Childhood absence epilipsy

Around March Jeff and I started to notice something strange happening with Logan. Several times a day he would have little "episodes" as we called them. He would stop mid-activity, his top half would go slightly limp and his eyeballs and muscles around his eyes would bounce a little for about 3-4 seconds. It sounds more intense than it actually looked, but it made us worry. We soon took him to his primary care doc, who did the basic checkup and sent us home telling us to journal it and try to get it on video tape. 

We'd been prayerful from the start- that we would know what to do, that we would have good doctors and for Logan's health. 

We never got it on tape but as I kept a journal we quickly realized it wasn't going away, but was happening more often. So with the help of the doctor's office we started contacting neurologists.

The first available appointments were a few months out, and the thought of waiting that long made us a little nervous. 

 But Logan's doctor's office gave us the name of a neurologist that takes patients on a case-by-case basis, and we soon had an appointment for the next week. (Tender mercy #1)

They wanted Logan to have an EEG the day before the appointment. It was a little sad. Logan is the kind of baby that doesn't want you to wash his hair, brush his teeth, and for a while- even change his diaper. In short- he doesn't liked to be messed with. 

I had to hold him down for a half hour while they put 28 things on his head. Poor guy cried so much he was falling asleep in between the last few attachments.

Going into the EEG my personal prayer was that he would have an episode while he was hooked up so that the doctors could see them on the EEG. 

As soon as the tech hooked up the last ones, Logan had a couple episodes before falling asleep.

(Tender mercy #2...)

The tech called the neurologist before the test was over asking if he wanted to see us sooner than our scheduled appointment the next day. I asked him about it and he said he saw something that worried him and we'd talk about it with the neurologist the next day. 

He was a little dramatic.

I honestly expected this to turn out to be nothing, so that was a little hard to hear.

After he woke up I told the tech not to worry about cleaning him off. He'd been messed with enough. Besides, check out that hair! (The red is from markers.)

Ice cream sandwich and balloons after!

.

My mom came to spend the night to go with me to the neurologist the next day.

Daddy loves Logan so much. So much. He opted to keep his mind busy at work and to talk about findings after we came home. 

Come to find out, Logan was indeed having absence seizures, and more than we were aware of. I saw the couple he had at the test but he actually had 10-12. 

Logan was diagnosed with childhood absence epilepsy.

We talked with the doc for a couple hours..about treatment, precautions, programs to get Logan into, genetic testing, scheduled an MRI...lots of stuff.

The Doc was awesome. 

When we first got there I didn't know what to think. He had a heavy funny accent, spit a little when he spoke and had a crazy funny laugh at odd times. 

But by the time we left I had total confidence in him. And when I lost it, feeling overwhelmed, he made sure all was well, taking even more time with us. (#3...)

He had a blood draw at Swedish to start checking for possible causes and one at home for genetic testing.

Last week Jeff and I took him to Swedish for his MRI (just because his head has always been a little large and considering everything)...

 Yesterday the Doc called and said his MRI was normal. YAY! And we are going to redo 3 of his labs that were borderline.

I'm not surprised. 

He is pretty perfect.

SO...when we saw the neurologist that day, he started Logan on medicine and we haven't seen a seizure since. The diagnosis doesn't worry me nearly as much as does all the stuff he's had to go through in the past few months. And apparently 70% of kids with these cases outgrow it. So we are thinking the worst is past us. 

I am so grateful for the sweet experience of drawing nearer to our Savior during times of trial. 

My heart is full.

The day after his MRI Logan got to model for Nik's Confidence Photography Workshop...

Seriously...perfect!