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| Miss Chels all hooked up and signing "kitty" |
The Set-Up
Our set-up for the EEG was pretty easy:
1. No caffeine/ stimulants for 24 hours before
2. Shampoo hair the night before (no conditioner) and dry. You need very clean, dry hair so the electrodes will stick right
3. Clean the house (pretend like we are nice and tidy people all the time, ya know- since we will be under 72 hours of surveillance)
4. Put Chelsea in a button-up shirt, since she won't be able to put anything over her head because of the hookup. (Dirty secret- we kept her in the same shirt all 3 days)
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| Chelsea with her hookup technician |
Visit #1
The technician came and hooked up Chelsea to her electrodes, and the wires went into a little backpack that she had to carry around for 3 days. I saved up Chelsea's TV time, so she was glued to "The Little Mermaid" during the hookup, which took nearly three hours! I highly recommend that- the second the movie turned off, she started kicking and screaming and it took all my strength to hold her steady!
The nurse also set up a video camera and laptop that was controlled by a remote technician, to monitor Chelsea's brain activity, sharpen image if needed, etc. Our camera went inexplicably fuzzy one night, and the technician was able to fix it.
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| The laptop with video feed |
Activities
We did all sorts of activities, avoiding roughhouse/ outside play, since she wasn't allowed to sweat or leave the house for these 3 days. Some of the things we did:
1. Legos
2. Read books!!! Lots and lots and LOTS of books!
3. Freeze dance with ribbons
4. Puzzles
5. Blocks- cardboard building blocks, wooden blocks, Lincoln logs, etc.
6. Draw pictures/ do coloring books
7. Play with stuffed animals in a parachute
8. Have a tea party!
9. Watch a favorite movie together (but no snacks! Don't eat unless it is strictly mealtime!)
10. Have a puppet show!
11. Build a Mr. Potato Head
12. Board Games
13. Do learning time (work on letters, counting)
14. Pop bubbles together
15. Stickers
Journal/ Gelling
In addition to keeping Chelsea in one room, we needed to keep track of anytime Chelsea had something that looked like a seizure, when she woke up, ate, and went to sleep. We timed them, so we would be able to go back through and check what she looked like when the seizure was happening.
When the seizure (or what you suspect is a seizure) happens, there is a little button you push on the backpack. Doing it creates a digital "bookmark" so the technician can review the brain activity at that point.
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| One version of the monitor in the backpack |
I also filled the electrode gel twice a day, once in the morning, and once at night, about 12 hours apart. It was super nerve-wracking the first time, and it must have taken me 30 minutes! But I got more and more confident each time, so by the end, it only took me 5 minutes to get all 23 electrodes.
Visit #2
The take off wire visit was really quick, maybe 20-30 minutes. The technician came back, collected the journal information, packed up the laptop and camera, then used a solution to take off the electrodes. Chelsea did NOT like that part, but no hair was pulled out, so I'm assuming it wasn't super painful, just unpleasant to be pinned down and nasty smelling stuff doused in your hair!
Clean-Up
This part deserves it's own sections- the glue removal from hair!!! Goodness to Betsy, this stuff was IMPOSSIBLE to get out!!!! They said to use conditioner, and I went through an entire bottle of conditioner trying to get it to soften and get out. When I tried a fine tooth comb, Chelsea screamed so loudly I was shocked that the neighbors didn't call the police- it sounded like a murder!
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| Not even a tenth of the amount of conditioner used!!! |
SO- forget the conditioner! I asked what solution they used, and they said acetone. I then remembered- acetone is NAIL POLISH REMOVER!!! Boom, I used cotton balls doused in nail polish remover, and it worked like a dream! So my tip is to get nail polish remover and go to town with it!
Good luck with your child's EEG!!!!
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