The last test that Johanna needed to pinpoint where her seizures were originating was a spect scan. This involved injecting an isotope within 20 seconds of having a seizure. It would be effective for about 6 hours during which they would need to do the scan. On Monday morning a nurse came in to tell us that another little boy needed the same scan, and asked if it would be okay if he could have his bed wheeled in our room and the child who had the first seizure would get the injection. We of course agreed. So, we moved Johanna's bed over, and in wheeled a little 8 year old boy named Sennett. As we were waiting for our children to have a seizure we began talking. Turns out they live 4 blocks from our home, and have all the same doctors in Miami and Ft Myers. They are believers and were such a blessing to us in many ways while we were all there.
After about 30 minutes Johanna had a seizure so she got the injection and then was wheeled down to radiology. The scan is similar to an MRI but the machine revolved around the head very close to the body. She had to be completely still. Before the test was over, with 15 minutes left, she had another seizure so that had to be scrapped. They said they would try again but if it did not work then she would have to be at the end of the line. In other words, that would have been over for her that day. So, you can believe I was praying fervently. To make matters worse, all the seizures and medication gave her a bad headache when she laid down flat. She started crying with 16 minutes left and we kept encouraging her to stay still. We were counting down the minutes. Thank the Lord she made it. About 1-2 minutes later she had another seizure. That test was the last diagnostic one she would have before they would definitely put her on the schedule for brain surgery the next day. If she had not been able to complete it, she may have had to wait another week for surgery as it was Thanksgiving week and having enough staff to man the O.R. would have been a problem. In addition we would not have gotten to spend time with our kids from Texas after surgery. The good news was that they discontinued the Dilantin so that she was able to eat. She got dinner before she was not allowed to eat after midnight. Jon sent out prayer requests for Johanna for the next day. He sent one to our son Joel, who had not been in contact with us for a number of years.
The next morning at 6:30am Joel called and said that he and his wife would be coming for the day to Miami for her surgery. We were overjoyed, and enjoyed having 9 of our 12 children there, along with 2 DIL's and 2 granddaughters. I wish we had thought to take some photos of all of us before she was wheeled down, but only Katie got a few shots. At 2pm that day they wheeled her down and Jon and I went with her to pre-op. The other members went down to the family center where there was a lot of things to do. Johanna was not anxious at all about what they were about to do. We never really explained it to her, but I think she knew something big was coming. When Jon asked her what she thinking about, she said that she was trying to see what kind of animal was on the curtain around her bed. She was pretty calm. That's our Hannie.
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