MEG. Check. A little bit more waiting. Check.

Well, since my last post our appointment for the long-awaited MEG scan was moved up (yay). In fact, it was Monday, August 13. We were able to get in sooner thanks to our pediatrician who came in early on his first day back from vacation to do the physical we needed for Micah to be able to receive oral sedation for the test (he had to stay perfectly still for an hour or more which, unless he is sleeping is, well, impossible). Thanks to our friend Mary, too, who is also a pediatrician and offered to do the physical if we couldn't get in to our doctor's office.

He had to be sleep-deprived and couldn't have anything to eat that morning. So he was tired, hungry, and thirsty for the three hour trip. Yet he was so patient most of the time! I tell you, he's more whiny and impatient from 4-5:30 on the average afternoon (also known as when we're cooking supper) than he was the whole day of the test. What a trooper!

We got in right away, and had a brief consultation with various nurses, after which we went to the MEG center proper. There he was given the oral sedation. No one manufactures a children's liquid of this medicine any more, so he had to have it squeezed out of capsules into a tiny bite of applesauce. It smelled terrible, and  I am pretty sure from his response that it tasted about as bad as it smelled. We finally got it in, though. It's not the first time we've had to get bitter/disgusting medicine into him with minimal help (nothing could be as bad as keto diet and antibiotics). They hooked him up to 24 EEG leads for the simultaneous testing.

Here the tech is wiring him up. He's a little out of it but not sleeping yet.

This was more high-tech than the usual EEG, though, because they did a GPS of where the electrodes were on his head, so if he moved, they could re-calibrate. They did this with a funny-looking pair of glasses and a pen-thingy that they touched to each electrode. Then he was taken into the actual MEG room, where his head was surrounded by the magnet-detecting machine.

Micah sleeping in David's arms, waiting to go into the MEG scanner. You can see the glasses he is wearing. They took these off soon after this photo was taken. Those white things on his head are the tape pieces holding the electrodes on.

When he has a seizure, his brain gives off electrical impulses, but it also gives off a very weak magnetic field. This machine can read the magnetic field somehow, using liquid hydrogen-cooled detectors. The advantage of using the magnetic impulse for diagnostic purposes is that it is not affected by the fluid around the brain, the skull, muscle, skin or hair that can distort a normal EEG slightly. It is as if the brain were bare, even though the test is completely non-invasive and benign. The data from the EEG, MEG and MRI is then fed into a computer program to help the doctors determine whether surgery is the right option. If it is, this 3-D brain model will also be useful during the actual surgery, as they pinpoint exactly where to cut.

 We did know upon leaving the MEG center that Micah had a "successful study". This means that he had seizures during the scan, and they got clear data. This is good. And bad. But not a surprise, since his EEG from June showed seizures. But if he hadn't had any, we may have had to re-do the scan. But even though we're very glad that's not necessary, it's just hard having it reaffirmed that, yes, he is still having seizures.

This past Tuesday we got a call from our epilepsy doctor, who had a chance to look at the test results. Everything indicates that surgery is a good option. We now have an informal recommendation for surgery, pending Micah's case being presented at the Neurology Congress on September 5. Unless all the doctors are out on vacation that week, in which case it will be delayed for two more weeks. In other words, we may know the first week in September whether or not we're going to do surgery. Honestly, this is good news, but mostly it's terrifying for me. It keeps sinking more and more deeply that we are probably doing this thing. Sometime soon. We have no idea when, but probably soon.

On a much lighter note, he started another year of preschool again last week. Here he is before the first day.