Paul's Update - 06/20/06

Dear Friends:

Dad got to Paul's house at 4:00am and found that Paul was sleeping. Tabby, Max & Grandma had been up most of the night. Paul slept through the TV and Max most of the night. The EEG was at 11:00am. They put 26 electrodes on Paul's head and got brain activity from all of them. The nurse told Paul to close his eyes and relax. She also asked him to rapidly blink his eyes and he did that. She asked him to breath rapidly and he did that too. She really wanted him to breath rapidly for three minutes but she only got him to do that for one minute. She was OK with that and got what she needed. He did pretty good but he kept wanting to lift up his head. Each time he did that they had to stop the test and get him to relax again. When he got home he was pretty tired. Now we have to wait about ten days for the results of the test to be sent to the neurologist and Paul's general practitioner. Paul will go back and have more blood tests on the 26th. After the results come back from that he will go back to the neurologist to see what the doctor wants to do next. Hopefully, Paul will have enough Dilantin in his blood to start reducing the Depacote. The speech therapist came by this afternoon and worked with Paul to exercise his mouth and tongue. She tried to have him make sounds. She started with "ahh" and then "mmmm" and then put them together "mmm ... ahh" it comes out "ma"! She was successful in getting him to say it! She told him not to get frustrated because if he could do it without problems, he wouldn't need her! She also brought him a device that says words when he pushes the corresponding button. She asked him to push some of the buttons but he couldn't recognize which button to push. Once she showed him which button he was suppose to push, he could push it. Then she asked him if he recognized any of the words ... he couldn't. She asked him if he knew where Tabby was (right next to him), he nodded and looked over at her. The therapist told him to point to her. He kept looking at Tabby but didn't point. Then she asked again for him to point to her, he pointed to Dad instead (at the end of the bed). The therapist was not surprised at any of this and is not discouraged. Dad & Tabby were very impressed with this therapist and plans to ask the agency to continue sending her!! This is the best speech therapy he has had since he came home from Mt. Vernon. Paul was pretty observant today but he was exhausted and slept a lot. Dad had trouble getting him to walk much. Tonight Dad & I had some business to take care of and were gone until about 8:00pm. When we got back to Paul's I was able to hold Max for about an hour while he slept. He couldn't be a more perfect baby (well ... I AM a little prejudice). He is a wonderful blessing for our family!

Have a great day, Lynne & Carl