It’s been quite a summer for Carter, one of the benefits of
being a teacher is the fact that I get to spend my summers with him and boy,
have we been using our time together with a lot of activities!
Now that Carter is older he would need to have a schedule jam-packed with things to do or else our summer would be pretty boring sitting around in the house, and I planned away. Tuesday-Friday we have something planned in the morning; between gymnastics, outings around town, early on group play time, or bouncing at sky zone, Carter is always on the move… I mean would we have it any other way?
A short while later we headed back to the room and Carter had to be hooked up; not as fun as it looks people, and I know from the pictures, it looks so fun ;). The technician was really great and she showed us and Carter what she had to do on his hand before getting started with his head; it’s pretty intense. Carter had to have 25 marks on his head, followed by a glue type of substance on all of those marks, then hooking the wires at each of those sections, taping the wires down, and wrapping his head in a mesh in order to make sure he doesn’t grab the wires and rip them off of his head. It took about 30-40 minutes to get this all set up, and then the actual testing began.
Once Carter was all set the test included two different parts: Part I was a strobe light that went off every ten seconds while the wires tested how his brain reacted. The strobe light got faster with every 10 second span. It was like this… dark for 10 seconds, strobe lights for 10 seconds, and repeat with the lights getting even more like a club on a Saturday night. We were told that kids either love the lights or hate them, and luckily for us, and Carter being the dancer her is ;), he LOVED the lights.
After the strobe light test we had to try and get Carter to continue to lay still and possibly fall asleep to see what happens while he is sleeping (Part II). Needless to say, that didn’t happen. Mike and I tried a lot of different things to get him to relax and go to sleep but at 10:45 in the morning (only about 2 hours after waking up) but it didn’t really work out in our favor. However, we were told that what they had was okay and if they needed anything else they would give us a call. Once the testing was over, it was time to take it all off! Carter was a trooper, he allowed us to take off the helmet, wipe down his hair with a special liquid so it wouldn’t pull out his hair, take of all the wires, clean all of his marks, and essentially get a shampoo while at the hospital. We were told that they will take a look at the results and if something should appear abnormal we would get a call.
Naturally, Carter’s eyes didn’t do the “space out” while we was getting testing but we figured if something was abnormal it will show regardless of what his eyes do while we were there. Of course he “spaced out” like 4 times while we went to eat afterwards but hey, you can’t control Carter and this was a perfect example J.
Now that Carter is older he would need to have a schedule jam-packed with things to do or else our summer would be pretty boring sitting around in the house, and I planned away. Tuesday-Friday we have something planned in the morning; between gymnastics, outings around town, early on group play time, or bouncing at sky zone, Carter is always on the move… I mean would we have it any other way?
So far this summer Carter has painted t-shirts for the 4th
of July, picked strawberries, hung out with his buddies at the balloon fest, enjoyed
time swimming, been to birthday parties, and of course, has taken a trip to
Mott because what would be summer without going to our second home? ;)
At our last trip to SB Clinic we had mentioned that there
are times during the day that Carter kinda goes crossed eyed and stares blankly.
He has one eye that goes in while the other stays straight and he gets this
glazed look. One thing that we noticed is that even when this happens Carter
continues to do whatever he was doing before (eating, playing, etc.) and when
we call his name, snap, or clap he “snaps out of it” and then moves on.
We addressed our concern about this because honestly, we
didn’t know what was happening and if this is a normal kid issue with their eye
muscles and still gaining strength or if it’s a SB thing. Carter’s Neuro doctor
told us that it could be minor but (naturally), it could also mean that Carter
is having seizures when this is happening. He informed us that we would need to
see Neurology and make sure that we can cancel out the scare that was “seizure”
and see what’s going on.
That appointment was in May and we didn’t get a phone call
until the end of June to see Neurology “as soon as possible”. We were there within two days and met with the
neurology team. I explained to them Carter’s ENTIRE LIFE STORY before getting
to the problem at hand; this spacing out that has been happening. I was more
than happy to share his story (obviously, I’m blogging) but was more nervous
about this whole seizure issue and wanted to figure out what was going on.
After talking to all of the doctors about the “spacing out” I
heard some good news. Just like our neurosurgeon had stated in May, they don’t
believe it to be seizures, mainly because Carter continues doing things when
his eyes space out (ex. He keeps eating) but they want Carter to have an EEG (electroencephalogram)
to rule out seizures for sure. Another thing they discussed was that Carter’s
eye muscles might be weak which is causing this to happen, so they recommend
that he also goes to the Kellogg Eye Center to see what might be happening. We
were told that after his EEG (whenever scheduled) we would only get a call or
need to be seen if something was abnormal with his test. I thanked them for all
of their help and information and we were out the door, waiting on the call for
when he would have the EEG.
Testing day didn’t come as fast as I had thought it would.
In fact, the Kellogg Eye Center wasn’t even available until the end of August
and that was at their Ypsilanti location; the farthest away from us. Ann Arbor
was booked until October and Brighton until November, and because I want to
know what’s happening we went for the end of August. However, we are also
looking into getting him into another eye doctor that can see him quicker so I
can have a little piece of mind and if
there is a problem, figure out a solution sooner rather than later.
EEG day was schedule for July 18th. This is
Carter’s first EEG and for those who may not know exactly what it is, an EEG is
“a test used to detect abnormalities related to electrical activity of the
brain. This procedure tracks and records brain wave patterns. Small metal discs
with thin wires (electrodes) are placed on the scalp, and then send signals to
a computer to record the results.” We made our way to Mott, all the way up to
the 12th floor, checked in, and waited.
A short while later we headed back to the room and Carter had to be hooked up; not as fun as it looks people, and I know from the pictures, it looks so fun ;). The technician was really great and she showed us and Carter what she had to do on his hand before getting started with his head; it’s pretty intense. Carter had to have 25 marks on his head, followed by a glue type of substance on all of those marks, then hooking the wires at each of those sections, taping the wires down, and wrapping his head in a mesh in order to make sure he doesn’t grab the wires and rip them off of his head. It took about 30-40 minutes to get this all set up, and then the actual testing began.
Once Carter was all set the test included two different parts: Part I was a strobe light that went off every ten seconds while the wires tested how his brain reacted. The strobe light got faster with every 10 second span. It was like this… dark for 10 seconds, strobe lights for 10 seconds, and repeat with the lights getting even more like a club on a Saturday night. We were told that kids either love the lights or hate them, and luckily for us, and Carter being the dancer her is ;), he LOVED the lights.
After the strobe light test we had to try and get Carter to continue to lay still and possibly fall asleep to see what happens while he is sleeping (Part II). Needless to say, that didn’t happen. Mike and I tried a lot of different things to get him to relax and go to sleep but at 10:45 in the morning (only about 2 hours after waking up) but it didn’t really work out in our favor. However, we were told that what they had was okay and if they needed anything else they would give us a call. Once the testing was over, it was time to take it all off! Carter was a trooper, he allowed us to take off the helmet, wipe down his hair with a special liquid so it wouldn’t pull out his hair, take of all the wires, clean all of his marks, and essentially get a shampoo while at the hospital. We were told that they will take a look at the results and if something should appear abnormal we would get a call.
Naturally, Carter’s eyes didn’t do the “space out” while we was getting testing but we figured if something was abnormal it will show regardless of what his eyes do while we were there. Of course he “spaced out” like 4 times while we went to eat afterwards but hey, you can’t control Carter and this was a perfect example J.
For now, (story of our lives) we wait to see if we are
contacted at all about the test results. If we don’t hear anything then we are
to assume it’s not seizures and he needs to see an eye doctor. In the meantime,
Carter and I will continue to enjoy our summer time together and the many
adventures we can have!
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