Kyle Update 2

We pulled out of Durango about 7:30 yesterday morning to start the death march down to Albuquerque. It really is one of the most boring drives you'll ever have to make (Texans, think El Paso to Fort Stockton). After a quick lunch, we arrived at UNM-University Hospital at 12:30 for a 1:00 appointment (just as they asked us). About 1:05 they put us in the tiny examining room. About 1:45 they came in to move us to a playroom since they could tell our 3 kids had just about destroyed the examining room. And why couldn't we have been in the play room the entire time? At 2:00 they came back to get us to say the doctor was ready to see us. The doctor and a medical student came in and we told them what had been going on with Kyle.

I'll stop the update here to let you know that Kyle had another "spell" while we were at Yellowstone. It was the same as before, he stoped walking and "crumpled up", but his eyes remained focused and "normal" the entire time. It took him longer to be able to walk, but again, as soon as he could walk, he was completely normal.

After telling the doctor everything that had happened, he asked lots of questions and then examined him. They let us go back to the playroom while the doctor, medical student, and the lead neurologist looked at his CT scan and discussed. All 3 doctors brought us back to the room and said that they think the cyst has nothing to do with the seizures. So that now brings the doctor total to 6 who say they think the cyst is nothing, and is just an incidental finding. Unfortunately, they really have no idea why he is seizuring, or even if what he's having are seizures. The lead neurologist suggested he have an EEG (which is like an EKG except it's on your brain). She said this would show if he is prone to having seizures. At this point I said, "Okay, so if he's not having seizures, what would you call them?" And the doctor looked at me and said, "Spells." Well, whatda ya know, I have totally missed my calling. I so should have been a neurologist, because "spells" is exactly what we call them in East Texas. Needless to say, I was just a little frustrated that we had driven 4 hours to find out Kyle was having "spells." Anyway, the lead neurologist called to see if Kyle could get in to get an EEG, and praise the Lord, they had had a cancellation so we got right in. The EEG Lady told us they wanted to get 15 minutes of sleep and 15 minutes of him awake. Jason and I both told her, "there is no way he is going to sleep". Kyle only sleeps if he is in a bed (preferably his), and there is nothing else going on. This is the same child who will force himself to stay awake in the car to watch a Handy Manny video he's seen no less than 56 times. I'm telling you, Kyle was obviously covered in prayer yesterday. As she was putting the little electrodes all over his head, he went to sleep. And I'm not exaggerating when I say this...that is a miracle as big as the Red Sea parting. After the EEG was over they told us they'd have the results to us by Tuesday, but as I was typing this post, the doctor called. So you're actually getting the results before Jason since he hasn't called me back yet. The doctor said that his awake brain activity was "totally normal", but that while he was asleep it showed, "rare right frontal sharp and spiked discharges". A true miracle that he went to sleep? Yes it was! I just have to quote Granny Sherry's "favorite" pastor, Joel Osteen, "The favor of the Lord was upon us!" I asked the doctor, "So does 'rare' mean this is something you don't see a lot of, or 'rare' like he 'rarely' had any discharges?" Thankfully, 'rare' means he didn't have a lot of discharges. The doctor now thinks that his "spells" were seizures (and BTW, she did use the word "spells" with me again on the phone). So our next step is for him to get an MRI so we can maybe see what's causing all this. I asked the doctor if this is something he will outgrow, or do I need to be worried. She said she just doesn't know if he will outgrow it, and that we'll hopefully know more when the MRI comes back. For now we are supposed to just watch him and if he continues to have seizures/spells then we might need to put him on some medicine. That's all I've got for now, but I'll be sure and keep you updated.