This morning was a rough one. Will had his follow-up EEG scheduled for early this morning. This was a sleep-deprived EEG, so this required a little bit of effort on the parent’s side to have this be a successful test. We were required to keep him up two hours past his bedtime, and wake him up two hours prior to his normal wake up time. This meant he went to bed around 10pm, and woke up around 4am. This is enough to make any human being miserable, let alone a 4 year old who does not understand the purpose of all of this. He woke up in a rather good mood despite the exhaustion. He got to watch TV in mommy and daddy’s bed, which was a real treat usually only allowed on the weekends. We ate our breakfast, packed the cars, and we were on our way.
The drive to the hospital was a little tricky; we hit morning traffic, so we were a little delayed in our arrival time. Mom had to get very creative in finding ways to keep Will awake, who was begging for a nap in the backseat. The drive there required lots of singing (and this mama cannot carry a tune), clapping, windows rolling up and down; we were a sight to behold coming down the highway.
When we got to the doctor’s office, Will was in a very good mood. There was a lot to take in – there was a construction site to watch out the window, and both boys were enthralled at the activity outside. Then came time to have the EEG done. His name was called, and we were brought to a dark room. He was instructed to lay down on the bed in the room, while a technician attempted to get the EEG leads on his head.
First of all, the problem with all of this is that the technician never really tried to get Will engaged or to gain a rapport with him. He simply expected an exhausted 4-year old to cooperate and lay on a table in a dark room and allow a stranger to place weird-looking leads on his head. After a 40 minute fight, the leads were in place. The technician stepped out to let us calm down Will, who was absolutely hysterical at this point. Another 25 minutes of screaming ensued, and by some miracle he settled down and allowed the testing to begin. He even fell asleep for 10 minutes, and that was the goal of this EEG; he needed to be sleep-deprived, which can sometimes trigger a seizure, and he also needed to sleep for a short period. Mission accomplished.
Now Andrew and I just need to hold ourselves together until we get the test results tomorrow.
a life well loved 