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Wired Once More

"Haha, you think you can hold me with these stinkin' sheets!"

Ben's new neurologist ordered a 30 minute awake EEG, a fairly routine test for people with epilepsy. I brought reinforcements in the form of Kim and Bob. Kim is Ben's longtime caregiver and Bob is his favorite character on the Bob the Builder show. Even with backup and distractions, they brought in another technician to hold him down. Ben dislikes anything on his head, and so he fought to take the wires off his head and kicked to try and get off the bed.

"I will let you beat me this once!"
We had called ahead to ask about using a papoose, but we were told that they no longer provided one, but they could provide us with sheets to use. Kim was the ingenious one and wrapped Ben like a burrito. 

Something I did learn through this process was about Clinical Seizures and Sub-Clinical Seizures. Ben has both - his clinical seizures are atonic and this means they are characterized by head drops. The atonic seizures have been controlled with medication since May 2012. On this EEG, the technician did notice frequent sub-clinical seizures, which are most likely normal for Ben. I will ask more questions about this when we get the results in a few weeks. Most likely this EEG will provide the doctor with a baseline for Ben's brain activity and will not give us much additional information.



Overall, Ben did a great job and did not suffer all that much. The technicians were quick, and it was all over before we knew it.

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