Duke

Our meeting with Dr. Mikati went well. We were at the hospital clinic from 2:15 until 6. These appointments really take time. It helps when you know what to expect and we did this time. Tonda (mom of my college roommate, Annie) came over to Duke to help with Oliver. She was an angel and helped more than she even knows. Thanks, Tonda!

I liked Dr. Mikati right away because he carries and old school doctor's bag, complete with monogram. Precious. He was nice and efficient but, no Dr. Theile. It is hard to compete with her :) He agreed with the current medication regimen and was interested in our videos of Oliver's seizures. He asked us to recount Oliver's seizure history from the beginning. Andrew and I realized how many details are already fuzzy, particularly regarding Aug. 1st. It was a traumatic day so in some ways you would think we would remember it more clearly than we do.

Of course, like a ding-bat, I left the CDs of the CT Scan and MRI at home. Really, it would have helped A LOT! I hate when I do stuff like that. I had plenty to worry with but, really, those? Won't do that again :)

After discussing the left foot/left side issue (which is rather new) he wanted to schedule the annual MRI a bit sooner (so May instead of August). He said this was not an emergency but, we should begin the scheduling process. The concern is that there may be some new activity in the right frontal lobe which is involved in gross motor control and may be related to the left foot issue. This is all very hypothetical right now, but in his opinion worth checking out.

I asked if we did the MRI there could they also do the annual kidney MRI at the same time? The reason I want them done together is two-fold: 1) The MRI is more precise than an ultrasound for seeing lesions on the kidneys 2) since Oliver will already be under anesthesia why not get them both done? As you know there are real risks with anesthesia and even more so for Oliver with his asthma. So, Dr. Mikati said "yes, both could be done." I was glad he said that because at UNC they said they couldn't do that, it would be too hard to schedule. Who knew those blue-devils would be so accommodating?

Dr. Mikati also wanted to do a 30 min. EEG to see if there was a "signature pattern" within Oliver's brainwaves. He said that could help with knowing what drugs to prescribe. He said he was happy to mildly sedate Oliver while they place the electrodes on his head. Wise man. Anyway, it would take a while to get set-up but, the actual EEG would be short. If they couldn't get the EEG then (due to Mr.Difficult, I Am a 2-year old, hear me roar), they would put the electrodes on while he was still under anesthesia from the MRI.

Our next steps are these: 1) Relay all this to Boston 2) Go to meet Dr. Taft (new pediatric neurologist in WILMINGTON, can you believe it?) on April 15th. See if we like him, what he thinks about working with Boston, etc. 3) Make a decision on where we are having this done and if we want to name Taft or Mikati our "primary neuro" (Dr. Thiele is currently our primary, but she prefers someone more "local" to be the main doc). Decisions, decisions....