We're Home

We're home now. So, since Josiah's seizures are so frequen, they were able to capture more than enough data via the EEG by Wednesday morning...so they set us free for a bit. It was really nice...Josiah got to get unhooked from the EEG monitoring machine. He still had to keep all the probes on his head, along with the wires, as they were needed for the MEG scan he was having Thursday, but at least he wasnt confined to a bed anymore. So, we walked, and walked and walked. We had days of sitting to make up for, lol. We bundled Josiah up and walked down from SickKids to the CN Tower, walked all downtown, took a subway (I wasnt a fan of that btw) to the Eaton Center (also found that a little overwhelming), then from there we walked up to Five Guys and had the BEST BURGERS EVER, lol. Then, we headed back to Ronald McDonald House with Josiah for the few hours of sleep we would get that night. He had to be up at 3 on Thursday morning to make sure he would sleep naturally for the MEG scan. Josiah never ceases to amaze me. When 3 o'clock Thursday am rolled around, and I woke him up, he smiled at me, and signed for me to do Itsy Bitsy Spider with him. He giggled, and smiled the whole way through. Not a peep about being unhappy that we disturbed his sleep. So, we entertained him until it was time to head to the hospital by taking him to the play room, the Toronto Blue Jays room, and then walking the halls, lol. He did awesome. He started to get a little cranky right before his scan, but that wasnt bad at all. So, when we got down to the MEG room, after his probes were all attached to the machine, we bundled him up, and he was asleep within 5 minutes.
So, Caleb stayed in the MEG room with Josiah (he's the pro at that kinda stuff)....and I stayed out with the technician. Josiah needed to sleep for the first part for a minimum of 45 minutes, and Praise Jesus...he slept for 50. So for that they got all the imaging they needed. The purpose of the second part of the scan is to identify where your mobility sensor is located in your brain, and to do that, they attached a band to your wrist that sends electrical current (a little stronger than licking a battery) through your hand. They scan while this is happening to see where in your brain reacts to this stimulation. So, they started this with the right hand, as it is controlled by the left brain, which is where all the damage is for Josiah. They prefer to have 2 scans at 2 minutes each for both sides of the brain, however, the current machine stopped working after they got the first 2 minutes scanned. Caleb and the tech played around with the wires, and had it working for a few seconds at a time, but by the time they got it all attached to his left hand, Josiah decided he had had enough, and we couldnt calm him down. Since its very imprtant to hold still, you cant move more than 1/2 centimeter while the machine is scanning, we couldnt capture the left hand stimulation on the MEG. But since the right hand did have one successful sequence, the Tech was hopeful that that would be adequate for the doctor. We will find out soon. So, because they were semi-successful in getting the MEG images, we stuck around to have an MRI there to complete all the testing required.
So, Thursday night we were released again to Ronald McDonald House. We took a drive out to Pearson Int'l airport to watch some planes land (one of Calebs fav. things to do). Then, we went to check out the Woodbine Mall, had dinner at Wendys and headed back to Ronald.
We had to be at the Hospital for 7 Friday morning as we were on the "on call" list for the MRI, but they were unable to squeeze Josiah in Friday. The Dr. decided that he would prefer to put Josiah under General Anaesthesia to ensure they get a quality scan, as it was all they still needed, and so from midnight Friday Josiah wasnt allowed anything to eat/drink. Because he is on the Ketogenic Diet, we had to monitor his blood sugar and urine keytones closely, as fasting can cause big problems, but again, Praise Jesus, Josiah was fine. The scan was at 10, and took roughly an hour and a half. We were there when they put Josiah to sleep, and this was by FAR the best experience we have had to date with sedation. This time, they just injected a little anaesthesia into his i.v. and he quickly (seriously-like in 10 seconds) drifted to sleep. No crying or screaming like previous times. He woke up the same. He was groggy, but still smiley. Such a little trooper. So, we had to stick around the hospital for about 2 hours after, just to make sure he tolerated food ok, which he did. And then we hit the road home! What a great feeling!! lol. So now we wait for the reports to be reviewed by all the specialists. All the neurologists and neurosurgoens will be meeting in 4-6 weeks to discuss his case, and decide together if he is a surgical candidate, and then they will call us for an appointment to discuss their decision. 
Here's some pics of our adventures.

 Getting the Leads/probes all ready for the MEG scan

 The MEG machine

 A pic of the monitor that watches Josiah in the MEG...thats him asleep in it while being scanned

 Watching planes with daddy-he is squinting from the wind, lol

 after the MRI, all smiley

God Bless