We have a DIAGNOSIS!

Well this week had to take a trip to Blank Children's Hospital so that our littlest Kael could see a neurologist. He had been having what was first diagnosed as seizures from about the age of 2 months. They were supposed to go away by the time he was a year old but because they did not and he is two weeks away from his first birthday, we had to see a specialist. I have to say that everyone at Blank Children's Hospital was so wonderful. They were great with Kael. Super friendly and just wonderful and patient. We really had a great experience. So at first we had to have Kael have an EEG. This was a very long experience. Kael had to be very sleep deprived. He had to be kept up two hours later than normal and then had to wake up two hours earlier. Which meant we were up around 4:30. He also could not have anything to eat. Which also made him a little grumpy. (This is obviously not Kael but this is just what it looked liked. He had between 25-30 cords coming from his head. He did so good though. He cried a little but even the nurse commented on how well he did. We were very pleased with him.) Anyways so we had the EEG and then we had to meet with Dr. Narowong. She was very nice and said that his EEG and come back normal. She did diagnosis him with a condition known as shuddering. We did not know what it was either, but here is the definition that she gave us.

Shuddering: Older infants and children can suffer from paroxysmal bouts of shivering during which spontaneous activity decreases and the upper extremities are adducted and flexed at the elbows or, less often, abducted and extended. The head and knees are also frequently flexed. Aside from artifact, there are no EEG abnormalities during the attacks and incidence of epilepsy is no higher in these children than in the general population. Anti epileptic medications do not modify the attacks. Shuddering episodes gradually decreases in frequency and intensity in the first decade of life. Many children have episodes of shuddering come from children who have episodes of shuddering come from families in which many members have an essential tremor, and the two disorders may be related.

So now we are just moving on. We are glad that it is not more serious and that Kael is expected to live a very normal life. This is no painful and it does not cause any long term pain or problem. We are happy to have our sweet little boy happy and healthy.