Our Weekend

So... our weekend was none like any other full of highs and lows, but ultimately coming out with the family unscathed and for that we are grateful.

Friday afternoon, when I picked up Lee Lee from school, her teacher said they had noticed she had "zoned out" a few times that day.  Her eyes were still open, but she was unresponsive to anything they asked of her, and then she seemed to snap out of it very quickly.  One spell lasted about 90 seconds, and another nearly 3 minutes.  They were able to get one on video.

So I headed home with the video, and concern, but a plan to watch her over the weekend, talk to our physicians in the family, and call her pediatrician on Monday.

Then, about an hour after we arrived home, she began vomiting, and kept vomiting every 10-20 minutes for hours into the night.  After her second bought of vomiting, I was on the phone with the on-call physician in her pediatrician's office who recommended I take her in to the emergency room.  With the hope that she just had a stomach bug, but with the knowledge of the potential zoning-out seizures from earlier that day being serious enough that we wanted to make sure she was going to be okay.

Hubby was working a high school football game an hour away, so thankfully, the next-door neighbors that I called were happy to head on over and watch the three healthy kiddos who had been bouncing off the walls as they knew they did not have my undivided attention as I was dealing with Lee Lee's situation.

Addallee and I took off for the ER around 7:30, and Hubby met us there by 8:15.

Hours later, they had contacted a pediatric neurologist out of Denver who felt that the zoning out, which we had now learned were probably "absence seizures" (pronounced ob-sonce) and the vomiting was probably connected and potentially a presentation of childhood epilepsy.  We were told to go home with medicine and call our pediatrician on Monday to start a work up for an MRI and EEG to start the diagnostic process.

The problem was, the couldn't get her vomiting under control even with multiple attempts at oral and iv medicine. 

I finally left the ER around 10:30pm to go home for food and sleep, knowing that I would be the early shift up in the morning for the three other kids leaving Hubby with Lee Lee in the ER.  They would arrive home around 2:00am where Addallee would sleep in our bed and continue to vomit several more times throughout the night.

Saturday was spent in a haze as we kept a very close eye on Addallee, tried to entertain the other kids, and encouraged EVERYONE to catch up on sleep given our abnormal Friday night.  Addallee had a pretty good day, but began vomiting again Saturday night and spent another night in our bed vomiting and crying.

By Sunday morning, with our three big kids ready to climb the walls, my plan was to take them to church and leave Hubby and Lee Lee to sleep.  Addallee got up and vomited in the morning before fall back to sleep with Hubby.

Howard, Caroline, and Tracey were all getting their shoes on about 10:00am when Caroline began vomiting.  She would go on to vomit every 20-40 minutes for the next six hours.

We did not go to church, and I immediately instructed Caroline to get back in pajamas and keep a bucket close by.  The tv went on, and we waited to see what would happen next.  Whenever multiple kids are sick, I have a system -- we unfold the couch hide-a-bed.  This creates a nice cozy place for the kids to lay and sleep where I can still keep in eye on them while I'm doing my usual routine on the main floor.  It also gives them a chance to watch tv while their sick while being in a bed.

This was the last picture I took from the weekend when just two little girls were sick... four more victims would be taken out by these virus before sunrise the next morning.

Well, by afternoon Tracey, Howard, and myself would all succumb to the stomach bug, each vomiting between one and four times a piece.  So, not a horrible presentation, but enough to knock everyone out in the course of one day.

Hubby, who was battling aches and a sore throat all weekend would finally get hit with the bug in the wee hours of Monday morning, and so that stomach virus took no prisoners.

While our whole family has been taken out by viruses before, we have NEVER ALL been sick in the same 24 hours period.  That. Was. Rough.

Monday everyone stayed home, and everyone seemed pretty well recovered.  Lots of toast, ice, applesauce and rice.

And did I mention that while some kids were taking a bath Monday morning, water started dripping from our kitchen ceiling just below the bath tub?!?!  Can't wait to hear what that damage and repair bill will be.

Also, Lee Lee's pediatrician's office called me first thing to set up an appointment to see her.  They had a note regarding her ER visit and wanted to see her as soon as possible.  That was very nice to get a call from them ready to schedule instead of my having to do that in my Monday-morning, I-have-been-sick fog. 

I took her in at noon, and the BEST NEWS regarding Addallee was that our whole family came down with the stomach bug!  Crazy, I know.

But, on Friday night, the main was concern was these potential absence seizures and vomiting as a neurological symptom.  We had no reason on Friday night to think she had a stomach bug (although, to give credit where credit is due... that is exactly what my dad, the pediatrician, said.  As soon as she began vomiting, he said that she had a stomach virus).  It just seemed like too big a coincidence that she was having possible seizures at school and then happened to catch a stomach bug and start vomiting within hours of each other.

What we probably saw last week was, yes, some absence seizures brought on by the fact she was in the process of catching this bug.  Her exposure to this virus, and being tired as it was starting to impact her system probably made her more susceptible to these absence seizures. 

So, she is still regaining her strength and staying home from school again Tuesday, and we get to start the non-emergent out-patient process of MRI imaging locally and EEG scanning in either Denver or Grand Junction.

We are not looking forward to this new world of pediatric neurology, but we do consider ourselves so fortunate, that first of all, her school noticed what was going on, and we did just have a stomach virus... and we are now in a position to get some answers and make a plan for our sweet little Lee Lee.

And, if in fact these are absence seizures, from what we have read and been told, this would not be a major thing.  Sure, something we watch and our aware of, but nothing compared to the medical news other parents receive regarding their sick children.

So... quite the weekend... but really, a weekend where the entire family getting a stomach virus is the best news you could get, that's not a bad weekend of keeping things in perspective.

Thank you so much for the prayers you offered as we navigated this past weekend, and please keep us and especially Addallee in your prayers as we move forward.