After I caught the seizure on tape we found a great neurologist, Dr. Parrish Winesett, who sent us to All Children’s Hospital where they did a series of EEG’s and a Cat Scan.   We found out Meghan had a mix of fluid and blood on the brain, Dr. Winesett thought that this may be the cause of Meghan’s seizures and he reffered  us to Dr. Tuite, a pediatric neurosurgeon who sent us back to All Children’s for an MRI to get a better look at the fluids on her brain.  That was the first time we heard the word “Subdural Tap” our world felt as though it was collapsing I couldn’t fathom the thought that they might have to cut into my three month old daughters head.  Luckily Dr. Tuite was a thinker, he felt that the fluid would clear up on it’s own, that there would be no need to do anything invasive.

We went back for a follow up MRI with Dr. Tuite,he told us that the fluid had indeed cleared up on it’s own.  Dr. Tuite said that Meghan also had a mild case of Plagiocephaly, “a misshapen (asymmetrical) shape of the head from repeated pressure to the same area of the head. Plagiocephaly literally means “oblique head” (from the Greek words “plagio” for oblique and “cephale” for head”).  At first the word startled me but Dr. Tuite told us that it should correct itself by the time Meghan was five and again he was right.

Somewhere in the midst of all this, it was time for Meghan’s immunizations.  It may sound silly, but it was really hard for me, I read up on all the shots and was sooo nervous.  I had read that you shouldn’t give a child with seizures pertusis and was set on telling the pediatrician that she wouldn’t be having that shot.  Between the doctor and my family I was talked into giving her the DTaP which contains pertusis. 

Remember I talked about that gut feeling, the motherly instinct, I wish I had been stronger and listened to mine that day because Meghan went from one or two seizures every couple of weeks to eight to twenty a day.