I was always a big fan of the show ER and have watched countless episodes of medical shows, however, I really prefer to leave the drama to TV. Unfortunately, though, we have been having some medical drama of our own around here.
A little background...on March 11, Drake woke up very disoriented, couldn't answer our questions like where we lived, etc. and we were concerned for about 40 minutes or so, then as he started becoming more aware we had him take a shower and then he threw up a few times. I took him to the doctor that day but by the time we got in to her office, he was acting completely fine and she thought it was probably just that he wasn't awake yet and had some kind of virus that caused the throwing up. I was fairly annoyed because I knew how he acted that morning was more than just "not being awake" but I didn't have any other proof.
Last Tuesday evening (May 10), Gabe was gone to Chicago for a staff retreat for a few days. I had put the kids to bed and was enjoying some kid-free time to myself on the couch. Drake came out of Hadley's room (where he has been sleeping since he and Grady share a room, but Grady wakes Drake up sometimes so he often sleeps in H's room) and asked to go to sleep in my bed because he was having a hard time falling asleep. I let him go crawl in my bed. I was having a hard time falling asleep that night for some reason and finally went to bed myself at 2am. Around 6:30am I felt the bed shaking and quickly jumped up to see Drake having a seizure in the bed next to me. It probably lasted about a minute but felt like forever at the moment. Once it was over I kept talking to him until he started making some noises like he was trying to talk. Then, I jumped up to grab my phone (and discovered it was OFF! so I had to wait for it to turn on, again seemed like forever in that moment!). I first called my mom... I know, I know..but at the moment I needed another person's opinion of what to do. She told me to hang up and call 911. So, I did. Then, I called a friend (who thankfully was IN her car just leaving a park where she had been doing her devotions) to come over to stay with Hadley and Grady until my mom could get to town. First, a firetruck arrived and they came in and checked Drake's blood sugar, did a quick check over him until the ambulance arrived. After asking several questions to me and Drake, they loaded him up and off we went to the hospital. At this point, Drake was awake and responding but slow to process what was going on. About 1/2 way to the hospital he started crying a little bit when he asked where we were going and the paramedic told him we were going to the hospital. Once in the ER, things happened pretty quickly. The nurse and the doctor we saw were both great. Drake was very brave and didn't even cry when they took blood. He also did a great job holding completely still for a chest xray and CT scan. After several hours in the ER and all the test results coming back normal we were sent home with instructions to follow up with our doctor the next day. Papa and Nana came over and kept us company in the ER and Gabe made it back from Chicago about 20 minutes before we got sent home!
We went to our doc the next day and she ordered an EEG to be done at St. John's. In the meantime, I've been paranoid to let Drake sleep by himself. So, he has either been in our bed or I've been sleeping with him in the basement.
I'm not sure when I'll feel ready to let him sleep alone again...
Today, we went for the EEG. His appointment was at 8:30am but he needed to be able to fall asleep during the test so they said to only let him sleep from 12-4am. Yikes. For a kid that normally sleeps 11 hours every night, I wasn't sure how that would go. He was very excited to stay up until midnight. Gabe took that shift (which he informed me this morning that he fell asleep from 11:20-11:45 while Drake was playing the Wii!). I took the 4am shift. When my alarm went off I felt like I had just gone to sleep, ugh. But I dragged us both out of bed and we first headed over to Walmart to pick out a lego set to work on. After about 30-45 minutes at Walmart we stopped off at Denny's for breakfast. We got back home about 6am and Drake started in on his legos. He worked on those right up until it was time to head to the hospital. He did great for the test. Let her hook him all up with the wires, cooperated for the awake portion of the test, which included heavy breathing (like you just ran a race) for 3 minutes, following commands with his eyes, and having a stobe light on him. Then, she said he could go to sleep, which took him less than 10 minutes to fall asleep. He only had to sleep for about 15-20 minutes and that was it. We were leaving by 10am. Now, we just wait for the results, which could take 3-7 days.
Here is Drake working on his legos this morning:
A little background...on March 11, Drake woke up very disoriented, couldn't answer our questions like where we lived, etc. and we were concerned for about 40 minutes or so, then as he started becoming more aware we had him take a shower and then he threw up a few times. I took him to the doctor that day but by the time we got in to her office, he was acting completely fine and she thought it was probably just that he wasn't awake yet and had some kind of virus that caused the throwing up. I was fairly annoyed because I knew how he acted that morning was more than just "not being awake" but I didn't have any other proof.
Last Tuesday evening (May 10), Gabe was gone to Chicago for a staff retreat for a few days. I had put the kids to bed and was enjoying some kid-free time to myself on the couch. Drake came out of Hadley's room (where he has been sleeping since he and Grady share a room, but Grady wakes Drake up sometimes so he often sleeps in H's room) and asked to go to sleep in my bed because he was having a hard time falling asleep. I let him go crawl in my bed. I was having a hard time falling asleep that night for some reason and finally went to bed myself at 2am. Around 6:30am I felt the bed shaking and quickly jumped up to see Drake having a seizure in the bed next to me. It probably lasted about a minute but felt like forever at the moment. Once it was over I kept talking to him until he started making some noises like he was trying to talk. Then, I jumped up to grab my phone (and discovered it was OFF! so I had to wait for it to turn on, again seemed like forever in that moment!). I first called my mom... I know, I know..but at the moment I needed another person's opinion of what to do. She told me to hang up and call 911. So, I did. Then, I called a friend (who thankfully was IN her car just leaving a park where she had been doing her devotions) to come over to stay with Hadley and Grady until my mom could get to town. First, a firetruck arrived and they came in and checked Drake's blood sugar, did a quick check over him until the ambulance arrived. After asking several questions to me and Drake, they loaded him up and off we went to the hospital. At this point, Drake was awake and responding but slow to process what was going on. About 1/2 way to the hospital he started crying a little bit when he asked where we were going and the paramedic told him we were going to the hospital. Once in the ER, things happened pretty quickly. The nurse and the doctor we saw were both great. Drake was very brave and didn't even cry when they took blood. He also did a great job holding completely still for a chest xray and CT scan. After several hours in the ER and all the test results coming back normal we were sent home with instructions to follow up with our doctor the next day. Papa and Nana came over and kept us company in the ER and Gabe made it back from Chicago about 20 minutes before we got sent home!
We went to our doc the next day and she ordered an EEG to be done at St. John's. In the meantime, I've been paranoid to let Drake sleep by himself. So, he has either been in our bed or I've been sleeping with him in the basement.
I'm not sure when I'll feel ready to let him sleep alone again...
Today, we went for the EEG. His appointment was at 8:30am but he needed to be able to fall asleep during the test so they said to only let him sleep from 12-4am. Yikes. For a kid that normally sleeps 11 hours every night, I wasn't sure how that would go. He was very excited to stay up until midnight. Gabe took that shift (which he informed me this morning that he fell asleep from 11:20-11:45 while Drake was playing the Wii!). I took the 4am shift. When my alarm went off I felt like I had just gone to sleep, ugh. But I dragged us both out of bed and we first headed over to Walmart to pick out a lego set to work on. After about 30-45 minutes at Walmart we stopped off at Denny's for breakfast. We got back home about 6am and Drake started in on his legos. He worked on those right up until it was time to head to the hospital. He did great for the test. Let her hook him all up with the wires, cooperated for the awake portion of the test, which included heavy breathing (like you just ran a race) for 3 minutes, following commands with his eyes, and having a stobe light on him. Then, she said he could go to sleep, which took him less than 10 minutes to fall asleep. He only had to sleep for about 15-20 minutes and that was it. We were leaving by 10am. Now, we just wait for the results, which could take 3-7 days.
Here is Drake working on his legos this morning:
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