Dylan

This year has been highly interesting. First to start our 2008 school year, we thought that in December we would be on our way to a new adventure in Idaho. That has changed to later this year. I am a believer in things happen for a reason...we might not understand now...but we will later. It is hard to put faith in that...but worth it if you do.
Dylan has a great 4th grade teacher this year...Mrs. Solorio. She loves Dylan and has done so much for him!! I need to back up a minute...every year during teacher/parent conferences, we have been hearing "you might want to hold Dylan back this year. He blanks out alot and doesn't pay attention. He just maybe a little too immature and need to stay in this grade one more year." I have always thought they were crazy and said "No Dylan is bright and smart...there is something else." It hasn't hindered him in school work. other than he has a hard time finishing. This year this sweet teacher began our conference saying "Dylan is a true delight. Never a problem with his behavior. He is incredibly smart..runs cirlces around my gate students. But he has a hard tiem finishing his work. He isn't realyl falling too behind. But I have to physically go up to him and get him to "snap out of it"" She asked for my premission to film him..I said ok. What I saw surprised me. He blacks out and doesn't remember where he was and thinks he had finished his class work like the rest of the class. It goes on all day. He is remorseful when he comes back..he doesn't know what happens....and thinks he will be in trouble. During the video, I noticed that he self stimulates himself..rocks back and forth as he blacks out. I thought..wow he looks like he has autism. But he is too old to be diagnosed with that. Then I thought...seizures. I am not a doctor and do not pretend to be..but these were my thoughts. She began the hard process of testing him through thte school psychologist...for things like ADD, ADHD, his IQ, etc. We were starting at the bottom and working our way up. After seeing the video, the specialists thouth the same thing I did...seizures. We are now meeting with a Neurologist...he is fantastic!! With Dylan's birth history..and the fact that they thought he was having seizures in the NICU, he felt that Dylan needed to be tested...so...we started out with an EEG.....

You have to be sleep deprived..with no caffiene...including the caffiene in chocolate. He was allowed to sleep for no more than 4 hours...and I had to account for driving time. So I got about 2 1/2 hours of sleep. We both were exhausted. I tried to make it a fun night but by the time that 3 am hit..Dylan was in tears begging me to let him sleep. It was a hard night and day the rest of the time...
All of those wires....it is a 20 minute test...so it is hard to sometimes to catch what is going on...

And after the test...Dylan was "marked" for the rest of the day...he thought it was cool. And then he went to sleep! (:

Then we had the MRI...we had to go to Fontana Kaiser because they do not sedate children in Riverside..only in Fontana.

This is what an MRI does...just FYI. And below is the machine you go into..a big loud tunnel.

I was'nt able to take pictures of Dylan in it...they wouldn't let the crazy mother with the camera do it! ): Dylan was very upset and didn't want to do the test because he didn't want the IV. He didn't mind the loud tunnel...but didn't want the IV...when we got there the Dr. sat Dylan down and told him that if he remain still, that he wouldn't put him under. I have never seen Dylan sit so still before! I was so proud of him! So no IV and no hospital stay for the MRI test. The Dr. let Dylan look at the pictures of his brain..Dylan thought it was so cool and asked for copies...we will get them on the 2nd.

We still do not know what is going on if anything...we find out on the 2nd of February. The hard thing is that epilepsy is hard to detect. You can have 10 MRI's done and 2 of them will show the disorder. So we may be starting a long road. I am grateful for Dylan and for his sweetness. I am grateful for how he came into this world. It was hard and trying but in those 4 months in the NICU I learned so much. He is a great brother and is such a leader. He is so special..and has so much to do in this life. I know he is a special spirit. I am grateful for my knowledge of the Gospel and for being taught it in my life. I am grateful for prayer. Without prayer, I would have fallen apart already! When things happen to us in our life we need to look at the good...the positive...there is so much around us!!

I will update on the 2nd...Dylan may be given a clean bill of health..then we will need to figure out why he is blacking out...and get him to focus....hmmmm.....I need Dr. HOUSE!!! (: