Can't even take off a bandaid anymore

******Sorry about the delay in posting this. I started it a while ago and just finished it.******

Most everyone knows this already but for those that don't, Malachi was in the hospital for two days. On Wednesday morning he had his worst seizure yet. He seized for about 3 1/2 - 4 minutes. After that he was gargling and struggling for breath, he turned blue around his lips. He normally would be calm for a few seconds after seizing and then cry for a bit and then be passed out for 20-30 minutes, but it didn't happen that way this time. He calmed for a bit, then cried, then calmed, then cried, and this cycle happened maybe six times. He also vomited during that time. Right before he vomited I called 911 - this was a very unusual seizure process and with the blue lips and all I decided it was a good time to call the EMTs. We got to the Pediatric ER at about 10:00 at Inova Fairfax Hospital. John was on his way, he left work at about 9:30. Unfortunately I took the car keys so he couldn't go home to get the car first.

By the time we got to the ER he was fully concious and seemingly fine. His vitals checked out, and if someone was just looking at him and didn't know his history or what happened earlier that day they would think us crazy to have him brought in. However, they did know what happened and they did know his history and it was decided to have him admitted after the ER Dr's consulted with the on call Pediatric Neurologist. Before he went upstairs they decided to start the testing and get his bloodwork done there. Having the IV inserted into his hand to get the blood was the most traumatic thing I've seen done to him. They had to swaddle him to keep his body still. He was crying out for me and asking me to hold him, it was so hard for me to not weep with him.

After he was admitted at about 12:30, his history and vitals were taken by a Resident and during that time the Attending came in to check him out and tell us about the system of the hospital. He told us that the Drs on the floor were going to confer, make a plan and let us know what it was. A couple hours later we still hadn't heard the plan, but someone came in to do something - I wish I could remember what. John probably remembers though.

After a while more, someone did come in and tell us the plan. The pediatric neurologist had a colleague of hers look at the EEG done one Tuesday (the ped. neurologist on call just happened to be from the office we went to for that one) and everything looked normal. They wanted a more in depth look into his brain though, so they called for an other EEG. They wanted to try to get it done over night, so they were chasing down the technician who does that to make sure he didn't leave before he started. They also said that they were ordering an MRI for the next day. He would need to have an IV put in. After that was told to me, I decided to go home and shower and change, I was still in my pajamas from the morning. I took the metro home, showered, changed, grabbed p.j.'s for me, and clothes for Malachi to leave the hospital in (he went in the ambulance in nothing but his underwear). I also grabbed his blankie and elephant for comfort.

When I got back they hadn't put the IV in - dang. But they did it in a way that I'm very happy about. The Pediatrics floor has a program in it called Child Life. There's a staff working on the floor during the day to man a play room and help kids with the procedures that are going to happen to them. A young woman, Liz, came in to tell Malachi about IV's and have him do one to a doll that he named and colored a face onto. After this we went into the "Jungle Room" to have the IV placed and the Liz came in to help. It was such a different experience. He did cry a bit, but only a little bit. I was so, so thankful for Liz.

After that we ate dinner, and shortly after that the EEG technician came in. He came in at about 6:30. What a horrible experience. The leads for this over night EEG were glued onto his head. To do that the technician had to use a long tube from an oxygen pump on the wall and would dry the glue with that, except instead of just letting the air blow on it, he would drag the end of the tube on the wet-glued gauze, but it was quick and a lot of times he hit Malachi pretty hard. Malachi was miserable and it took him three hours. He would often blame Malachi for a lead not being on right, or coming off and while sometimes Malachi did move and cause it, it was apparent that often it was his fault. It made the experience very frustrating for John and I too.

After that was done, John went home to get some work done and to sleep. Malachi and I tried to sleep, and Malachi did alright. He slept from 10-2 when the nurse came in to hook up some IV fluids. He actually slept through that, but then a roommate came in at 2:15 and woke him up. The poor boy was young and had had multiple seizures that day. The ER had so over medicated him that he couldn't sleep, or walk and his speach was slured. He didn't sleep at all and Malachi didn't fall back asleep until; after 4 He woke up at 6am on Thursday.

We waited only a little bit for the nurse and Pediatric Neurologist to come see him. The neurologist said that there wasn't any seizure activity recorded on the EEG, and he passed her neurological exam. We were just waiting now for the MRI. At that time, he wasn't on the MRI schedule, but the DR on the floor made it her personal project to get him in there Thursday.

At 8am Malachi's nurse came in and said that his MRI was going to be in about an hour, so they're trying to find the EEG technician to get the leads taken off. He came in about 15-20 minutes later and Malachi started crying immediately. I promised Malachi that he wasn't going to use the air that time. He saw Malachi's misery and got the leads off pretty fast. He scrubbed some of the glue off, but couldn't get it all. That was fine, I had my baby back looking mostly normal! Almost right after he was done with that patient transport was at the room ready to take Malachi to MRI.

So he sat on my lap on the wheel chair on the way down to MRI which was on the 1st floor, but all the way in the back corner, it felt like a basement. We had to wait a bit, but then an MRI technician came to talk to us about the process. We then waited a little bit longer for the room to be emptied. When I got in, the anesthesiologist explained that he would put the anesthesia in through the IV and it really didn't take long for Malachi do go down. It was actually a very disconcerting thing for me to watch.

He was taken into the MRI room and I went to get breakfast. I bough a bagel and banana and brought it to the waiting room. Being alone there was the first time I let myself get emotional. So I allowed myself a little break down. I didn't want to get too emotional because I knew that they would bring him out any minute and I didn't want him to see me that way.

We went upstairs after being in Pediatric Recovery for a few minutes. Malachi kept his apple juice down really well and then after a bit of a rest ate his cheezeburger almost all up. I didn't want him to eat the whole thing because I didn't want him throwing up, but he never did. We waited for a couple of hours and the MRI showed nothing, so after that we waited for just a little bit longer and the medicine they ordered came up. I gave that to him and then we were released.

It was so nice to pack up and go home. I had to go down to the pharmacy to get his Keppra (anti-seizure) medicine. But as we were sitting there waiting I was falling asleep. When we got home we had a small snack and went to bed. We were both so exhausted.

I'm sorry if this sounds jumbled, or if there are simple grammar mistakes. I'm very sleepy still from pregnancy and we haven't slowed down since we got home (Morroccan dinner on Thursday night, trip to the Zoo and Baby shower on Saturday, large shopping day yesterday, and today we're puppy sitting - EXHAUSTING!).

Monday is Flag Day! That's the day we find out where John's being posted. I wont be posting the location on my blog for a week. You'll have to check out John's Blog in order to find out. You should check it out anyway. You'll find out lots of good information on it.

Less than a day

until his EEG. We're supposed to be in the office tomorrow at 8:15 to fill out paperwork for his 8:30 appointment. John and I have been talking to him about his appointment, telling him that he needs to answer all questions they ask. I told him they're going to put stickers on his head and look at his brain.

With his recent aversion to anyTHING medical and large tears at the sight of anyONE medical I thought it would be better to prepare him. Hopefully tomorrow wont be as hard as I expect because of the talking about it. My friend Bethany will be picking us up tomorrow morning to hopefully leave by 8:00. I can only let him sleep tonight for five hours and I have to keep him awake on the way to the appointment. I'm so thankful that Bethany is going to drive us so I can do that. I'm also thankful that it's only about a 10-12 minute drive away so we're not in the car all that long.

I'll update tomorrow after we get home and Malachi is sleeping peacefully.

I know I've said this

but I feel like there's very little time to blog. Really when I look at my day not everything I do is valuable, but with the pregnancy and the exhaustion that came with it, I really don't do much more than necessary.

We've had a pretty good week! No more seizures this week. However, life for me is very stressfull because of the last one. Any time he trips, lays down on the ground, or anything that a normal three year old can get away with happens my heart stops. I've done a lot of praying for him, but I still don't want him to go unwatched.

Rick and Mickey came into town on Friday morning for the holiday weekend. We brought them to our favorite restaurant so far Dogfish Alehouse. John's really liked their beer, so we thought we'd try their restuarant. In the last two weeks we've been there three times, and I think we're going again for dinner - unless he wants me to cook.

Yesterday after nap time we made our way to the metro and to Washington, DC. John has some great pictures on his blog from the day. I was very skeptical of going - I really, really didn't want to brave the crowds with a 3 1/2 year old. But we learned that if we're in town next year we don't have to be nearly as cautious as were were yesterday.

We went downtown at 4:00 and I sat for an hour saving our spot (which was really good). John, Rick, Mickey, and Malachi went to the National Air and Space Museum which Malachi loves! When Rick came to relieve me of my post as space holder I joined John and Mickey on the Mall between the NAS Museum and and the Natural Galery of Art. I needed to eat dinner so I bought a ham and cheese sub and ate on the steps of the National Museum of Natural History. We then went to that museum which consisted of Malachi running to all the things that he really likes. I noticed he was most interested in the things that were at his level. The large dinosaurs and the big whale didn't interest him nearly as much as I thought they would.

After that museum we made our way back to our spot and hung out for about an hour and enjoyed a spectacular fireworks show. There was a large tree in the way of some of the lower ones, but otherwise we had a great view! We left shortly before the finale and made our way onto the first metro out of downtown. It got a bit crowded, but I know it would've been much, much worse after that train. We made it home by 10:30. We all thought we'd still be waiting for a train at that time, so it was a pleasant surprise.

Now I'm being pressured off the computer because we're heading to breakfast.

I hope everyone had a great 4th!

Yet another

Malachi had another seizure today. This is his third seizure, but it's the first I witnessed. It was not an easy experience. It was full of contradictions. It was the shortest seizure yet, but it was the longest recovery time. He gasped for air during it but wasn't turning colors, his eyes were open but I'm not convinced he could see anything. He had a very hard time waking up, and wouldn't open his eyes to look at me, so I called 911. Six EMT's came out - but four of them left after they say that Malachi was mostly allright. They checked his O2 sats (the amount of oxygen running through your blood), and heart rate and they both checked out fine. Even getting the little band-aid like thing around his finger was an ordeal and since he was fine by the time then and his stats were good I decided not to take him to the hospital. The EMT and I I agreed that keeping him calm and stress free was our main objective and taking him to the hospital would bring the opposite results. By the time they left he was shy, but mostly normal.

Shortly after they left he asked to watch TV, I was reluctant to do that since he was watching TV when it started. But I relented, and shortly after he started watching he started eating his lunch again (also something he was doing when it started). After eating the rest of his sandwhich and some of his chips he was done. When I told him it was time for a nap he asked for his clothes back on (they came off to help him cool after the seizure) and then he ran to his room and onto his bed. This is not normal, not normal at all. However at that time, it was the most abnormal he was and I didn't think it was a bad thing, so I let it slide. I certainly wasn't going to make him rebel. :)

Since he got up from his nap he's been normal, but every time he loses his balance, or I can't here him, or anything weird happens, I think he's going to seize again. Please pray for him and for us. I don't want to live my life in fear - and that is definitely a road I'm heading down.

So much good is happening in our lives that this feels so bad. If it wasn't for John's new job or our pregnancy maybe this wouldn't seem so bad - and I know there are kids with much worse problems, but this is going to kill me. Watching the seizure this time is the hardest thing I've experienced with him. Praise God he doesn't remember it.

John asked him if something happened today and he said he was watching TV and fell down (true) and then mommy picked him up (also true, but I think he means the time after his seizure). So he doesn't remember the seizure. Thank you Lord!

Please also pray that we get some answers at his appointment next week. His EEG is scheduled for next Tuesday at 8:30. I can't let him sleep for more than four or five hours the night before and he can't sleep on the way to the appointment. My poor baby.

Otherwise - life is good. :)

So much to say...

...so little time to blog.

We really have been quite busy. There's a playground and a pool outside with the tennis, and volley ball courts. Unfortunately mommy didn't think about the pool when packing the car and sent all of the swimsuits, towels, arm floaties, etc...on the air shipment. So last night we finally bit the bullet and bought some suits. We're not going to wait two weeks - not when the pool is calling our name every day. I bought us some sun screen but still got burnt on my shoulders, back, and face today. Oh well, c est la vie. Malachi's showering and singing the Star Wars theme song right now. I love it!

I went grocery shopping today for my first big trip. So far I've gone shopping almost every day since getting here and today I finally just went and bought food for meals. The cost of living here is so much more expensive than at home that it kills me go grocery shopping and spend so much money. Oh well...c est la vie.

Tonight we're going to Josh and Bethany's for dinner and then we might be going out to a free outdoor showing of Kung Fu Panda. We'll see though, I really need to start sleeping more. My body is using so much energy with the pregnancy and I've been so busy, that I don't take enough time to rest.

Tomorrow and Friday I go to Spouse/Partner orientation at John's work. I'm trying to get Bethany and Josh to take Malachi tonight to Friday after work because we're already going to be there and it would be easiest with morning traffic (the worst I've ever experienced, Dallasites and Minnesotans have it so easy) the way it is, and Josh and Bethany live the opposite direction of work. I'm really excited for orientation though. I bought a couple of nice maternity blouses and some black slacks to wear tomorrow and Friday. I might have to borrow some shoes from Bethany or go buy some black shoes because I don't have any with me. Oh well, I don't mind another trip to Ross. :)

My oven and stove take forever to heat up. It's annoying.

Umm...yeah, I think that's all for now.

Horrible

I know I've been horrible at updating my blog lately. We've been so busy with the move that I don't know when I'd do it. Plus our internet was horrible at the hotel in Dallas that I could barely get online.

John's blog has a great update on us for the last few days.

I'm very excited about our move. We'll be in D.C. in two days! When we were on the road yesterday I told John that it doesn't feel like a move. It really feels like we're on vacation. Maybe it'll feel like a move when we get our air shipment in D.C.

When I made the reservation for our apartment in D.C. the woman said that we'd have to be in a one bedroom until a two bedroom opened. When John talked to her this week she said that as long as the people who are currently living in this specific two bedroom move out successfully on Saturday morning then we can move in on Saturday night. WooHoo! That is great news!

My family has been in my dreams a lot lately. I miss you all and love you all!!!

Things to Do and Big News to Share!

My hubby has a blog and one of his recent entries was titled "The Final Countdown." That's really what we're in.

Tomorrow the movers come and empty our apartment. We're spending the last three nights in a hotel in North Dallas. We have some errands to run but mainly I think we're going to be hanging out with some people for the last time.

Thursday morning we're leaving for D.C. We can't check in until Saturday afternoon after 3:30 so we're going to take our time.

Oh Yeah!! I forgot to mention something. I'm pregnant!! This will be our second child and we're so thankful that God is blessing us with this. I'm hoping for a girl, John is hoping for a boy - but of course we'll be ecstatic with either. My tentative due date is February 9th, 2010 (my grandmothers birthday and a week after my hubby's). We'll see what the midwife says when I go in for my first sonogram. That will probably happen a week or two after we get to D.C. I'm going to have to get a referal from someone for a good midwife. I want to do a midwife at the hospital. I wouldn't mind a home birth but with my history I would feel safer going to a hospital. Our new insurance will cover a midwife though, so that's what I really would like to do.

This is just so exciting! So much is going on in our lives and we're so happy.