So, Elijah decided to give us another scare this week. Starting on Sunday, he had a relatively high fever that responded pretty well to ibuprofen but crept back up after several hours. Mike was convinced that he had the Swine Flu. I thought that was crazy, and I just figured that he had a virus like the ones our kids get all the time. Mike left early Monday morning for a four-day business trip to Las Vegas. I kept Elijah home all day Monday so we wouldn't pass his germs on to our baby playgroup. On Monday night, I put Elijah to bed with no trouble, but I didn't check on him until I went to bed at 12:30. Right when I walked in to his room, I could tell that he had thrown up. I turned on the hallway light and picked him up so I could change his clothes. Elijah wasn't responding very well to me which made me really nervous. I splashed water on his face and tried to get him to perk up. Then I called my friend/neighbor Chris to see if she could come over since Mike was 2,400 miles away. I also called 911 because Elijah just wasn't acting right. I was afraid that he had had a stroke or something. By the time the paramedics arrived, Elijah had perked up a bit. Although I explained Elijah's history, the EMT's tried to convince me that Elijah just had a fever (he was overdue for his medicine by that point) and that he was just hungry and tired. They offered to take us to our local hospital even though I asked if they could take him to Children's Hospital in Boston. (Unfortunately, our local ER doesn't have much experience with pediatrics, so I didn't really want to take him there) I decided to just keep a close eye on him. Soon after the paramedics left, we knew that something was more seriously wrong. Elijah's right arm and leg were limp. I considered driving him to the hospital myself, but I figured that wouldn't be safe since it's a 45 minute ride. Instead, I scrambled to find the number to call Elijah's neurologist. She answered the page even though she wasn't on call-she's that amazing! After describing the weakness on Elijah's right side, she suggested that we go to our local hospital and then get transfered in to Boston. As my friend, Chris, was holding Elijah, she noticed that his right leg started twitching. Then his right arm started twitching, too. I called 911 again since Elijah was having a seizure. Somehow in the midst of all of this, I was able to get ahold of Mike in Las Vegas, and he booked a redeye flight back that night, thank goodness!!! It was a little stressful dealing with this on my own.
Chris stayed at my house with the girls (who, thankfully, didn't wake up during this whole ordeal) while I rode with Elijah in the ambulance to our local hospital. The EMT tried to get an IV started with no luck, so she gave him a dose of Diastat (rectal valium) to try to stop the seizure. Once we got to the hospital, the seizure seemed to be affecting his whole body. They started an IV and gave him Ativan, too. The seizure finally stopped and they did a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia, tested him for strep/flu/urinary tract infection, and did a CT Scan to make sure that he didn't have any bleeding in his brain. His chest and lungs were clear, he didn't have strep or a urinary tract infection, but he did test positive for Influenza B (Influenza A is the one that is connected to the Swine Flu) which would explain his fever. They said that his CT Scan showed extra fluid on the left side of his brain, and his brain was shifted 4-5 mm to the right of the midline, but there was no bleeding. This all looked really abnormal to someone who doesn't know Elijah's history, but as it turns out, the images were very similar to the ones from his MRI that he had 6 weeks ago, so they weren't concerned about the CT results. While we were waiting to be transfered, I called my friend, Lorinda, to see if she was working at Children's that night. I woke her up, and being the amazing friend that she is, she packed a bag for me and met me at the hospital near my house. Once Elijah was stable, the transport team came from Children's Hospital so we could be transfered into Boston. Our neurologist had already sent messages ahead, so they knew that we were coming. Lorinda followed us to Children's and stayed with me until Elijah was settled. Although Elijah could have gone right to the Neurology floor, they decided to send him to the ICU since he still wasn't moving his right side and there was a Fellow on call in the ICU (versus just the Resident on call on the Neurology floor). As our neurologist had suspected when I told her about Elijah's right side weakness, they determined that Elijah had
Todd's paralysis. After some seizures, there can be weakness and even paralysis on one side of the body. This made sense for Elijah since the left side of his brain is abnormal, so his right side was affected. Thankfully, this only lasted for a few hours and he has regained full use of his arm and leg. Unfortunately, it seems that he has a serious right visual field loss again. Hopefully, that will recover again as it had before! He'll see the opthamologist in the coming weeks to better assess this issue.
Mike arrived back in Boston on Tuesday afternoon (after being in Las Vegas for 15 hours), and he came straight to the hospital. By that time, Elijah was transfered to the regular Neurology floor. He was very sleepy during his hospital stay since his body was processing all of the meds he was given to stop the seizure, and he was trying to get over the flu. The neurology team decided to start Elijah on some anti-seizure medication since the "abnormal structure" of his brain makes him susceptible to seizures. In this case, it seems that the fever triggered the seizure. In a healthy child with no brain abnormalities, this would have been considered a
febrile seizure, but it's a different story for Elijah. He can't just be "typical", can he?!? Elijah was discharged on Wednesday evening and we've been keeping a close eye on him since then. He was taking Trileptal, but today we realized that he had a rash covering his whole body. He also threw up a couple times again so it looks like he's not totally over the flu. The neurologist decided to switch him to Keppra which he had taken for a short period of time after his surgery. Since he didn't have any adverse reactions then, we hope that this medication will agree with him now! He still seems to be sleepy and dizzy sometimes, so we hope that those side effects go away soon although they could last for several weeks as his body adjusts to the medications.
Elijah is trying to get back to his mischievous self. After we picked Sienna up from school today (and before he threw up again), we stayed and played in the field for a little while. Elijah tried to tackle his friends, Sam and Jack, and he threw a ball to Ellie. He's still a lot sleepier than normal (which is to be expected, according to the doctors) but we're seeing his smile more, and he's still working on standing and cruising. Although Elijah is working on getting back to normal, Mike and I are trying to get over this latest scare. We've aged a few more years over this past week!
Even though this has been another stressful situation, we have been reminded of the amazing support system that we have. From our families and friends who call or e-mail to check in, to our two friends who came to my rescue in the middle of the night (Thanks, Chris and Lorinda!), to our friends who have cooked us meals (Thanks, Sara, Caron and Kerri!!), to our numerous friends who have offered to help in any way, we are so thankful for all of the care and concern from our families, friends and neighbors. We can't thank you enough!!
He also checked out a wiggly seat.
Isabella made it across the lily pads.
We also checked out Crystal Lake which has a great beach and crystal clear water.
The lake is small enough to walk all the way around it, so I took a walk while Dada played in the water with the kiddos. Grandma, Papa, Dada and the girls went in search of frogs and walked all the way around the lake earlier.
When we got back to the cottage, we went for a boat ride so that Isabella and Dada could swim in the middle of the lake. Isabella took a turn driving the boat!
Elijah promptly fell asleep on our boat ride.
The deep water was really cold, so Isabella and Dada got in and out quickly.
It was still warm enough to soak up some sun on the dock in the late afternoon.
Papa relaxed with Elijah.
The girls had fun splashing around in the lake.
We ended the day with a beautiful sunset over the lake.
There was a clear view of the moon, too!
He also checked out a wiggly seat.
Isabella made it across the lily pads.
We also checked out Crystal Lake which has a great beach and crystal clear water.
The lake is small enough to walk all the way around it, so I took a walk while Dada played in the water with the kiddos. Grandma, Papa, Dada and the girls went in search of frogs and walked all the way around the lake earlier.
When we got back to the cottage, we went for a boat ride so that Isabella and Dada could swim in the middle of the lake. Isabella took a turn driving the boat!
Elijah promptly fell asleep on our boat ride.
The deep water was really cold, so Isabella and Dada got in and out quickly.
It was still warm enough to soak up some sun on the dock in the late afternoon.
Papa relaxed with Elijah.
The girls had fun splashing around in the lake.
We ended the day with a beautiful sunset over the lake.
There was a clear view of the moon, too!
Sienna said good-bye to Cuatro.
