Happy Valentines Day!

Here's the summary:

1. Ben was a trooper and made it until 1 AM giving Joan an extra hour of sleep this morning before having to take her shift to arouse Ben.

2. I ended up awake early anyway to keep Ben somewhat alert while Joan got herself and Jessie dressed. We also checked the abscess on Ben's thigh. It had made it to the surface of his skin. This was a good thing.

3. Joan and Lisa took off for the EEG. I'm not sure how many of these Ben has had but he's slept through every one of them including today's. By the way Ben also slept comfortably last night.

4. Joan, Ben, and Lisa then made their way across town to see the pediatric surgeon. By this time the abscess and "blown" so there was no need to have it drained.

5. After receiving the care instructions for the sore it was back over to the neurologist to discuss the seizures and the EGG. For the first time there was a slight indication of where at least one of the types of seizures Ben has been having is originating from. We also had gave a very descriptive account of Ben's motions as he is seizing. It turns out that this verified the EEG findings for the milder type of episode but also gave the doctor a good indication of where the stronger seizures are probably coming from. We will now consider a couple of different drugs Ben could take should the seizures continue.

6. Vickie, you'll love this. Ben completely entertained Dr. Morales! He smiled, he laughed, he tried to get up, he "talked." For those that are unaware, this was the neurologist that wrote Ben off just before he turned two as being nothing more than a vegetable. Ben even made Morales laugh.

What does all this mean? We know absolutely nothing still about what triggered all of these episodes about ten days ago. Was it the teething? The abscess? A virus? A growth spurt? Chances are we'll never know. The good thing is that we do now have a plan and a trustworthy neurologist back on our "team."

The plan now is to see if the seizure activity decreases or at least stabilizes over the next few days and weeks. If they continue to persist at the current level we will have no choice but to begin drug therapy. We're still not real happy with the thought but it will be best for Ben and the rest of the family's sleep patterns. We've also had our fears alleviated that the seizures might cause more neurological damage to Ben.

All in all Ben has had the best day he's had in about two weeks. It was tough for me and Joan to squeeze in that short nap while listening to Ben and Lisa laughing and playing downstairs. I guess we'll call those Valentine's Ear Candy.