In her own words: Joshua is going to be admitted to Blair Batson on Monday for a 3-5 day stay for a video EEG. This test will hopefully provide the doctors with the information they need to decide if the "episodes" Joshua has been having over the last few years are indeed silent seizures or not. We are praying and believing God will provide us and the doctors wit
h answers so we can make a plan on how to better help Joshua and how to stop the episodes from happening. God is already answering prayers because the wait for this test is usually 6 months. Someone called us yesterday to tell us that someone else cancelled for this Monday. So we can take their place and not have to wait for Joshua's scheduled day in September! We are excited and nervous. Excited to finally get answers. Nervous because Joshua will not be able to take his seizure medications during the test. Joshua has been on seizure medicine since he was 6 months old. We essentially do not know him not on the medications. We will have to keep our focus on God through this all---- we know He will provide and comfort and give us strength to make it through one more trial. He has always held us and gotten us through every trial that has been thrown our way (and there have been many regarding Joshua). Please pray for our little guy who will hooked to an EEG machine the whole time (unable to leave his small hospital room. Pray for God to provide wisdom, guidance, and understanding to Joshua's doctors and medical team. And pray our family to be strong through it all. Samantha can be with us at the hospital during the day, but she will not be allowed to spend the night. This is going to be tough on Mommy for sure!!! Neither one of them have been away from Mommy at night. I will stay the night with one of them and Ernest will stay with the other. We did thankfully book a hotel for the week so we will never be more than 5 minutes apart. Anyway, sorry for the long post. My mind is running crazy now with trying to get everything ready. Thank you for the prayers. We will keep everyone posted next week. I will keep everyone posted here as well with his progress. Marian
Joshua & Samantha
Update on Joshua!
Happy to be unattached from the 26 wires of the EEG machine and able to walk outside the 4 walls of a small hospital room!!!
So here is the doctor's report that I promised: Joshua will remain on his current seizure medicine because he still has potential to have seizures. They did not note any seizures while in the hospital-- which is great news! He is showing abnormal brain activity (epileptic forms) about every 2-3 hours during the day and about every 20-30 minutes at night. They only last 1/2 - 1 second each. It must last 10 seconds to be considered s seizure. He did not have any of the episodes we have been seeing at home while in the hospital. This was slightly disappointing to us as parents because we really hoped they could tell us what is causing the strange episodes. A typical episode looks like this: Joshua is completely happy and nothing happens, but he suddenly has a strange look on his face, his eyes look glazed over, he does not speak for a few seconds, he looks lost or confused, and then he becomes completely irritable and agitated or he starts crying. After he recovers, he usually gets very hyper and begins laughing a lot. We have no idea what is causing this. The neuropsychiatrist we see seemed to agree with us that it sounds like a silent seizure. But now the Neurologist says he does not think it is seizures and that we should talk back with the Neuropsychiatrist. Frustrating and aggravating-- it feels like no one can offer advise as of yet. But we are not defeated, we will keep pressing forward and waiting on God's perfect timing to provide answers or help or healing. Thank you again for all the prayers! We would really appreciate your prayers for Joshua (and us) any time you think about it. He is our little miracle and he is a testament to the fact that our God answers prayer and is still in the healing business. This Mama will never give up and I will always keep my faith in the God who has a perfect plan and purpose for my sweet boy!!! Leaning on the verse God gave me for Joshua before he was ever sick----- Jeremiah 29:11. ~Ginger Berney
So here is the doctor's report that I promised: Joshua will remain on his current seizure medicine because he still has potential to have seizures. They did not note any seizures while in the hospital-- which is great news! He is showing abnormal brain activity (epileptic forms) about every 2-3 hours during the day and about every 20-30 minutes at night. They only last 1/2 - 1 second each. It must last 10 seconds to be considered s seizure. He did not have any of the episodes we have been seeing at home while in the hospital. This was slightly disappointing to us as parents because we really hoped they could tell us what is causing the strange episodes. A typical episode looks like this: Joshua is completely happy and nothing happens, but he suddenly has a strange look on his face, his eyes look glazed over, he does not speak for a few seconds, he looks lost or confused, and then he becomes completely irritable and agitated or he starts crying. After he recovers, he usually gets very hyper and begins laughing a lot. We have no idea what is causing this. The neuropsychiatrist we see seemed to agree with us that it sounds like a silent seizure. But now the Neurologist says he does not think it is seizures and that we should talk back with the Neuropsychiatrist. Frustrating and aggravating-- it feels like no one can offer advise as of yet. But we are not defeated, we will keep pressing forward and waiting on God's perfect timing to provide answers or help or healing. Thank you again for all the prayers! We would really appreciate your prayers for Joshua (and us) any time you think about it. He is our little miracle and he is a testament to the fact that our God answers prayer and is still in the healing business. This Mama will never give up and I will always keep my faith in the God who has a perfect plan and purpose for my sweet boy!!! Leaning on the verse God gave me for Joshua before he was ever sick----- Jeremiah 29:11. ~Ginger Berney
