Video EEG and Sleep study

As mentioned in a previous post, Xavier and I braved a day at Akron Children's Hospital (28 hours, to be exact) so that he could have a video EEG and sleep study. He's been sleeping terrible lately, is tired and cranky quite a bit, and is having some muscle jerking occasionally during the day. We wonder if he is seizing at night.

On June 17th, we arrived at 9am, registered, and then went over to the EEG lab to have all the electrodes applied to Xavier's head and chest. They're actually glued down! Xavier tolerated the entire process really well, I was impressed. There were 24 electrodes in all, and then they were covered with a big "sock" to keep them in place and out of the way.

We spent the rest of the day and half the next in a hospital room. Xavier had to stay in the bed, so that he could be video taped to catch any concerning events. He was pleasant and cheerful close to the entire time, I think because he was able to watch TV nearly all day, something he doesn't get to do at home.

I brought toys for him to play with...doesn't he look cute in his hospital gown?


I was worried that Xavier wouldn't be able to fall asleep because we had to leave lights on for the video camera to work, and because we were right across from the loud nurses station. But he was an angel and after I went though his bedtime routine and told him it was time for bed, he rolled onto his side like he usually does, and promptly fell asleep in 5 minutes or less. He woke up a few times during the night crying, just like he does at home, and had several of the jerking type movements during the day, so I was happy that we captured a realistic day for him.

Here's the machine that recorded all the information -- see the little video inset of Xavier on the screen?


It was actually a really relaxing time for both of us. And I enjoyed spending the one-on-one time with him. I read almost an entire book too! We won't have the results for several weeks, as it takes a while for the doctor to read and interpret the results of over 24 hours of data, but hopefully we'll be able to come up with something that will help him rest better at night, and be less on edge during the day.