99 bottles of beer on the wall

It's 12:06 a.m. Only 7 more hours to go. I am scheduled to have a sleep-deprived EEG this morning @ 7. I'm not allowed to sleep tonight. I've been so under the weather recently, that this is going to be a significant challenge. I'm going to write/start a review for Up, and then watch something amusing on video with the hope I can stay up. They were pretty adamant that no artificial means of alertness is allowed. Admittedly, given how icky I feel, the idea of drinking coffee is repellent right now. I might try to write the Annual Family Report.

Pursuing a 2nd opinion about some recent complications from my epilepsy, I figured I should take advantage of my proximity to the 2nd largest research hospital in the state - 2 buildings away from my lab. The referring doctor (3 floors up from my lab) said this fellow was the go-to person for seizures. Cool, eh?

I alwasy feel like I have to apologize for going to the doctor's and try to assure her/him that I'm really not a hypocondriac. This time - the first time I've ever sought a 2nd opinion - I felt compelled to tell him that I realize "I don't know" is sometimes the best answer anyone can offer. I guess I didn't want to come across as dissing my regular neurologist. (Whom, it turns out, was trained by him.)

I looked over his shoulder while he reviewed the MRI scans of my brain from this Summer. This is just the coolest. The regular stuff that I expected: cross sections of my brain. Then there was the 3-D images of the blood vessels in my head. Just the blood vessels. In 3D. Whether you attribute this to the Divine or the Random, by God it is utterly beautiful.

After having me do totally mundane things: walk on my toes, on my heels, touch my nose, etc. and collecting a medical history, he pops out with a diagnosis which is more specific than just 'epilepsy'. Then he gets an oh-so-faint twitch of the lips reminiscent of a smile, and says "this is interesting". Just what one wants to hear.

1:20 a.m. god, I am soooooooooooooooooooo tired ...