Possible absence seizures in 12-year-old

Hello. I'm very concerned and found this site. I have a 12-year old son. Over the past maybe 3-4 months, we've noticed a few occasions (maybe 4-5, although I'm not sure), in which he would suddenly zone completely out for maybe 5-10 seconds. He could be in the middle of telling a story, then suddenly stop and look zoned out, and then he'd come out of it and often say, "wait, what?" It's possible it could have happened more frequently, but we haven't personally observed it. At first we thought he was just distracted or overtired. He has struggled with insomnia for years. He's is an over-achiever, super concerned with academics, and tends to be a worrier. No extreme anxiety, but he tends to have stuff on his mind. The last couple of times, however, we started wondering. And this morning I found out that one of his teachers had observed such an incident. So of course I start researching, and I came across "childhood absence epilepsy" or "childhood absence seizures." Panic. Then I come across "juvenile absence epilepsy" and "juvenile myoclonic epilepsy," which appear to be lifelong and would mean physical seizures. He already has a neurologist, who we met years ago to help with his pretty nasty insomnia. I'll call her first thing Monday morning. But holy heck I am SCARED! I'm worried about him emotionally. He's already an anxious kid. I'm worried about him physically (skiing, swimming, someday driving). I'm worried about his long-term life. I know I'm putting the cart before the horse, but damn. These things sure do look like absence seizures. A bit of extra info. As a young toddler and sometimes as a younger child, he'd occasionally get a tic. For example, he'd go through a period when he'd blink a lot. Noticeably so. Anyway, I'm just looking for advice, thoughts, anything. Thank you!