EEG result

Ethan had an EEG (electroencephalogram) test on 5/6/16. EEG is used to track brain wave activity. The test was ordered by his neurologist right after I emailed the doctor of the seizure that Ethan had while sleeping. His appointment was at 8am, we checked in and he was called shortly after that. The EEG technician spent couple of minutes attaching the electrodes on his head. There were 3 parts to the test - 1) blowing a pinwheel (which is not Ethan's cup of tea, 2) light strobe and 3) just Ethan relaxing. Ethan was very cooperative and his dad helped him keep still by showing him some of his favorite shows and music on Dad's phone. The whole test took about an hour. The result was sent right away to the neurologist so I emailed Dr. Hayward right away.

The neurologist called us finally at around 1pm to let us know about the result, and the results were abnormal. There were 'spikes' coming from both the left and right sides of his brain (mostly on the left if I recall as my brain was getting a bit foggy when I heard about the result!) She said there's a 50% of a seizure happening again and if he gets another one then that would be epilepsy. During that time, I was like, seriously? I can't wrapped my head around it. If there's anything else, at least we now somewhat know what's happening in his brain. It explained why Ethan had a seizure and I pray that he never has one again! Once again, I googled the heck out of - EEG abnormal results in kids, there's a lot of information about it. I found out that these 'spikes' probably explains why Ethan behaves in a certain way. The culprit was his PVL (Periventricular Leukomalacia) which was found when we had his MRI done when he was 14 months old (the MRI test was ordered because he was missing his gross motor skills milestones). His neurologist prescribed him a drug that will quickly dissolve in his mouth when the seizure last for more than 5 minutes. I put it in Ethan's backpack so wherever he goes, he has it with him. I sure hope we never have to open that medication, it's so scary to watch him go through it! When he first had an out of the blue seizure back in February, I had to call 911 and that was quite an episode. It turned out it was a febrile seizure (related to high fever). The second time he had it, I was surprisingly calm, I guess because I somewhat know what to do but boy, I never want to go through it again.

I can never leave Ethan most especially when he's sleeping, I now have to keep an eye on him (literally) at all times because I'll never know when the really bad and mean S will strike!

If you want to learn more about EEG, here's the Wikipedia link -> EEG and another EEG explanation

Ready for the EEG test!

My handsome boy - post EEG