Not the weekend I had planned

This weekend I had planned on hours of sewing. It wasn't suppose to be too hot--and I have so many sewing projects calling my name. But things don't always work out as planned.

On Friday about 2:30 my son Gage was taking a nap in the livingroom by where his twin brother Wyatt was playing video games. Wyatt told me that Gage looked odd--that he was hitting himself in the chest (which got Wyatt's attention) and then he just started staring straight ahead and coughing a bit like he was having a hard time breathing. Thank God for Wyatt paying attention to his brother! Gage was totally limp---like a wet noodle (an 80 lb wet noodle!) and he was totally unresponsive. He then started to occasionally twitch--but nothing like his seizures were when he was a baby. I gave him the rectal Valium that I have to stop his seizures and it did nothing. He was breathing so instead of waiting for an ambulance I swooped him up with super human Mom power and I told Wyatt to get in the car and I would put Gage's head in his lap so he could hold Gage's head while we drove so he wouldn't choke. I went to the closet hospital I thought could help him (our local hospital I have learned is not the place to go). It is probably a 10 minute drive but I am sure I made it in 5.

The minute we walked into the emergency room the lady at the front desk called a team to come out and get him. I told her I couldn't find his insurance card and she said, "Oh honey...we can worry about that later". So they got Gage, Wyatt, and I into a room and they started working on him. They got as much information as they could from me and then started the drugs. At times there were so many people in the room that I went out in the hall and just watched from there as to stay out of the way. I thought how wonderful it was that they had so many people helping him...but then realized it was very serious or they wouldn't have that many people in there! The emergency room was very busy and we were hogging most of the staff. They told me that they were having to give him so many meds that they were afraid they could relax to the point that he stopped breathing, or that his heart stopped. They couldn't get the seizures to stop and he was totally unresponsive. They had teams of people there for respiratory, pharmacy, all that stuff. They called Doernbecher's Children hospital and they said they were sending a Panda team. Gage has been cared for by them before--they are awesome! They are a team of paramedics (3) that drive a ambulance that is all painted on the outside with cute kids drawing and decorated on the inside too...in Panda motiff. These paramedics  are highly trained in issues with children...and especially with specials needs and medically fragile kids. Anyway--before transferring him to the Intensive Care Unit at Doernbecher's they wanted to get a CT scan. They were worried about a brain bleed or a tumor since they couldn't get the seizure's to stop. That was so scary! But they quickly got the results and everything was normal. Thank God! Then slowly it seemed that the seizing was stopping and he was still breathing on his own (though he was receiving oxygen) and the doctors said it was the most meds they had given to anyone to stop a seizure but at least he was stable. Also he was still breathing on his own..a miracle. Now to pray he would wake up. It has been almost 3 years since his last seizure. I was hoping we were done with them.

The Panda team took Gage to Doernbecher's in their fancy ambulance and they told me I should go home and pack a bag before coming to the hospital because there was no doubt I would be spending the night..or two. I took a minute while at home and posted a prayer request for Gage on Facebook. There was such a huge response--everyone from family to current friends and friends I haven't seen in years were praying for Gage and sending sweet and caring comments. Facebook is such an awesome way to let everyone know about something like this. It is so comforting to know how many people care.

I got to the Intensive care unit and watched my sweet boy sleep.

The night was filled with the sounds of monitors and sometimes weeping of parents so sad with a very sick child. I think it would be such a hard place to work.

There was a quite comfortable bed for me but sleeping in a situation like this is pretty hard. There was no cell phones allowed but there was a room phone and Janae kept me company for over an hour on the phone.

Then at 4:30 am I heard Gage stir. I went and sat by his bed and all of the sudden he sat up and looked at me like "Where in the world are we? What is going on?" I swear, even though he doesn't speak I can read his expressions just like he could talk. :)

He could tell how happy I was and I said to him, "Is my Gage back?" and he gave me a big smile. At that moment it seemed all was right with the world.

The nurse came in and said, "He's back!" as Gage was pulling off  his leads and trying to pull out his I.V. and making all sorts of alarms go off.

They still wanted to keep us possibly another night in a regular room (not in intensive care) just because he had had so many drugs and they were just amazed that he was awake and alert so soon and they wanted to make sure everything was okay. But after he ate a huge breakfast of bacon, eggs, and potatoes I convinced them that we would be better off going home and getting some sleep. After all, this is not our first rodeo...we have done all of this before. I think it helped them hurry our discharge papers when Gage was loudly laughing and "singing" and trying to pull down every cord he could get too--and there are a lot of them in those rooms!

So now we are home and I am exhausted--both physically and mentally. Gage is all rested and basically ready for a party! I feel that this was a real lesson in the power of prayer. Also a wonderful awakening to me about what a support team of family and friends I have. So though this is not the kind of weekend I like to have, it does make me thankful for everything I do have.

My sewing projects? They are still waiting for me. It will probably take me a couple days to totally recoup from how tired I am--but I am still really motivated to get to them! So I promise--soon there should be some cute projects posted :)

So hold close the people you love, and thanks for visiting!