Natalie is having a "short" 20 hour EEG, or electroencephalography at Children's Hospital of Orange County today and tomorrow. Her neurologist wants to evaluate the benefit Natalie is getting from the Keppra. I say "short" because they have EEGs that last 3 to 5 days.
I took the first shift because Cindy could not watch Natalie and care for Dominik in the hospital. Cindy dropped Natalie and I off this morning at 10:00 AM. We checked in and were placed in a single room with a great view. Before we made it to our room we were greeted by one of the pet therapy dogs. Natalie was excited and enjoyed getting her hand licked. Soon after making it into our room another pet therapy dog stopped by to say "hi". Each dog has their own trading card, which Natalie enjoyed. Natalie took her Jessie doll and the dog's cards and went to the window to enjoy the view (the camera is still at the hospital, so pictures will be posted in the second post).
The staff from the neurology department showed up and hooked Natalie up to their machine. I realized that Natalie's negative response to the nurse "gluing" the sensors on her head was Natalie's fear of having eye drops put in her eyes. She squirmed and cried and had her eyes clamped shut. The second nurse held Natalie hard for a while, but eventually Natalie relaxed and the rest of the process was almost playful between Natalie and the nurses.
We settled down to watch videos,read books and play with toys. We could not leave the bed easily because Natalie was tethered to the recording machine by her pony tail of wires. Also the EEG was being video taped and the bed area was were the camera was. Later on this afternoon the staff person that brought Natalie toys entered the room. She was followed by four players from the Anaheim Ducks. I am not a big hockey fan, but this was really COOL. The four players standing around Natalie were Lubomir Visnovsky, Paul Mara, Andreas Lilja and Brandon McMillan. Wow! They gave Natalie a gift and I shook their hands and thanked them for coming visiting.
One struggle I had was keeping Natalie from pulling the wires off of her head. Not because the wires were uncomfortable, but because they were held on by tape. Aaaaah, tape. Natalie's crack. I put tape on the backs of her hand and fingers, and on her sippy cup and to keep her from pulling it off of her head. I was fairly successful and only had the sensors on her chin and left temple come off.
Cindy arrived for the night shift and I drove the boys home. I have formula for Dominik in the morning and then we will all head on over to the hospital to pick Cindy and Natalie up. I pray that Cindy and Natalie have a restful night.
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