Colin's health

For the past five months or so, we've noticed Colin staring off randomly, usually less than 10 seconds at a time, where there is absolutely no making contact with him.  He doesn't respond to his name, touch, movements, etc.  Much of the time, he ends up wetting himself when it happens.

At first, we thought he was just in deep thought or not paying attention to us, but it turns out, he was having a form of epileptic seizure known as Absence Seizures.

Pretty common in boys, usually presenting between ages 4-10 years.  After seeing the neurologist a couple weeks ago, we got an EEG scheduled to really look for a certain brain wave form that is typical of these kinds of seizures.

It was a sleep deprived EEG, meaning Colin (and brian and I), could only sleep from midnight to 4 am.  He couldn't take any naps or have any caffeine.  His EEG was at 9:30 the next morning.  

He was SOOOO tired, but he did a great job.  Once he got over the fear of laying back in the bed so the tech could put on the electrodes, he did great.

We were so proud of him, but man alive, that paste was super hard to get out of his hair!!

They let him rest for the first 20 minutes (which he immediately fell asleep for), then they attempted a hyperventilation technique (unsuccessfully!), and then did some strobe lights.

The tech marked many "events" throughout the study, meaning he had an abnormal EEG.

Looks like we will be starting some medication later this week, which he will likely remain on for 2 years.  They will wean him off of it then, re-test him, and see how he's doing.  The doctor said he will likely outgrow these and they don't do any damage to his brain, it's more of a hindrance to him while he is in school, having lapses in time that he just doesn't remember.

Here is is about ready to fall asleep

He insisted on Brian being right by his side, which worked out okay for me, because I was really interested in watching all the brain waves on the monitor anyway.  

After it was all over (and he got a 20 minute power nap!), we got a little smile from him 

Look at all that paste, yuck!

After the EEG, Colin talked me into taking him out to lunch.  I was an easy sell :)

Maggie had a birthday party last week for one of her classmates. 

It was at a gymnastics studio and she had a blast!

 She was (by far) the smallest kiddo there.

I guess she'll have to get used to that :)

Maggie in the foam pit

 In other news...

Colin was super proud of the puzzles he did in record time the other night

And he was also super proud of his playdoh snowman he built.

It lived a short life and did the opposite of melting (hardened and crumbled to pieces), before being thrown in the garbage

RIP blue snowman!