Children's Hospital: Day One

Things have started off well here in Cincinnati. We checked Lauren in yesterday afternoon and they hooked up the EEG/Video monitoring system (26 leads glued to various regions on her head, capturing brain-wave activity). She'll be hooked up through Friday morning. It's pretty traumatic for her to have it put on, but since then she's done well with it and actually thinks her 'hat' is kinda cool. :)

Yesterday was very active - shortly after her EEG was hooked up, Lauren had 8 seizures, all in about 90 minutes. She also had two in her sleep last night. That's an unusually high number for her to have, so it was pretty rattling for us (typically she'll have 2 or 3 a week). We're figuring it's a result of heightened anxiety from being here. And in a way it's "good" news...(1) they want her to have seizures here so they can capture the data, and (2) if she's going to have them, this is the best place for it.

This morning they did a PET scan - like a CT scan unit, it measures blood activity in the brain (the origination point of seizures tend to have an increase of blood). Lauren did great - she even endured Leslee and I singing to her to keep her calm through the procedure. The doctors withheld her medicine this morning and are hoping to capture more seizures in her sleep tonight. Might be in for a long night, but it's the necessary evil as we hope for breakthroughs.

Thanks to all for encouraging words and prayers. We're doing well and even finding ways to have fun and enjoy the extra time with Lauren (Uno, games, books, throwing the beach ball, etc.) She's a spunky girl.