Adventures in the Medical Field

Pete and Phil snoozing in the ER

Playroom at Lutheran with Pete and Phil

Monday started us out on a crazy adventure this week.  Pete hasn't been sick or had any problems other than his normal allergies just like Phil's.  I was home with him Mom stopped by to see the basement and then headed out to spend the day with Aunt Kate.  I was paying off some medical bills and trying to schedule things for the house.  I was upstairs when I heard him do a non-normal scream and ran downstairs to check on him.  I couldn't hear or see him immediately because he was laying on the floor in front of his toys.  I thought he was choking on something because he was having problems breathing and he's two if something were wrong that would make the most sense.  I checked his mouth and did the back slaps from my first aid class but nothing so I assumed it was something worse and called 911.  He was going limp in my arms and trying to go to sleep.  The dispatcher was incredibly kind as I was completely freaking out.  After a few minutes (which felt like hours) the EMS arrived and took him for me.  I more than willingly handed him over because I knew they could and would help him more than I could at the moment.  I called and terrified the poor secretaries at the high school to let Phil know.  Amazingly she could understand me through the sobs and really short choppy sentences but they did and Phil came to meet us. Our neighbor saw the ambulance and came and joined me while we waited to leave. After calling everyone and getting voicemail on Mom's I called Dad who met us when we arrived at the hospital doors. They got him in a room and started tests and all the fun stuff.  Pete was pretty out of it because of the anti-seizure meds that were given in the ambulance because he had one for them before we left our driveway.  Phil and then mom got there and we went on with tests.  The ct scan didn't show anything and neither did the chest x-ray, or blood work.  They wanted him to stay overnight for observation and some more tests but didn't have a pediatric unit so off to the nearest children's hospital we went. We had to ride in the ambulance again because of the need to watch for another seizure so the transport was called and we ended up with the same crew again!  What nice people they were great with an incredibly grumpy Pete and letting me know what was going on.  Phil drove himself over since there was only room for one of us.  I wasn't going to complain about not driving and riding in a freaking awesome ambulance with someone to talk to!  We arrived at Lutheran Children's Hospital and Pete was admitted quickly. Phil arrived a bit after us and joined us after the interrogation session about Pete's history and information.  We met with the doctor after a bit who finally cleared the poor boy to eat because he was having problems with his blood sugar staying up due the the seizure and lack of food since breakfast ended up all over me!  They had been literally "pumping him full of sugar" with glucose in his IV, so the combination of a toddler finally getting to eat and drink was a crazy busy playful kid.  The hospital had a playroom that we could go to and that is where we spent most of the afternoon and next day because Pete was so bored. Do you know how hard it is to chase a toddler with an IV pole?  Not an easy task!  He had the run of the place and did not want to share when the other kids came to use it.  We met with a neurologist that was a total jerk, but was on call.  He questioned everything I've ever done for Pete and even questioned if he had a seizure in the ambulance.  I didn't see it, but I bet the EMTs know what one looks like.  Luckily we ended up with a different neurologist the next day who was great and very understanding.  Early on Tuesday morning we had the EEG and had to get Pete hooked up.  Poor boy looked like a mummy by the time we were done.  He fell asleep during the test and then we had to wake him up for the last part, the whole thing only lasted about an hour and the test was only 30 minutes. It took a couple of hours to get the results read and have the doctor come back and let us know what was going on in his little noggin.  There was one part that was troublesome and the doctor was concerned about.  He could be a normal brainwave because it looked like one but in the wrong spot and there wasn't anything else to compare it to on his test. We went ahead and put him on a medicine to make sure he wouldn't have another seizure and scheduled an MRI. Eventually we are going to get a 23 hour EEG done to see if the pattern was normal or was something to be concerned about. 

Our daredevil first time down the slide on his bottom!

All in all he is doing great and really you can't tell anything was ever wrong with him.  He is super happy and playful.  We played outside on the playset yesterday and everything.  But I still can't let him sleep on his own (just for my own sake, not on doctors orders or anything) and I brought him to bed with us last night.  We don't have the greatest monitor so I didn't trust it.  I thought about getting a nicer one but decided he would be fine once the medicine are in his system fully and then he can sleep on his own.

Mommy and Pete on the playset