my EEG torture {a guest post from Zoe}
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Yesterday, Mom took me to something called an EEG. I didn't know what that meant, except that I had to leave my big brother and big sister at home. I didn't like that part.
Then we got to the doctor, and they did thetorture procedure. Here's how I felt about that.
Yeah, it wasn't cool.
We arrived and rode the elevator to the second floor. Then Mom filled out some forms while holding me.
A lady who looked nice came to get us.
We sat in a chair, me on Mommy's lap. The lady who looked nice got out a measuring tape.
As she used it to measure spots on my head and make orange crayon marks on my forehead and scalp, I decided that she might not be nice after all.
Then she put goop on my head, put a little thing Mom said was an "electrode" on the goop, added a tiny piece of gauze, and then slapped on a piece of paper medical tape to keep it in place. (Okay, okay, she didn't really slap it on.)
Then - get this - she did the goop-electrode-gauze-tape thing again. 28 TIMES, for a total of 24 electrodes. (Those four extra applications were thanks to the Tao Kwon Do skills my big sister taught me... the ones I used to tear a few off before she finished, just to show her who was really in control.)
Yes, I'm a little proud of that.
She tried to calm me down with a Barbie movie and an obnoxious animal noises toy. I would have none of it.
Then she - the lady who looked nice but really wasn't - wrapped my whole head in gauze so I couldn't yank any more off.
Why's the picture so dark? Well, because the next thing we did was go to rest on a comfy bed in a room that Mom said looked like it belonged on Pinterest. The lighting wasn't so great in there.
Well, except for when the not-nice lady thought it was a good idea to make several strobe lights go off in my face. (Mom says it was necessary for the test. Something about stimulating seizure activity if I have an undiagnosed disorder. Whatev. It wasn't cool.) The lighting was great during the strobe show. That is, at least every other millisecond or so.
After gooping and electroding and taping and gauzing my head and flashing lights in my face, can you believe that the lady wanted me to calm down and even go to sleep? I fought it. Hard. Screamed for 20 minutes straight. That'll teach her. I wasn't planning to give in to her evil demands just so that her EEGinator could check out my brain, but then Mom sang some songs to me.
And I gave in.
I napped for about 35 minutes and then woke up and cuddled with Mom for 20 minutes.
I forgot about the junk on my head for a bit, so I thought we were done when that lady came back. She had warm water and a washcloth. Thankfully, the paper kind of medical tape comes off with water so she didn't have to pull my hair (though, evil as she was, she might have enjoyed that), but she still wet me down and took everything off and left me with goopy crazy hair (thus the style in these pictures).
Yeah, I needed my paci after that.
Mom got some smiles out of my back at the car, but I was just humoring her.
Mom smiled some real big smiles today, though, when we got the news that my EEG results were completely normal.
Which I think means that I never have to go through that torture again.
Thank God!
(Note from Shannon: The nurse really was a nice lady, even if Zoe didn't understand why she did what she had to do! From my perspective, the test went just fine... and, of course, we love the results.)
Then we got to the doctor, and they did the
Yeah, it wasn't cool.
We arrived and rode the elevator to the second floor. Then Mom filled out some forms while holding me.
A lady who looked nice came to get us.
We sat in a chair, me on Mommy's lap. The lady who looked nice got out a measuring tape.
As she used it to measure spots on my head and make orange crayon marks on my forehead and scalp, I decided that she might not be nice after all.
Then she put goop on my head, put a little thing Mom said was an "electrode" on the goop, added a tiny piece of gauze, and then slapped on a piece of paper medical tape to keep it in place. (Okay, okay, she didn't really slap it on.)
Then - get this - she did the goop-electrode-gauze-tape thing again. 28 TIMES, for a total of 24 electrodes. (Those four extra applications were thanks to the Tao Kwon Do skills my big sister taught me... the ones I used to tear a few off before she finished, just to show her who was really in control.)
Yes, I'm a little proud of that.
She tried to calm me down with a Barbie movie and an obnoxious animal noises toy. I would have none of it.
Then she - the lady who looked nice but really wasn't - wrapped my whole head in gauze so I couldn't yank any more off.
Why's the picture so dark? Well, because the next thing we did was go to rest on a comfy bed in a room that Mom said looked like it belonged on Pinterest. The lighting wasn't so great in there.
Well, except for when the not-nice lady thought it was a good idea to make several strobe lights go off in my face. (Mom says it was necessary for the test. Something about stimulating seizure activity if I have an undiagnosed disorder. Whatev. It wasn't cool.) The lighting was great during the strobe show. That is, at least every other millisecond or so.
After gooping and electroding and taping and gauzing my head and flashing lights in my face, can you believe that the lady wanted me to calm down and even go to sleep? I fought it. Hard. Screamed for 20 minutes straight. That'll teach her. I wasn't planning to give in to her evil demands just so that her EEGinator could check out my brain, but then Mom sang some songs to me.
And I gave in.
I napped for about 35 minutes and then woke up and cuddled with Mom for 20 minutes.
I forgot about the junk on my head for a bit, so I thought we were done when that lady came back. She had warm water and a washcloth. Thankfully, the paper kind of medical tape comes off with water so she didn't have to pull my hair (though, evil as she was, she might have enjoyed that), but she still wet me down and took everything off and left me with goopy crazy hair (thus the style in these pictures).
Yeah, I needed my paci after that.
Mom got some smiles out of my back at the car, but I was just humoring her.
Mom smiled some real big smiles today, though, when we got the news that my EEG results were completely normal.
Thank God!
(Note from Shannon: The nurse really was a nice lady, even if Zoe didn't understand why she did what she had to do! From my perspective, the test went just fine... and, of course, we love the results.)