William had his sleep study last night. We checked in about 6:30pm and this picture was taken at about 8:30pm. The first couple of hours were a bit trying. William did NOT want anything attached to him and didn't even want the technician to draw the marks on his head (they use a wax crayon to mark were each electrode will attach). We finally had to just let him fall asleep and then attach everything afterwards. Everything you see in this picture was done after he was asleep. Once he is out, he is out for good. He did occasionally wake up and pull at the nasal cannula, but we were able to calm him down and he would drift back to sleep.
I'm hoping that they got good information. He fell asleep at 7:30pm and was completely hooked up by 8:30pm. He woke up at 5:40am (late for him!) and they told me they need at least 9 hours so we hit that mark. I'm just so glad that he pretty much stayed asleep all night. I was so worried that he would wake up around 3 and want out! I guess at one point he pulled some things out and the technician came in and fixed it and I never even woke up! Will isn't the only one who is sleep deprived around here.
As for other William updates, he is doing pretty well. His PT is still working on balance issues and he is continuing to work on mastering a good jump. We now see some sporadic jumping from two feet, but he can't always do it. Lately his speech has been hit or miss. We had an episode of stuttering that has already improved and the speech therapist is currently assessing his articulation and whether he might benefit from speech therapy again. His vocabulary is still good for his age and he is very talkative and animated. He is a pretty entertaining kid!
Last night's study was also a full EEG (hence the extra wires) so he will now have had 3 EEG's since June. The first two were abnormal and this 3rd will give us some insight into the possibility of seizure activity during his sleep transitions. Because we've only actually seen the one episode, it is unlikely that Will is having seizures all night. On the other hand, we did see a spike (epileptical form) that indicates a risk of seizure during his second EEG. The spike occurred when he was in a transition between awake and asleep and that is what lead to this third EEG. Will's neurologist is fairly conservative and despite his abnormal EEGs, plans on waiting to medicate William until we have actually seen a second seizure episode. Obviously we all hope that doesn't happen. Many healthy kids/people can have a random unexplained seizure without ever having another so we hope that is the case with Will as well.
We are also hoping that this sleep study might give us enough ammo to get him moved to the morning preschool class (and get back to an afternoon nap), but after meeting some other parents from his class, we now know that we aren't the only ones fighting the system! We are pretty sure that the school district has no intention of changing their minds. In the mean time, he likes school and apparently has a new friend named Sophie. As for the long term...we will see. We know that the lack of sleep is causing him problems (poor balance, perhaps speech deterioration, falls asleep eating) so we'll have to decide whether we're comfortable leaving him in the pm program for the entire year. On the other hand, it is hard to imagine pulling him out of therapies and specialized instruction. It will be a hard decision.
On the whole, Will is doing well. He is such a happy, animated kid. We have our typical 3 year old moments, but for the most part you can't get this guy down. He is a constant blessing and reminds us always to relax a bit and laugh. You can't help but laugh if he is anywhere nearby! :)
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