EEG Number Three

As I type this blog, I am on my last day of a ten day vacation.  It has been wonderful.  I should mention that I only work two days a week, so having ten days off in a row really isn't necessary, but I have enjoyed every one of them.  My mom has been visiting us since the end of April and will be leaving this Sunday.  Having her extra set of helping hands in the house has provided time for some chores and lots of fun.  We took the kids to the ocean, a few parks, and many visits to our neighbor's house- which features a horse, goat, and chickies.  Our biggest accomplishment was done in four days, Ellie is potty trained!  Hurray!

After a wonderful Memorial Day weekend, it was back to business.  Owen has been having staring spells since the beginning of March.  They last seconds and for a long time we only noticed a few a week.  In the past two weeks, they have dramatically increased.  I was pretty sure we were witnessing absence seizures.  The initial plan was to do another EEG in August when he goes back into Boston for his next check up, but Owen's neurologist decided we should do it now since they have increased.  Owen has been fairly irritable lately (not much of a surprise) and seizures can make that worse.  They can also affect sleep, which Owen does not find to be an important use of his time.

As I have mentioned before, Owen loves EEGs.  The twenty or so sensors they attach to his head is his version of a massage and he cooperated willingly as Mary attached them.  Mary helped with Owen's EEG in December (when he was an inpatient) so she remembered what an unhappy little boy he was.  It is fun to show off my new and improved Owen.   He even graced her with a few smiles.  About five minutes into the EEG, while Mary and I were yakking about purses, Owen had one of his staring spells.  She watched him, stared intently at her computer screen, and then said she was going to go page Owen's neurologist.  Go OWEN!  Finally, EEG number three captured a seizure!  It actually captured quiet a few since he is having them in clusters.  We are starting a new anti-seizure medication today as well as keeping him on the one he currently takes.

In other news, Owen does not have FOXG1.  This was the Rhetts-varient disease we tested for in March. The results came back a week after his MRI.  Now that I know he doesn't have it, I can officially say, thank goodness!  I don't like any of the diseases they are testing him for, but that one seems particularly awful.  We are still awaiting the results of a cholesterol disease which we should have sometime in the next few weeks.