EEG

On Friday, I had by brainwaves tracked by way of an electroencephalography machine or EEG.  I had been instructed when I made the appointment to stay up until midnight the night before and wake up at six the morning of the procedure.  Apparently being a bit tired makes it easier for signs of seizures to show up.  I was also told to wash my hair, but to skip any other hair products.  Thus prepared, I arrived for my appointment.

After the inevitable wait, I was called back into a room and asked to recline on a bed that had its back propped up.  The nurse and I made small talk while she measured my head and made marks with a red wax-pencil.  Once marked, she used a sticky fluid to attach lots of wires to my head, as well as two to my chest to monitor my heart.  The process of preparing everything took nearly an hour.

The actual process was, for the most part, relaxing.  The lights were turned off and I was told to close my eyes and keep them closed for the duration of the procedure.  Then, I was asked to hyperventilate for three minutes.  This was not relaxing as I find it hard to relax when my fingers go numb.  Once that was over, I was given some time to recover before the next stage which involved strobe lights.  While keeping my eyes closed, a bright strobe light flashed in front of my eyes in ten-second intervals, increasing in speed each time, for a total of ten intervals.  Once that was over, I just relaxed and breathed normally for another ten minutes or so.  I'm pretty sure I fell asleep at one point.

When everything was completed, the nurse turned the lights back on and asked my name, my current location, and the date to make sure that I was thinking clearly.  She then spent a few minutes wiping my head with a wet towel to get some of the goop off my head, but also said that the rest would come off in the shower with warm water.  Since it was casual Friday, I had worn Grandpa Al's old fedora to cover up my uncombed hair, so having an even messier head went completely unnoticed.

The real question is what did my brain scan say?  Nothing.  The results are going to a neurologist to examine before being sent to my general practitioner, but the nurse said that everything looked normal for what she could see.  However, the really good news is that after my appointment on this coming Friday with my regular doctor, I'm off to see an allergist.

Finally.