Extended VEEG for six y o - looking for suggestions to help the time pass

[dbsam]

My daughter has an extended VEEG scheduled for tomorrow and Saturday.  We haven’t had an extended EEG for a couple of years; just the short EEG’s which usually go alright.  We are also having this VEEG at a different hospital and I just found out yesterday none of their rooms are private – which seems really strange to me.  Anyway, I am trying to think of things to take to keep her occupied and am looking for suggestions.   I am planning to take books, paper and colored pencils, a couple of board games and the laptop – am I missing anything that could keep her happy and occupied?  I am also worried about keeping her quiet since I am not sure who will be sharing the room. 

Of course, we leave early in the morning and I am throwing everything together later tonight!  I haven’t even washed her favorite pj’s yet.  There is a chance we will need to cancel.  My son woke up with pink eye this morning and I took him to the ophthalmologist for drops.  However, since the hospital rooms are not private, they have requested we cancel if my daughter shows any signs of an eye infection in the morning. 

I’m off to pack…suggestions welcomed.

[sapphire_chan]

(Caveat, I don't know how VEEGs work, so some of these might not be possible, I'm basing them off the things you've said will work)

Puzzles, mazes, I Spy Books are the quiet things that come to mind.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry over much about keeping her quiet, the hospital decided to make the rooms non-private, they can sort out keeping cranky people away from a chattering 6 year old. And heck, it's a cliche that sharing a room means getting the roommate with a huge family who all come to visit at once and talk in outside voices about Uncle C's gall bladder and what Aunt M wore to the last wedding. So unless it'll be a problem for the VEEG, go ahead and sing songs and read books at normal volumes. Word games (e.g. rhyming things), real life I Spy (e.g. colors, letters) don't require supplies and you can look them up online.

Okay, looking at VEEG on Google, it seems a primary usage is to capture seizure data. If that's the case here, having her keep as close to her usual activity level as is possible with the monitoring equipment  would seem to be better. So that the information that's received more accurately reflects her regular daily life.

[dbsam]

Well, I typed a response and everything disappeared!

Sapphire_Chan, thanks for the response.  Puzzles are a good idea.  We have maze books around here somewhere.  We do not have an ISpy book, I need to get one for next time - she would like that.  I decided to throw the Fractiles into the bag too. 

It is the epilepsy center in a children’s hospital so I am assuming her room-mate will be another child having a VEEG.  If we get obnoxious room-mates I guess we will be even…I am congested so they might be subjected to my snoring

Actually, she might like the company.  

[dbsam]

Originally Posted by sapphire_chan 

Okay, looking at VEEG on Google, it seems a primary usage is to capture seizure data. If that's the case here, having her keep as close to her usual activity level as is possible with the monitoring equipment  would seem to be better. So that the information that's received more accurately reflects her regular daily life.

Yes, but her usual activity level is quite active and if it is like EEG's in the past, too much movement causes the wires to move or become loose.  Although she enjoys non-active work for a while, she prefers to run, play outside, etc. So keeping her in a room for even a day is difficult.  Too bad they don't have swings and scooters in the rooms!
 

[dbsam]

Well, we had to cancel the VEEG this morning because of the eye infections and it turned out being for the best that we were home today.

I stayed up late packing a bunch of 'stuff' and it will be a snap next time to throw it all together.  (We may be rescheduled for next week so I might just keep it all packed! I asked them to put us on the cancellation call list.)

[melissa17s]

Hope it all goes ok.  I figure I have missed sharing my thoughts in time, but for the future... We decided that hospital sheet and pillows were worthless during last eeg and that we would bring our own in the future.   Ds likes his dsi, so that I do not know if your dd has a personal gaming thing, but that would be an option (there was a recent article about how gaming systems can trigger seizures, and I am curious if they effect ds).  I also thought, maybe to take dolls (small ones) like for imaginary play or maybe legos.  

How long is the veeg?  Ds has another eeg in a couple of weeks- it will be 4 hours, which will be his longest, but I know that they can go for 24-60 hours.  

[dbsam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 17s 

How long is the veeg?   has another in a couple of weeks- it will be 4 hours, which will be his longest, but I know that they can go for 24-60 hours.  

This one was supposed to be 24hrs which is the longest she's ever had in the past.

Years ago she had a VEEG scheduled for 48 hours but they gathered enough activity in 24 so we ended it early.  I cannot imagine 60 hours!

We do not have any gaming systems but I was going to bring the laptop.  There is a math fact site my children really like.  After completing the math problems they get to play games on the site. 

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by dbsam 

Yes, but her usual activity level is quite active and if it is like EEG's in the past, too much movement causes the wires to move or become loose.  Although she enjoys non-active work for a while, she prefers to run, play outside, etc. So keeping her in a room for even a day is difficult.  Too bad they don't have swings and scooters in the rooms!
 

They totally should! Okay, yeah, I can see where running around and jumping on the beds wouldn't be that great with monitoring equipment.

But really, if you've got another kid in the same room, you should totally do kid songs. Be careful what hand motions you do, obviously!

Hoping the pink eye resolves ASAP and that you don't have to be in for the VEEG for too long.

It looks like you're actually going to be doing it for a relatively short time, the VEEG info I found on Google was all about adults and lots of people were being monitored for over a week.