EEG in Houston

Tucker had an EEG (test to see if he has seizures) scheduled for Dec 27-28. The test takes 23 hours, and he had to be hooked up to many leads for the test.  His mito dr ordered it, so we went to Houston for the test.

On the day after Christmas, Mom, Gina, her best friend, Jene'e, and I left for LC.  Our plan was to spend the evening and night with the Poche's, then leave for Houston early on the 27th. Well, we didn't get on the road until about 630pm ;) so from about 2pm until 930 when we got to their house, all we heard was "Go to Aunt Kim's! Go to Unca David's! Go see Mogan and Gace!!!" over and over.... :/  Then by the time we got there Tucker definitely needed to go to sleep, so I felt awful.  We stopped for dinner on the way, and Tucker got his own kid-sized burger and fries. He still doesn't eat any of it, but his feelings get hurt if he doesn't have his own food. He took my ranch dressing and dipped his fries in it, then licked the ranch sauce off....yes, he is a Townsend! haha

We stopped once more to use the potty, even though Tucker just wanted to drive straight to LC. I told him I was going to be mad if he pee peed in his carseat!

Tucker had about 15 minutes with his cousins, then it was time for him to go to bed. Mom, Gina, and Jene'e stayed up with the girls watching Soul Surfer while we went to sleep....well, after about 30 minutes of Tucker trying to sneak out of the bed to go see Unca David! lol

The next morning we woke up, rushed out by 730, even though we needed to leave for 7. Our trip to Houston was quick and painless, as Tucker, Gina, and Jene'e slept most of the way. When the city skyline came into view, the girls were so excited! It is obvious that we live out in the country, they loved every building and park.  They had to take pictures of themselves next to every neat looking window, door, etc. Having them along made us more excited to be there, as they found everything to be so interesting. The hospital really is in a nice part of town, right next to a big park, so I totally understand why they like it.

We checked in at admissions, then within 10 minutes we were up at the EMU (Epilepsy Monitoring Unit). The admissions clerk asked if we needed a guide, I told her we could handle it. (haha) So when we got up to the EMU, there wasn't anyone waiting for us. We found the room he was in, and we just sat around for a while. There was a twin bed for Tucker, an arm chair that folded out to a small bed, and a couch that folded out into a bed. So there was plenty of room for all of us, luckily. I went to find a nurse, and I also found a big playroom. The nurse came in to take Tucker's vitals and I went to the playroom to pick out a few trucks for Tucker. Gina also picked out Guess Who and Life for them to play.

The tech came in to put the leads on Tucker's head. There were about 40 sticky leads that needed to be attached to Tucker's head and face to monitor his brain wave activity.  It took the tech more than 30 minutes to attach them all, and Tucker behaved perfectly while this was done.....I was in awe.  Mom and I had to sing "night night, Teddy Bear" about 100 times, but that was expected!  Tucker is extremely tender headed (he cries in the morning when I brush his hair, even with soft brush), and he likes to rub his hair when he is stressed out. Of course this was not an option as the leads were on his head, so I lay next to him and he rubbed my hair instead. After the leads were on, the tech wrapped Tucker's head with several gauze-like towels, then wrapped his chin as well. He looked like a Sock Monkey, Rapunzel (he had a long gauze ponytail), and a nun.  So we of course made fun of him for the next 23 hours ;)

The leads were long enough that Tucker could go to the bathroom, and move between the couch, bed, and rocking chair. But he couldn't leave the room.  The rest of us could leave, of course, and we took turn leaving when it was time to eat. Tucker caught on to this quickly, and he started going to the door saying "it's time to eat" trying to get his turn to leave!  We checked in around 1030am, and by 1pm it was time for Tucker's nap. Mom took the teenagers to go stretch their legs and get lunch (they ended up at Smashburger-yum!), while I settled in to rock Tucker and eat my complimentary hospital lunch.  I am so proud of mom! She drove around Houston without me, haha. It was only a few streets over, but still, she hadn't done that before.  Jene'e doesn't usually eat hamburgers, but she loved Smashburger (so does everyone).   Tucker took a good nap, after asking me about 2343098430 times "they comin' back?" "they go to Aunt Kim's?" Poor kid thought they had dropped us off and went back to LC! 

They came back around 3, and we just spent a lazy afternoon together, reading and playing board games. Tucker loved being in the middle of Jene'e and Gina's games, taking all of the pieces from them! Around 5, I decided to take a break, so I took the girls out to get dinner and to unpack at the nearby hotel.  That way when mom and the girls left the hospital at 9pm they wouldn't have to bring in all their luggage in the dark. So anyways, G and J loved the room, they were just sad that Tucker couldn't stay too (staying over at hotels is one of his favorite things). We went and picked up dinner, then headed back to the hospital. That hospital is truly a maze, and it was pretty scary in the dark. So I thought I had a good solution when I parked in the hospital parking garage instead of the physician's tower garage. We parked there, and we brought the food in to Tucker's room. He and Nana had a good time rocking while we were gone, and Tucker was so excited to have his own little pizza to lick while we ate pasta and breadsticks.  The night nurse came in to check Tucker's vitals, and he was more than eager to help out. He held out his arm and held the thermometer for his temperature, then he held out his arm for the blood pressure monitor (he usually fights us on this), and he put the pulse ox monitor right on his toe, then stared at the screen, like he was going to interpret the numbers for the nurse. When she was done and ready to leave, he wouldn't let her! So she left the pulse ox with us for about 5 more minutes before she finally had to take it.

Mom, Gina, and Jene'e left at 9pm. Of course my great plan was not so great, so about 5 minutes later they called me because they were lost in the hospital.  They ended up finding a doctor that told them how to get out, then they made it to the hotel and were ok. They didn't come back until 11am the next morning, which was fine, because Tucker pretty much slept from 9pm that night until 10am the next day.  I packed everything up, and at 10am the tech came back to take all of the leads off. It was pretty painful. He had to use acetone to get the sticky stuff to come off, which Tucker did not like. Then even after the leads were off, most of the glue was still there, so I had to put him in the shower and scrub his head. Even after that, he looked like he had the worst case of dandruff ever! But I knew at that point I couldn't push it, so I just left him like that.

We had plans to meet another family, the Pohlas, at the Houston Children's Museum at 1 (a friend of mine Casey had sent me free passes, and the Houston museum is rated #1 in the US).  So we packed all of our luggage and went to find some lunch. Tucker was so happy to be out of the hospital, even though he was just there for less than a day. He wanted pizza again, and the only pizza place we could find was a carry-out only place. So we ordered a large pizza and walked across the street to a small park. It was so nice to eat outdoors and enjoy the scenery after being inside for 24 hours. The weather really was perfect.  We went to the museum for 1, and it looked like everyone else in Houston had the same ideas as us.  We met up with Pohlas, and it was nice to see them and their 3 boys. It was very crowded in the museum, so we all lost touch with eachother a lot, but Tucker loved it. There was this huge climbing apparatus, but Tucker was too scared to go in there with the bigger kids. We found an area that was set up like a kids' town, it had a grocery store, restaurant, news studio, and also a police department. Tucker spent the rest of his time going from the police car to the ambulance. He loved it, and even Christmas bear got to drive the ambulance.  G and J went around the whole museum and I hope learned a lot from the different exhibits. Jene'e actually told me at one point "Leigh, you are the coolest mom ever" since I took the time to bring them to the museum. That made me so happy, because most of the time I don't feel very cool! hahaha

After about an hour of being in the crowded museum, Tucker had enough and I was sensing a huge meltdown coming. So we said our good-byes and got in the car, headed back to LC for a longer stay.  We met Aunt Kim and the girls at their local McD's which was just remodeled to put in a huge playplace. Tucker loved it. He was very unsure of the steps at first, so Grace and Morgan went up with him once, and that was all that it took. He was going up and down, over and over, even when the bigger kids went up the steps and couldn't find their way back out.

When we got their house, we stayed up for a while before going to bed. Tucker got to see Uncle David for a little while before bed, so he was happy. I got to talk to Morgan for a while, the girls are getting too old! The next morning we slept in and took our time getting ready to leave.  Well, everyone except Tucker, of course. He woke up early and went to all of the girls saying "get up! get up! play wit me!" This started a fight between him and G:
Tucker: "get up!"
Gina: "no, you get out!"
Tucker: "no, you get up!"
and this went on.....hahaha

Of course, as soon as everyone gave in and woke up, Tucker was ready for a "map". He slept for about an hour while we all waited for him to wake up so we could finally play.

At some point I decided that Tucker's dandruff look was really too much. So I sat him down in the bathroom to brush the glue out of his hair. I knew it would be painful, but that stuff had to come out! Grace came in, gave Tucker his bear, and held his hand while I brushed his hair. It was so incrediblly sweet, and Tucker sat through the whole thing.  With Tucker looking much better, the kids played outside for about an hour before we left at lunchtime. We were sad to leave them, as always, but we will see them soon.

We should get the results from the EEG in the next few weeks. Tucker's last EEG was run over 3 years ago, and that one came back normal. Tucker sometimes has staring spells, and the dr. wants to make sure he is ok.

When I got home and told Chris all about the trip, he said "Wow, that sounds like pure hell." Hahahaha, and I thought it was the most fun I'd had in a while! I guess I don't get out much ;)  No housework, cooking, running errands, or going to work for a few days? Sounds great, right?
Having the teenagers and mom along with us for this trip made it really feel like more of a vacation than a medical trip, even though poor Tucker didn't to "go to da hotayal!" Maybe next time!