Tuesday, June 17, 2014

EL Has Mild Sleep Apnea

I was reading through some old posts, and realized I never updated you on the post I wrote back in March about A POSSIBLE SLEEP DISORDER FOR EL.

The Sleep Lab appointment was on April 18th. David and JJ stayed with my parents that night, while I stayed at the hospital with EL. It was a long, rough night but we made it through. Here's my biggest question: Why do they call it a "Sleep Study" if you barely get any sleep! Ha!

In this picture, EL is getting hooked up for the night. Besides the sleep study wires, they also did a full EEG on her to check for any seizure activity.


Here she is trying to settle into her bed. I had the pull-out chair next to her. We sat and watched a movie for awhile until it was time to turn out the lights. You may be able to tell by her expression that she was not happy about being there.


The hard part for EL was that she was not allowed to sleep on her stomach like she always does; that really upset her. But, what she hated worse was the breathing monitor they placed under her nose. It was very uncomfortable for her because they had to tape it on to hold it in place. She was such a trooper, though.
 
Despite being awakened several times throughout the night (bathroom breaks, nurses checking on wires, etc.) EL did manage to get some sleep. Not much, but at least enough for them to get some results.
 
It took a month to finally get a call from the doctor with all the results. Thankfully, the EEG did not show any epileptical discharges this time. So, apparently, the medication is working to control her seizures. They did, however, diagnose her with mild Sleep Apnea. It runs in the family, so it didn't really come as a surprise. 
 
They gave us our treatment options over the phone:  (1) Wait and watch, (2) See an ENT for a consult on her tonsils and adenoids, (3) Use a C-PAP machine, and (4) Give medication to help reduce inflammation in the nasal passages.
 
We will be seeing the doctor again in July to discuss our treatment options more but, for now, we are choosing to wait and watch. Her oxygen level never went below 96%, so that shows us it is a very mild case, thank the Lord. 
 
Sorry it took me so long to give an update. (But, at least it wasn't "bad" news, right?!)  
 
 

1 comment:

  1. Poor El and poor mom! That must have been so hard for her. She is definitely a cooperative little trooper. I'm glad to see that it was just a mild case. I'd choose to watch and wait too!

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