Wake me up when it's over

Yesterday morning we headed back to the hospital for Nick's pre-op appointment and one last MRI. I planned on having a long list of questions, but came empty handed instead. My main concerns were how long Nick would feel like crap for, what his recovery would look like, and is this going to make an already depressed and angry kid more angry and depressed?
Nick will have a horrible headache and nausea right after surgery, and having seizures on top of this will not help things, but we are doing this invasive monitoring to capture seizures so this is the ultimate goal! I am anxious to finally find out where these stupid seizures are coming from, and even more anxious to hear that he can have a successful resection without affecting his speech or motor function. Nick will have left sided weakness that should improve with time. This is probably the part about this surgery that I dread the most. I hope Nick fully understansds this, it was explained again yesterday and he nodded his head so I know he gets it.
After his appointment with the Dr. we headed to the Seattle Center (after eating at Dicks) and walked around. I begged Nick to go on the roller coaster with me and he finally agreed. We got the front seat and I screamed the whole time! We had a good laugh, though Mike pretended he didn't know me when we got off. After a bag of cotton candy, ice cream, and a deck of cards (Nick wanted cards so cards he got) we headed back to Swedish for his MRI, where we waited and waited and waited. What was supposed to be a forty minute MRI turned into two hours. The Dr. ordered a functional motor hand MRI to help map his motor region, which entails Nick tapping his fingers at the appropriate time while looking through some goggles at a screen. I think Nick was a little confused and the test took a little longer. Poor Nick, he has been such a trooper. I can't imagine trying to accomplish all this testing with a little kid. It has been exhausting. My heart goes out to parents who spend all their time in hospitals. Our time has been minimal, and we're wiped out.
Speaking of grueling, the Dr. says for us to plan for two weeks in the hospital, but if Nick has good seizures (good?) that give them the information they need, then they will be able to proceed to surgery right away and Nick can go home sooner, but if it takes longer to get good seizures then we'll be in longer. Did I mention that someone has to be with Nick 24 hours/day to push the button when he seizes? Did I mention that someone was me? With Mike having no work this winter, he has to take the work now. This is okay. I can't imagine not being with my son anyhow. So lets get down to business...we need prayers for

• Nick


• successful grid placement-minimal amount of swelling and bleeding


• Quick seizures but no grand-mals (tonic-clonics)


• Smooth and steady hands for the surgeon (I noticed he has pretty shaky hands & isn't this a bad thing for a neurosugeon?)


• Good pain control (we have a $100 bet on this) silly kid thinks he won't need pain meds


• Peace if they can't do the resection


• Peace if they can do the resection


• Strength for his mom & dad & family


• Good internet connection so Nick can play poker-stars


• Decent food & good coffee


• God's will

more later...