More Tests Done

Well, I went to Baylor Irving today and had the Evoked Potential tests.

The visual test is about 10 minutes long looking at a small TV screen with electrodes on the forehead, and a couple places on the back of the head. They scrub each spot with "liquid sandpaper" so the spot is good for connectivity. The you sit there and stare at a spot on the middle of the screen while a checkerboard pattern flashes back and forth. They are recording the brain waves to see how fast you transmit the signal.

The hearing test was about 10 minutes on each ear. You lay down and they put headphones on you after scrubbing more spots for electrodes. There is static in one ear while the other has a series of clicks, much like the sound you hear in an MRI (of you have had one). It plays on for the whole time and they record how you perceive the sounds. This is done on the other side as well.

The next two tests were somasensory where they test you from the wrists to the brain and the ankles to the brain. They put electrodes on each wrist and one on the forearm and stimulate the nerves. It makes the thumb twitch while the test goes on for about 10 minutes on each hand. They put some electrodes on each ankle and behind the knees, and at the base of the neck and on the back to see how the nerves transmit to the brain from the lower half of the body.

All in all it took about 1.5 hours. The tech said in normally took about 3 hours, but we just got it done!! I do not know how I did, the tech said I did wonderful, but I think that was in regards to the process as opposed to the actual tests. I probably will not know how the scores were until the 14th of August when I go to the neuro again.