few. Shae's patience ran out. He was a little scared of the whole thing and being sleep-deprived greatly exasperated things. He nearly pulled out the already fixed electrodes in a grab for "Dad". His melt-down only lasted about 10 minutes - maybe less. After that, things went well again. He fell asleep like he was supposed to and woke up in a much better mood (the "nap" was about 15 minutes).

After that, we headed to IHOP for some food and then back to the hospital parking lot for a nap (it was easier than battling traffic to go home, only to come back). We met with the Dr. at 2:30.

She did some other physical tests in her office (walking on tip-toe, checking peripheral vision...) and pronounced Shae to be perfectly healthy! The EEG showed totally normal and she determined that the episodes with his eyes is a tic.

She said that he may deal with tics his whole life. They may come and go, and change symptoms (ie, it may be a grimace, it may be vocal, throat clearing....). She also said that it does not need any treatment.

Very good news for all of us. We've been researching everything from eye strain to epilepsy, trying to place the symptoms. Now, I guess we'll read up on tics.

Thanks for all your prayers! They were (and are) greatly appreciated!

Shae seems to be doing a lot better today, but we went ahead and scheduled an EEG. We go in Wed. morning, 8am. (A miracle that we could get in this soon! They were talking the end of September unless there was a cancellation - there was! Yay, God!) It's a sleep deprivation EEG so he can get no more than 4 hrs of sleep before the test (so neither can I!)

Doesn't that sound like fun?

He will have time to nap after the test / before the Dr. appointment at 2:45.

Please pray that the test reveals what the issue is (or was) so that we can have some peace of mind.

Thank you!

Update...

So, no pictures of the new glasses. They look really nice on him, and he doesn't mind wearing them (he only needs them for distance). You should have seen him when he first put them on. His eyes are not that bad, but it was like a whole new world had opened up before him.

Saturday (a week ago) was the Shoreline Parade & Festival. NW Church participated and so we were there most of the day. I took Shae up to watch the parade and he was wearing his glasses. About halfway thru the parade, so he tells me, he began to get a headache.

He still has that headache today, although he says it's getting better. He's also doing weird things with his eyes (don't ask me to describe it - I can't). He's been to his dr and his eye dr. Tomorrow we're going to try to schedule an EEG.

Those of you who pray, please do. It's quite disconcerting to not know what's happening. It's breaking our hearts to see him go thru this and not know how to help him. We've been making him rest a lot and are keeping him away from TV/computer screens and reading. Poor kid's got to be going stir crazy, but he's going along with it more or less gracefully.

I'll update you when I know more. In the meantime, please pray for us.

Lost & Found

We spent the day cleaning! Under the bed, off the shelves, around the corners.... It was a very productive day! The best thing that happened....

Kent opened up his acoustic guitar case and found a backpack. A backpack I thought had gotten mixed up with "give away" stuff several years ago. So what? you may be thinking. This backpack was storage for recordings of Shae from birth to age 3 or so. I thought those tapes were gone forever. I cried many tears over them and battled knots in my stomach.

And there it was, tapes and all.

Today, there were tears of joy! God is good in so many ways!

Here's hoping for small miracles in your life today!