More testing

Even sweet girls have their issues.  Sweet Elisabeth does NOT like pain.  When she was three years old, she skinned her knee for the first time.  This happened while I was bragging to the neighbor that OUR children went to sleep at night, when told.  She started screaming and crying and sniffling.  She just. didn't. stop.  For hours.

When we put her in bed, she saw a scab, and thought she was bleeding out.  'I"M BLEEEEEEDING!!!!!"  It took her 3 hours to go to sleep.  I learned to be careful about bragging.

So, when she started having so many needles, we had to come up with a plan.  We discovered Lanacane from the drugstore would numb arms.  We'd slather it on, on the way to the hospital.  We'd put it on again when we got to the hospital.  It worked somewhat.  Except when she needed to get two sticks. Her little arms just didn't like giving blood or holding IV tubes for long.  So, many times, we'd joke that she got two for the price of one.

She didn't think that was very funny.

The month of April was a blitz of testing.  She spent 8 days of that month at the hospital.

After the first seizure during EEG testing, she had 13 more over 36 hours.  The final one was at the right time.  Early Friday morning.  The nurse injected the isotope, and our eyes met.  "It's done," she said. Elisabeth came out of the seizure.  "Wait!!?  I had a seizure??!!  I can go home???!!!"

Within 30 minutes, she was lying perfectly still while metal plates moved and clicked about a quarter inch from her face.  Sweet girl.

Then, we went home!!

After that, the testing continued.

Vision test:  Check.
MRI (two hours with sedation): Check
Psychological Evaluation:  Check.

Wait, psych evaluation??!!  I asked Dr. Quach why that one was necessary.  Oh, it's not about 'how are you feeling lately.'  It was a comprehensive, all day test of her mental capabilities.

She passed all of them with flying colors.  It turns out she's perfectly normal, except that she has epilepsy.

The surgeon's nurse called to make sure we were getting everything done correctly.  We were.  She told me that Dr. Curry would present Elisabeth's case to the epilepsy conference on a Tuesday, in two weeks.

 Now, all we could do was wait and hope.

While we were at the hospital one morning, she was fussing about the needles she knew would come.  "I hate needles.  I hate blood. I wish I didn't have epilepsy."

She happened to look up right then, and she spotted someone else in the lobby.  It was a little boy.  He was in a wheelchair, with his poor, little arms and legs moving.  The aide was checking the oxygen tank, attached by tube to a face mask.

"Oh, mommy,"  she whispered in my ear.  "Do you see that little boy?  Some people are way worse than I am."

"I know, sweetheart, we should pray for him.  We are so very, very blessed that you are mostly healthy, and that your epilepsy might be fixed."

The complaining stopped.

"For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."  Philippians 4:11