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Simon's EEG revealed only normal brain patterns. We still suspect, however, that he has an extraordinary brain.
Both boys have the flu. Coincidence? A side effect of time in the ER? Simon's case is very minor. Adlai's case is not - making him a very unhappy baby.
Simon had his EEG today (previously and incorrectly referred to as an EKG but we swear the doctor said EKG). To prepare him for the test we were told not to let him go to sleep before 11 pm last night, to wake him up at 6 am, send him to school, and to give him Benedryl 20 minutes before our arrival. I suspect they wanted him tired.
Last night after Adlai was put to bed we watched a movie, went snail hunting in the front yard with a flashlight, shopped at Target until 9:30, did our grocery shopping until just after 10, and then stopped by McDonald's for a cheeseburger before returning home. Simon's instructions were DO NOT FALL ASLEEP so even though the lids of his eyes were half closed by 9:30 he pushed on, awake, until Matthew started a chapter of Harry Potter a few minutes before 11. He woke up at 6 am as usual - without any help. Our kids do not sleep in.
Matthew and I picked Simon up a few minutes before school let out to change him and take him to his appointment (we were warned by his teachers that he had jumped into a mud puddle). At 1 pm, a very mellow Simon had electrodes taped around his head and then he lay down next to me on the bed while Matthew read us stories. He was supposed to close his eyes for the entire hour of the scan and lay still which is why it would have been nice for him to have a little nap. However, our dear Simon is, as we all know, very skilled at fighting sleep and each time she saw that he was in a light sleep she could also see his brain activity jump to wake him up.
In any case, the scan went very well and the technician couldn't say enough about his wonderful behavior. Being that she isn't his doctor, she isn't supposed to reveal the results to us but we agree that her attitude about the seizure post scan was revealing: "Is it possible he just didn't sleep well the night before or that he didn't eat enough?"
We will call in tomorrow for the results but are fairly certain that Simon's brain wave patterns were normal and we can only hope that whatever happened last Friday was a fluke.
I imagine most of you know about our day last Friday, but stories tend to change as they migrate from one person to the next. Herein lies the full story:
Around 11 am on Friday Simon's teacher called Matthew to let him know that something was wrong. Simon had been painting when he stood up, dropped his paintbrush, looked at the top of the wall and stayed that way - unresponsive to voice or touch - for about five minutes. One teacher called another teacher over and then they called a third (his favorite teacher from last year). By that time, he had started to come out of the episode and sat with Teacher Laura and said "that was weird." She spent time with him and he talked to her about the book they had read the day before and how scared it had made him. About forty-five minutes passed before he relaxed. Both Matthew and I went to the school to find out what was going on but by that time he was back to regular Simon.
I called the advice nurse and she said it was probably nothing and just to watch. She thought my idea of leaving an email with his out-of-town doctor was a good one, so I did. Later Simon told Matthew that before it happened his head hurt and he said: "I wanted to take my brain out." I included that bit of information into my note and, shortly thereafter, Kaiser called and said we needed to take Simon to Emergency.
The boys picked me up at work for an evening at the hospital. Matthew and I pretended to be calm and cheerful and Simon was reflecting our attitude. He got a real kick out of explaining his feelings to every doctor and nurse who came in to ask. He told one doctor that the experience was "like I was a statue." He told another that when he eats something hot steam shoots out of his ears. They did a lot of light tests, tests on his ability to push against them with his arms, hands, feet, and legs. They took his oxygen levels and heart rate. All signs pointed to Simon being a very healthy boy.
A pediatric neurologist was called. They didn't want to do a CAT scan unless he thought it necessary. Because of the headache (which Simon reported was still a little there) he decided it was important to take a look as soon as possible. Adlai couldn't stand being awake any longer so Matthew took him home to sleep. Luckily, Grandparents Kagle were in the general vicinity and stopped by to babysit while Matthew returned to the hospital.
Simon was excited about the CAT scan until it was time to get on the table. I had to lift him up and then lay on him while the tech placed his head between the two sides of the plastic head holder. He knew he needed to be still so once he was there, he closed his eyes and the only movement he made was the involuntary tremble of his cheeks and lower lip. He squeezed my hand while the machine went back and forth over his head. It only took two minutes to complete the scan. At the end, he was clearly relieved and very, very proud. The machine looks a heck of a lot like a large donut and, since then, he has excitedly talked about being in the donut machine to all who ask.
While we waited for the results (and for Daddy to return from home), Simon and I were upgraded to an emergency room with a flat screen TV attached to a swing arm. It only had 20 channels, none of them age appropriate, so we watched five minutes of Wheel of Fortune, which Simon thought was GREAT, and ten minutes of Wife Swap, which we both found discussion worthy - if nothing else. The doctor arrived and showed us the images (at Simon's request) of Simon's perfect brain. The next step is an EKG of his head some time next week. We expect that to be normal as well. What Simon seems to have had is called an Absence Seizure:
In absence seizures, the person may appear to be staring into space with or without jerking or twitching movements of the eye muscles. These periods last for seconds, or even tens of seconds. Those experiencing absence seizures sometimes move from one location to another without any purpose. Under normal circumstances thalamocortical oscillations maintain normal consciousness of an individual, however in certain circumstances the normal pattern can become disrupted; thereby leading to an episode of absence.
Only it was a very long one and included a headache.
Apparently these things run on my side of the family. Hopefully he won't have another seizure but, if he does, he will likely grow out of them and (very hopefully) we won't have to take any action.
Simon returned home around 9 pm full of excitement from the experience and thrilled to see his Grandparents and his Cousin Brad who had just flown in from Seattle. The next morning Matthew took him out for donuts for being so brave in the "donut machine."
That was, of course, after Adlai woke up crying at 4:50 am - he and his bed completely covered in dried vomit.
Both boys were healthy Saturday (Cousin Brad came back to play) and today Simon has come down with what is, so far, a minor cold (but we still managed to have a great time at the Aviation Museum).
That, in itself, is good news but if you need more...
- Simon is number 5 on the wait list for a school we suspect he will love. (The wait list is more than one hundred strong - we entered the random lottery not expecting much.)
- Adlai is amazing at placing nesting cups in the correct order.
- We finally made tooth-brushing a family affair this weekend - now that Adlai has enough teeth.
It has been another crazy busy week here in Kagledom. Adlai has picked up more sentences ("Read this.", "I can do it!") but still won't say when he is all done, hungry, in need of milk, tired, or bored. So, although it is impressive that he shouts out a full sentence every now and then, we'd prefer if these sentences contained useful information. I think he finally associates "Mama" with me and "Da da" with Matthew. It is clear, however, that he understand more than he can say. When we talk about putting on shoes, he runs to get some (not always his but, hey). He will sometimes bring something to a parent if asked but usually this happens when something good will come of it: "Adlai, bring me the book. Adlai, bring me the raisins."
He has also developed a few unfortunate abilities such as being able to completely undress himself. This isn't such a handy talent in an almost 14-month-old. Take for example this morning: he walked into Simon's room, removed his daiper and urinated on the carpet.
We gave Adlai his Valentine gift, an otter of his own, a few days before Valentine's Day because he spit-up on Simon's. Simon chose to take the new, less stinky, otter leaving Adlai with the original otter, renamed "Hopscotch."
Here is our young nudist with his otter:
After everyone had an otter of their own, we put Adlai to bed and made 36 valentines with Simon. Here are a few:
To make everything friendly, Simon's school requires that children who want to give out valentine cards, give one to every child. We made ours over two days: half for the Tuesday/Thursday class and half for the Monday/Wednesday/Friday class (Simon is in both along with many other kids).
Friday night we ordered a heart-shaped pizza and, of course, on Saturday, we made our traditional gigantic heart shaped cookie (which is honestly the best cookie I think I've ever tasted). We decorated the cookie in San Francisco with Grandparents Kagle and then slipped away for an early dinner without the boys.
We had a great weekend here in Kagledom. Saturday, after swimming, we took the boys into San Francisco for some quality time away from us (they saw boats, we went for a walk) and quality time with us (we all had dinner with the Feefadders on a lovely evening while overlooking the bay).
Much to our chagrin, neither boy passed out on the way home. Of course, staying up an extra couple of hours didn't cause them to sleep in. No, by 6:30 am we were all playing together in Simon's room when Adlai spotted Harry Otter, Simon's favorite stuffed animal, on the floor. Adlai has been somewhat obsessed with Harry Otter since the moment Harry entered Simon's life which has been a point of much sibling contention. This morning Adlai was so happy to find Harry on the floor that he scooped him up and yelled "Look what I got!" This marks Adlai's first full sentence.
(We actually bought Adlai a duplicate otter as a gift for Valentine's Day.)
Later in the day we decided it was high time Adlai had his first pair of real shoes. Luckily, we've kept all of Simon's shoes since the beginning of time (at least the ones that were not worn out). Simon got his first shoes at 10 months (since he started to walk at 9.5 months). Adlai, at 13 months, still can't quite fill Simon's shoes but he seems comfortable in them and is VERY happy to be wearing them like a big boy. He even looks like a big boy.
Those were taken at the Stanford Shopping Center where we took the boys this afternoon - to run around the fountains and see the flowers. No shopping!
After many technical difficulties including one new lap top, a new power cord for an old lap top, two or three conversion programs, and a movie half finished when it was accidentally deleted, we have finally overcome all obsticles to bring you this (drum roll please)...
Adlai's first year music video!
Before you view this video, you must know that Adlai was laughing at his own frustration before we started recording...
Friday afternoon, Grandparents' Kagle stopped by to spend some time with the boys while giving Matthew a chance to be alone. And then they were kind enough to stay until after 10:30 pm while Matthew and I spent the evening with adults over a four course fondue dinner. That was our first full date since the birth of Adlai and the time was very appreciated. We didn't even talk about kids (at least, not much).
Saturday morning we went through our usual routine - a walk to bagels and coffee followed by playing or a nap before swimming. Simon swims with his teacher and his friend Ashwin, Adlai kicks and splashes and relaxes in the warm water of the pool with me. Sometimes Adlai asks if the teacher will hold him. The teachers know and love the boys and both boys are obviously infatuated with them. Saturday is the best day of the week. It's really nice that the boys enjoy the water so much - of course our poor bathroom floor and all the towels required to soak up the aftermath of each bath might disagree.
Sunday was also routine - involving a trip to the farmers market. Simon and Adlai listened to the music and sampled food while Matthew collected the fish and vegetables and fruit for the week. We've recently discovered Adlai's love of tangerines - yesterday he ate two or three all on his own. He is still very fond of meat and beans and cottage cheese.
It was another sunny and warm weekend so there was time spent outside at the park (where we ran into our friends from Friday evening) and a visit with other friends an hour away to celebrate a birthday. My only regret is that we didn't take the boys to the beach or somewhere interesting and new.
Of course, it never feels like there is enough time to accomplish everything that we want. I'm always surprised that four people is four times the laundry and four times the dishes. Matthew has weekend work. Simon's kindergarten registration forms are due. The taxes don't do themselves. The cars need maintenance. Adlai needs to be held and comforted - his mouth hurts from the new teeth and he would really prefer to suck or chew on a pacifier all day long. Every night Matthew and I fit in a run, and pay some bills, and clean. We're doing better about cooking at home every day - from scratch. Really, the ideal "vacation" would be for all of the details to disappear.
These boys - they should spend more time at the ocean.