This is one good kid, let me tell you. 

The EEG technician told Lia to sit still with her eyes closed, and that’s precisely what she did.  She looks like she’s sleeping, but it’s actually just a Zen state of meditation. 

I was very proud of her, of course, but then she outdid herslf by staying completely immobile during the MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) as well.  That was the one that had me worried, not so much for the potential outcome, but because they had planned to sedate her.  In the end, they decided to try it without sedation, and Lia performed like a little champ. 

The results of both exams show that she does not have epilepsy (not that we feared she did) and no brain damage despite the complications surrounding her premature birth.  I’m honestly not sure what comes next, or what these results will mean to the doctors trying to determine why a bright, deaf seven year old who has had speech therapy since she was 6 months old, still speaks so little. 

“Are you happy with the results?” I asked the neurologist.

“Yes, I am,” he said, “but I don’t know whether or not Lia’s other doctors will be.  I’m happy because there’s nothing there that needs the sort of help I can offer, but that just means the other doctors still have a lot of work to do to figure out what’s wrong.”

Hear that, doctors?  Get to it!