Sweet Jonah

A couple weeks ago Jonah gave us a scare of a lifetime. This might get long...so be prepared. I just want to remember it all. 

He had been acting like he was getting a little sick and even had a slight fever earlier in the day. After dinner I pulled him out of his highchair and went to snuggle with him on the couch. As soon as we sat down he laid back and kept staring at the ceiling and was acting totally "out of it." He wasn't responding and even started drooling. I told Trav I thought something was wrong. He looked at him and said we should go to instacare. We left right then and on the way over he started twitching and then we realized he was probably having a seizure. As soon as we walked in the door they got us back and said "Call 911! We need an ambulance!" His twitching got worse, they gave him oxygen, some kind of medicine in his nose, and an IV. He calmed down but had been seizing for probably 30 minutes straight. It was so scary.

They told us we needed to go to Primary Children's Hospital so I rode with him in the ambulance while Trav followed in the van. He was asleep in the ambulance but kept flexing his arms and legs every few seconds. I'm not completely convinced he wasn't having another seizure, but the paramedics didn't seem too concerned. And to answer any questions....no, I did not like my first ambulance ride.

Once we got to Primary's it played out like a movie. They rushed us into the trauma room, he was surrounded by 12 nurses all shouting out orders, taking blood, hooking up another IV. He started having another seizure with very bad twitching. They could barely hold him still while they were giving him a spinal tap. Trav and I just stood in the corner and cried and cried, feeling so helpless and not knowing if this was the last time we'd see our baby boy. 

After another dose of seizure medicine, and most of the nurses were done...he fell asleep. The room calmed down to quiet, they took him in for a CT scan (where we shared a quick prayer) and then we waited. We had to wait for the test results. We had to wait to see what would happen next. They asked if we wanted to hold him at this time...which we did. We held him while we waited.

 He must have been dreaming about rocks because he got so heavy! They told us every test result came back looking really good. Nothing looked out of the ordinary and they were all very happy with the results. But because his seizure lasted so long (they typically only last a few minutes...if that) they wanted to keep him overnight for observation. We waited about another hour before they moved us over to the room we'd be staying in. We decided I'd stay with him and Trav would go home and be with the other kids...make sure they get off to school in the morning (Thank you Aunt Cindy, for coming over at the drop of a hat and getting them to bed). We finally got settled in around midnight, he was still sleeping soundly so I figured I'd try to get a little sleep before he woke up. As soon as I sat down...he woke up. And he was mad!

 He did not like being hooked up to so many machines. He didn't like his glowing ET toe. He coudln't even pull all the tubes out because he had an IV in each hand and couldn't fully use his hands. He was ticked. I'll admit I was happy to see him more with it, but I also felt so helpless and couldn't do anything to make his situation better. I'd try to hold him and he'd want to get down. I'd put him down and he'd want me to hold him. Finally, around 2:30am he was about to fall asleep when he threw up everywhere. All over him. All over me. All over his blankey. I called the nurses to come in . They came and cleaned it all up and wondered if they should dispose of his blankey. I asked if they could just wash it for me. One nurse rinsed it out as best as she could but then we had a cold, wet blankey the rest of the night. All Jonah wanted for comfort was his blankey and now he couldn't even snuggle that. It was awful!

They tried giving him another one, but he wouldn't take it. I'd try to fake him out by putting the dry, warm one on him then the wet one on top so he wouldn't get cold. Nope. Wouldn't go for it. It was a LONG night. We finally both passed out around 5:00am and woke up at 6:00. Just enough for me to keep going.

He was perking up, ate some crackers and drank a lot of milk. We spoke with doctors, nurses and neurologists in the morning and all had come to the same conclusion. His was a fibrodial seizure. One caused when there's a sudden spike in fever. (Rachel had one when she was this age too). All of his tests came back looking good and they didn't have reason to be concerned that it was more than just that. We at least know they could rule out all of the big scary things...like a tumor or meningitis. Things were looking up.

We had  the rest of the morning to just hang out and try to figure things out (too bad we still smelled like barf). With every cord they would unhook he'd get a little happier. They even started bringing in toys and books for him to play with.

We were finally able to leave around noon. He still wasn't very happy for several days and wouldn't even smile. I feel like I was going through some sort of PTSD because I know my brain was not functioning fully. I took him to his pediatrician for a follow-up 3 days later. Again, everything looked good, except he had a slight ear infection. Normally they wouldn't even treat it, but with everything Jonah had been through they called the prescription in. As soon as he started his treatment on the amoxicillin, he perked right up. He got happy. He got energy. He's back to no longer walking...but running, and getting into all kinds of trouble. We have our boy back!

I am so thankful that this ordeal has ended the way it has ended. I just hope that it truly has ended. I thank my Heavenly Father every day for allowing this sweet boy (and all of my kids, for that matter) into my life. I truly am blessed.