Post-Surgical Testing - NYU Hospital

We are back in New York and have had a big medical day. This is a routine trip to follow up on the level of surgical success. We planned the trip to coincide with Aria's spring break so we could do this trip as a family. Today we met with Dr. Weiner, Evan's surgeon, and it was great to see him. He was happy to hear how well Evan is doing and was very pleased by the MRI results. I think he's almost as interested as we are to see the results of this week's Video EEG.

From Dr. Weiner's office, we crossed the street to begin the process of checking into the hospital. It's a strange thing to have your child in the hospital because everything about your normal life is left behind as you walk in the door. The environment is surreal and if I didn't wear a watch I'd have no idea of the time of day. You order food to be delivered because it's time to eat and not because you're hungry.

Evan is a bit of a rock star at the hospital and has a way of endearing himself to everyone who meets him. We visited the nurses in Intensive Care and they were all excited to see him again and remarked on how tall he had gotten in just a few months. They had hugs and kisses for him and threw him in the air as he laughed. He also got a lot of special treatment from the Child Life Specialists who organize all the daily activities for the kids on the floor.

After all the socializing, it was time to get down to business and get Evan hooked up to the EEG leads. This is never a pleasant process and although it doesn't hurt, Evan cried through the entire process of gluing the leads on his head. That was the hardest part of today, but it wasn't a big surprise because Evan has always hated that part. Now he is being monitored through the EEG leads while being video taped and he'll be the the hospital for a few days. We are all hoping to hear good news over the next few days. We don't think he's having seizures and hopefully that will be confirmed this week.

This evening, there was a St. Patrick's Day party on the floor, complete with Irish dancers. Evan was allowed to unhook for an hour so he could attend and he ended up being the hit of the party. At one point during a break between dancers he showed off his own dance moves and then before they did their last dance he raised his hand and asked if he could dance too. They had him join the dancers and Aria and another little girl did too. It was a riot watching them all weave in and out as they did "the snake dance" (think Congo line with Irish clogging) . Everyone got a laugh at the scene of dancers and I'd say the party was a success! Evan is definitely not shy, but I'm not sure if it comes from confidence or a sense of indifference to what other people think. Either way, it'll serve him well.