Epilepsy Surgery Screening, Day 5

Glendale, California, 9:15 am -- The phone rang at 5:30 this morning. All I could do is say hello to Cheryl before our phone line went dead (one of many technological failures that has oddly begun to afflict our household over the last few days). So, a seizure, then? I didn't call back because of the hour, and figured she would call back whenever she was awake, since she should be able to fall asleep after having a seizure.

She did call back later to say that she'd had a weird night, and finally took her one our of allotted sleep between 4:30 and 5:30. She though she might have had seizures during that time, which is why she called. However, the nurses didn't notice anything, so the doctors will have to review the tape to be sure. We'll know more later. Unless she had one, or has one soon, she will almost certainly not come home today.

UCLA Medical Center, 6:30 pm -- This was a difficult day. The doctor came by in the morning and provided Cheryl, who was terribly fatigued, with some less than encouraging news: it was not clear whether she had had a seizure, and it looks like she will have to have electode probes implanted in her brain ("Phase 2") to really narrow down where the seizures are located. She was upset for a while, but gradually got things under control. The staff was very nice to her, knowing how tired and upset she was.

The nurses allowed her to take a one-hour nap in the afternoon. I spent the time revisiting old haunts on campus, and returned to find Cheryl still tired but in a better frame of mind. Her roommate is still cranky, but she will probably be moved tonight because the nurses have to monitor her more closely. Good. She wasn't too understanding of Cheryl's need to be up all night.

The doctor didn't return in the afternoon, so I left with the plan to return early tomorrow to catch morning rounds.

Glendale, California, 8:30 pm -- As it turns out, the resident stopped by shortly after I left. Cheryl got an opportunity to spend a lot of time and ask a lot of questions. They still want her to have another seizure, although they also tentatively plan to discharge her on Wednesday.