
Hello everyone! It has been a doozy of a few days.
(written Tuesday evening – posted Wednesday morning)
On Sunday, I wrote my little Sunday-Monday post and then headed off to church like normal. This time however while I was gone, Wyatt started throwing up. Normal kid stuff usually, but for Wyatt it automatically means a trip to the ER to check his VP shunt. I hurried home and jumped from my car to Billy’s, where Wyatt and Billy were waiting for me so we could drive straight to the ER at Mott’s Children’s in Ann Arbor. Wyatt was triaged pretty quickly once there and were shown to a room.
They gave him Zofran, and sent him for his shunt survey – x-rays of his head and torso, then an MRI. Wyatt hates getting an MRI to the point where he fights like his entire life depends on it. Billy actually has to ride into the MRI machine with him, and holds him down. Afterwards, Wyatt settles down pretty quickly but that 5 minutes is so long for us all. We received the results pretty quickly as well! And, it was all good on the shunt side. His shunt was intact, no kinks, and his ventricles in his brain were decompressed and not enlarged. Wyatt also gets enlarged ventricles when his shunt is malfunctioning. So, they moved on to the next phase, the fact that he had a seizure right before throwing up. He was scheduled for an EEG in June (and still is) but they thought we were there so why not get a head start on it. So, in came the EEG team, Wyatt’s hair was twisted into tiny ponytails and the leads were placed in between the short little shoots of hair. Then the final wrap of gauze and tape, and we were ready for his EEG. All this time we were still in the ER, where we stayed until we were discharged 30 hours later.

Through this whole ordeal, Wyatt was a little charmer, making the staff laugh with his jokes and by being a super helper, helping to put the seizure pads in place, putting tape on the gauze wrap on his head, and trying to tape his o2 monitor to his toe. We had a restless night of sleep, with the team popping in all night to fix his EEG leads and all was going well the next morning. Until he threw up again! Up until this point, neurology believed that the emetic episode was a post-seizure episode (after the shunt was ruled out). At this point, we had to just believe it was something else, perhaps a little stomach bug instead. However, we still had to rule all of that out first so that we didn’t miss something important. I would rather them do that then say stomach bug and then have something happen.

The EEG did produce results that said Wyatt was having breakthrough seizures despite his medication increase a few weeks ago. So they further increased his meds, and we go see his doctor in June, and then later that month, have another 24-48 hour EEG. So, lots of good information came from the visit, it was just very long and exhausting for all of us, especially my kiddo.

Those are the happy, tired faces of two people who were just told they could go home. Poor Billy had actually gotten up in the morning after a terrible night’s sleep in one of those hospital room sleeping chairs (if you know you know) and went to work. He was actually on the way back to the hospital after work when Wyatt and I got the good news! So when he got there we only had to wait for all the i’s to be dotted and t’s to be crossed and then we went home, with a very very happy boy. He cheered when we got in the car, and then when we pulled up into the driveway. Billy and I felt the same way, so happy to be home and so relieved, and exhausted as the adrenaline and anxiety of the last 30 hours wore off.
Update – Tuesday we spent just relaxing and trying to recuperate, except for Billy who went to work. Our internet was down though and I didn’t have access to my phone because I turned it into a hotspot so that Wyatt could watch tv as he rested. He was very tired at the beginning of the day but in good spirits, and by evening he seemed much more like his normal little self. Today, I am going to have us take it easy but also add in a little schoolwork and one errand. Slow little baby steps!
And that is it for the moment! I hope you are all doing great!
So lovely to see your smiling faces through such a difficult time. Thank you for sharing.
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Thank you Rachel. 🙂
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Well, good news in the end, more or less. You were so smart to do this because now you know what’s up (and what isn’t) and I’m sure the June appointment and tests will reveal more. But that had to be pretty harrowing and a very long night. Big hugs.
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Yeah, I left tired but pretty relieved as well. It was better to go and know what was going on, even if it meant a long stay. 🙂
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I’m glad that the staff was thorough and checked everything out and was able to resolve the issue. Now I hope that you and Wyatt can both rest and recuperate.
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They were fantastic with him. It was a lot that he had to endure but the staff is all amazing and so sweet. Wyatt is such a tough kid.
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Oh wow, so sorry you all had to go through this, but at least you got some answers, and hopefully the increase in meds will be helpful. I hope you all are able to take it easy the rest of this week.
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Thank you Cindy! I appreciate it! I’ve got my prayers going up constantly for this boy it feels like. Probably like every other mother out there does for her children!
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I would have done the exact same thing…better to find out it was probably a stomach bug and not something else than the opposite. I’m so sorry you were stressed out, but at least you got some good information. Hopefully, the increase will help with the breakthrough seizures and the June appointment will go well.
Prayers to all of you for comfort, sleep, and healing…
https://marshainthemiddle.com/
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It was long and tiring but we did get a lot of good information. 🙂 And thank you Marsha for the prayers. 🙂
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Ah, that Wyatt. Always keeping you on your toes! *wink*
Glad you are recupperating well at home.
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Seriously. Lol. Before he was born and I was in the hospital, the doctor who delivered him told me that Wyatt was always going to zig when I expected him to zag. He was so right. Lol.
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That is such a funny way for that doctor to say that and yes, that seems to be what kids often do to parents, but more so in Wyatt’s case.
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What a scary time for you all. I’m glad the hospital staff were so thorough, that must give you peace of mind.
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They were fabulous at the hospital. So good with Wyatt and so thorough. 🙂
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I’m glad everything went fairly well and that you didn’t have to stay too long. Baby steps and lots of self care is defintiely the way to go. Get lots of good rest!
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Thanks Katherine. I appreciate it!
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