September 11, 2009
Well we had a long appointment at the pediatric neurology office this morning. Isabel had an EEG that lasted about 45 minutes. The attached a bunch of wires to her head and face in different places and then ran some tests where they had her close her eyes and had these flashing lights that they put over her, flashing at different speeds and intervals, then she had to blow on a pinwheel for three minutes (I was quite dizzy after that part haha), and then a part where we just had to lie down with eyes closed and listen to calming music--of course she was not able to lie still for long, always moving!I was in the dark as to what an actual EEG was, but I just spoke with the nurse again and she explained a little bit more for me. She said that basically what an EEG does is to read the electrical fields in the brain. Kind of like the monitor that measures the heart (the one that goes beep beep). Anyway, they want to read the EEG to see if there is a misfiring of the electrical fields and if there is, this is what causes seizures.
After the EEG we had an apt with the neurologist where he tested her grasp and eyes following lights, the usual physical exam type of stuff, then went over her medical history with me. The doctor then told me that her EEG results were abnormal. He said there were many spots, instead of just one here or there, occurring mostly on the left side. He said that because there were so many misfiring spots that it would be very likely that she would have more seizures. Also, in discussing it with him we decided that she probably has been having seizures. Not huge grand mal ones like the one I reported, but mini ones where she just sort of gazes off into space or where her face twitches or her arms or hands...
So where do we go from here? Well, apparently there are certain things that can cause these so-called misfirings. One of these is some sort of brain injury, for example a loss of oxygen during child-birth or even some sort of problem in the womb which could have caused a delay in the development of her brain. Or some sort of obstruction like a tumor, which they assured me is very rare. And many times there is no known source to why these neurons would be misfiring. In that case it would just be considered epilepsy. We will be scheduling an MRI in the near future to make sure there are no tumors or to see if there is anything that shows up that tells us why she is having seizures. She has been prescribed an anti-seizure medication that she will take morning and night every day. The doc talked about surgery of some sort, but that would be down the road after trying different medications and the like...
So that is as much as I know now. A friend asked me how I was doing with the news and I told her I am not really sure. I feel kind of overwhelmed, especially since there is so much medical stuff that I just don't understand. Thank God I have people around me like Marni that know what they are talking about here so they can explain things to me and tell me what questions to ask and what to worry and not worry about. All i know is that I have a headache!
After the EEG we had an apt with the neurologist where he tested her grasp and eyes following lights, the usual physical exam type of stuff, then went over her medical history with me. The doctor then told me that her EEG results were abnormal. He said there were many spots, instead of just one here or there, occurring mostly on the left side. He said that because there were so many misfiring spots that it would be very likely that she would have more seizures. Also, in discussing it with him we decided that she probably has been having seizures. Not huge grand mal ones like the one I reported, but mini ones where she just sort of gazes off into space or where her face twitches or her arms or hands...
So where do we go from here? Well, apparently there are certain things that can cause these so-called misfirings. One of these is some sort of brain injury, for example a loss of oxygen during child-birth or even some sort of problem in the womb which could have caused a delay in the development of her brain. Or some sort of obstruction like a tumor, which they assured me is very rare. And many times there is no known source to why these neurons would be misfiring. In that case it would just be considered epilepsy. We will be scheduling an MRI in the near future to make sure there are no tumors or to see if there is anything that shows up that tells us why she is having seizures. She has been prescribed an anti-seizure medication that she will take morning and night every day. The doc talked about surgery of some sort, but that would be down the road after trying different medications and the like...
So that is as much as I know now. A friend asked me how I was doing with the news and I told her I am not really sure. I feel kind of overwhelmed, especially since there is so much medical stuff that I just don't understand. Thank God I have people around me like Marni that know what they are talking about here so they can explain things to me and tell me what questions to ask and what to worry and not worry about. All i know is that I have a headache!
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