Logan

Whew, what a crazy ride it has been!  Logan will be 8 months old tomorrow (where has the time gone!) and within the last month she has been through some crazy stuff.  A little over a month ago we started noticing her making a strange jerking motion with her head that took her head over to her left shoulder.  It started out being two or three times a day and moved to being episodes of five or six at a time throughout the day. I tried charting it ~ time of day, what she had eaten, what was happening at the time...there was no pattern or consistency at all so we took her to Dr. Hansen who referred us to a neurologist.  We began the testing process to determine what was causing the episodes with the mindset of elimiating seizures or brain function abnormalities first.  Our first step was a sleep deprived EEG.  On Mother's Day we had to keep Logan awake until late at night then wake her up at five in the morning and keep her awake until noon.  She was a champion!  Then, after hooking her up to 27 electrodes, they let her fall asleep for 15 minutes and then woke her up to flash lights in her eyes to monitor how her brain reacted to a stressful situation.  I wish they would've monitored me, certainly my blood pressure! Most positive memorable moment during the process was the nurse asking me a question and then telling me to keep talking because Logan's brainwave activity spiked while I was speaking!  Even while she was asleep, she recognized and responded to my voice! This is a picture of her staying up late - look at that smile! The other picture is sleepy Logan after she was all hooked up ~ bless!

Logan truly did a great job and I felt so proud of her!  Then we met with Dr. Nahourii in Charlotte about the results and I have to say that he is one of the most knowledgeable doctors I have ever encountered.  He told us that the EEG results were negative and then Logan started doing her jerking and he started studying her with it.  I was so glad that he got to see it happen in person, it really is hard to describe unless you see her do it.  He started listing all of the possibilities and then doing different simple tests with her while asking us questions to eliminate many of the options.  I was very impressed!  He determined that it is either partial seizures, a motion disorder, or something related to sugar or calcium levels in her blood.  We were told to return for a 24 hour EEG and given a lab order for bloodwork. 

The 24 hour EEG consisted of being hooked up to the same 27 electrodes except this time they were wrapped in what I can best describe as a gauze turban and attached to a little medical battery pack.  We were supposed to keep it on her for 24 hours and write in detail what she was doing throughout the day.  This too went very well, Logan is far braver and more adaptable than I could ever be.

Riley thought Logan's special doctor hat was great and surprisingly Logan didn't mess with it or pull at it while she had it on.  She even slept pretty well with it on.  The next morning Logan woke up with a smile and stayed in a pretty good mood while we removed all of the electrodes, but it was a chore!  Each one was taped on with medical tape (she has a lot of hair!) and the electrodes were stuck on with gobs of wax so they were stuck all over her head too.  Even Riley "helped" with the process. At the end of it all we covered her hair in conditioner (tip from the nurses) and then let her drink her bottle before we tried to wash it all out!



 

Today was the bloodwork and it was traumatic!  Logan was tired so the timing wasn't great and the nurses couldn't find a vein on either arm so the decision was made to use a finger prick instead.  That wouldn't have been so bad if they didn't need to fill FOUR viles!  It took 35 minutes and to say that we were both highly stressed and shaken from the experience is an understatement.  I kept reassuring her that I was there but she was looking at me while I was holding her down as if to say "make it stop" which was heartbreaking! Thankfully the testing process, at least for now, is over and we are waiting for results that should come within a week. 

Thank you for everyone's thoughts and prayers and encouragement, it means so much to us!  We know that Logan was created by God and that He is not surprised or confused by what's going on and He has her in His hands at all times.  He loves her even more than we do, that's a great foundation to stand on through all of this!

And so, even though she can't read this yet, I wanted to write this post to honor Logan and all that she's been through lately.  Baby girl does it all with a smile and a chuckle and a clap and a twinkle in her eye that melts this Momma's heart.

 

I love you Logan, Happy 8 Month Birthday <3