Holidays in Hospitals
My family started out having the most wonderful holiday season we've ever had! My husband was able to take two weeks of vacation time over Christmas and the New Year and it was such a treat having him home. We were able to spend a day with my sister and her family just before Christmas and my parents came to our house for Christmas and Boxing day. Because there was so much going on during and in between the two holidays there was no "Christmas Letdown" type feelings hovering over our home. Hubby and I couldn't stop smiling over what had to be our best Christmas ever!
Mid-week we started feeling some of the more negative effects of all the visiting we'd been doing. Gramma and Papa had gone home just in time for the flu to move in. Once again, I was glad that Hubby was on vacation so I could take time to recover! I can't even be sure that last week had a Thursday because I wasn't present for it. By New Year's Eve I was awake...barely. Buddy #1 was feeling better and Hubby hadn't felt Flu's wrath yet so I sent them out to buy some groceries while the rest of us convalesced at home.
Each of us got our choice of comfort item; blankets, tissue, puke bowls, etc. and retired to the living room to watch movies and feel sorry for ourselves. We decided on an uplifting little tale about an 8 year-old boy who dies. By the end of the movie Buddy #2 had retreated to the computer to get away from all of the crying women. My 6 year-old was cuddling in my lap and turned around to look at me when the credits started to roll. She wiped away one of my tears and said, "Mama, you're as hot as the sun." I smiled and she turned back to face the television. The next thing I heard was my 7 year-old screaming her name.
I arched my neck to see what the 7 year-old was screaming about and realized that my smallest girl was having what appeared to be a seizure. She was staring wide-eyed at nothing and not breathing. I am no stranger to seizures. I know what they look like and I care for people who experience them on a regular basis. I jumped off of my chair and turned to face my little girl. I yelled her name trying to see some recognition in her blank eyes. I warned her that I was going to slap her to see if she was playing tricks on me. She didn't even blink. Tremors began shaking her little body. She was sitting on the edge of the recliner so I pulled her to the floor and rolled her on her side just as I had been trained. The older girls continued screaming until I put my hand up to silence them. The 10 year-old brought me my phone and I called 911 as I knelt beside my flailing baby. Her lips turned blue. The operator dispatched the ambulance but she warned me that it had to come from a fair distance. My husband pulled in the drive and the 7 year-old ran onto the snowy porch with bare feet to warn him of the disaster he was about to walk into.
As Hubby walked in the convulsions subsided and the emergency operator allowed me to hang up to wait for the ambulance. The two of us knelt beside our little girl and prayed and talked to her. She was able to focus her eyes but was not able to speak or control her movements for the most part. She repeatedly stuck her tongue out and bit at her bottom lip. her toes dug into the carpet as her left leg swung in a semi-circular motion over and over again. Her Daddy asked her to show him one finger and after enormous effort she found her pinkie. She shook her head once when asked if she could speak and nodded once when asked if she was scared. Her Daddy reminded her that Jesus was taking care of her and asked her if she knew that. she let out the sound, "esss." I dissolved. The ambulance pulled in.
On the way to the hospital her actions were almost infantile. Behind her oxygen mask she continued to stick out and roll her tongue and suck her bottom lip. She played with the vent slats beside her stretcher as if they were a mobile above her crib. She could hear me talking to her but she couldn't turn her own head. I put both of my hands on her cheeks and tilted her face toward me. Through tears I told her I thought at first that she had been playing a trick on me and asked her if she would forgive me. She smiled.
After waiting 15 minutes for the ambulance to arrive and an agonizing 20 minute drive my girl looked up at me and finally said, "I love you, Mama." I reached down to touch her cheek and she said, "You're as hot as the sun."
After getting a more comfortable bed in the emergency department she drifted to sleep while I answered question after question. They woke her to take her vitals and ask her the usual questions like; Do you know what day it is? and What did we just celebrate? It went fine until a resident asked her what school she goes to. When she answered, "I don't go to school," through her exhausted haze the doctor immediately shot me a confused glance.
"We homeschool," I replied without hesitation.
"I see," the resident offered while looking me over. I'm sure hearing that I am my children's primary educator would have been slightly less shocking if I hadn't been dressed in bleach splattered powder blue sweat pants and a pastel pink hoodie with a red cat demanding a caffeine fix. But nevertheless, news that homeschoolers were in the building spread rapidly and I didn't have to repeat that little tidbit of information because all of the other doctors and nurses had already been told.
While we were awaiting a CT scan I received a text message from home. The 10 year-old wanted to tell her sister to "get better very soon" and the 7 year-old wanted her "home.... TONIGHT". I found out later that Buddy #2 wanted Hubby to text "Don't die" but he thought he ought not.
We found out that we would be ringing in the New Year right there in the hospital. A young nurse came around with 2 teddy bears and allowed my girl to pick which one she would like to keep. She was thrilled. At midnight a nice orderly wheeled her into her very own room and wished her a very happy New Year. She smiled and said, "I got to stay awake but my brothers and sisters had to go to bed."
At 1:30 am the Pediatrician came in to inform me that all of her tests had returned normal and they didn't see any apparent cause for the seizure. Being that she is too old for a fever induced seizure, they decided to treat this as her first seizure, meaning that we can't be sure that she won't have another one but we can hope.
The next morning we celebrated a new year and a fresh start by enjoying time together, just the two of us. We cuddled, talked, told stories and laughed about how quiet it seemed to be with no sisters or Buddies around. It seemed to take a long time for the doctor to discharge her so one of the nurses wheeled a huge Wii system into her room to keep us busy while we waited. We both got a kick out of the seizure warning sticker on the monitor and playfully debated whether Mario Kart or Mario Galaxy would be safer to play.
Hubby came with sisters and Buddies to pick us up and the nurse came in with restaurant coupons and hockey tickets for the whole family. The 10 year-old took a look at all the loot and informed the nurse that she might see her next week. The puzzled nurse asked why.
"Because," she said, "if this is what you get for being in the hospital, I just may have to break my arm!"
Mid-week we started feeling some of the more negative effects of all the visiting we'd been doing. Gramma and Papa had gone home just in time for the flu to move in. Once again, I was glad that Hubby was on vacation so I could take time to recover! I can't even be sure that last week had a Thursday because I wasn't present for it. By New Year's Eve I was awake...barely. Buddy #1 was feeling better and Hubby hadn't felt Flu's wrath yet so I sent them out to buy some groceries while the rest of us convalesced at home.
Each of us got our choice of comfort item; blankets, tissue, puke bowls, etc. and retired to the living room to watch movies and feel sorry for ourselves. We decided on an uplifting little tale about an 8 year-old boy who dies. By the end of the movie Buddy #2 had retreated to the computer to get away from all of the crying women. My 6 year-old was cuddling in my lap and turned around to look at me when the credits started to roll. She wiped away one of my tears and said, "Mama, you're as hot as the sun." I smiled and she turned back to face the television. The next thing I heard was my 7 year-old screaming her name.
I arched my neck to see what the 7 year-old was screaming about and realized that my smallest girl was having what appeared to be a seizure. She was staring wide-eyed at nothing and not breathing. I am no stranger to seizures. I know what they look like and I care for people who experience them on a regular basis. I jumped off of my chair and turned to face my little girl. I yelled her name trying to see some recognition in her blank eyes. I warned her that I was going to slap her to see if she was playing tricks on me. She didn't even blink. Tremors began shaking her little body. She was sitting on the edge of the recliner so I pulled her to the floor and rolled her on her side just as I had been trained. The older girls continued screaming until I put my hand up to silence them. The 10 year-old brought me my phone and I called 911 as I knelt beside my flailing baby. Her lips turned blue. The operator dispatched the ambulance but she warned me that it had to come from a fair distance. My husband pulled in the drive and the 7 year-old ran onto the snowy porch with bare feet to warn him of the disaster he was about to walk into.
As Hubby walked in the convulsions subsided and the emergency operator allowed me to hang up to wait for the ambulance. The two of us knelt beside our little girl and prayed and talked to her. She was able to focus her eyes but was not able to speak or control her movements for the most part. She repeatedly stuck her tongue out and bit at her bottom lip. her toes dug into the carpet as her left leg swung in a semi-circular motion over and over again. Her Daddy asked her to show him one finger and after enormous effort she found her pinkie. She shook her head once when asked if she could speak and nodded once when asked if she was scared. Her Daddy reminded her that Jesus was taking care of her and asked her if she knew that. she let out the sound, "esss." I dissolved. The ambulance pulled in.
On the way to the hospital her actions were almost infantile. Behind her oxygen mask she continued to stick out and roll her tongue and suck her bottom lip. She played with the vent slats beside her stretcher as if they were a mobile above her crib. She could hear me talking to her but she couldn't turn her own head. I put both of my hands on her cheeks and tilted her face toward me. Through tears I told her I thought at first that she had been playing a trick on me and asked her if she would forgive me. She smiled.
After waiting 15 minutes for the ambulance to arrive and an agonizing 20 minute drive my girl looked up at me and finally said, "I love you, Mama." I reached down to touch her cheek and she said, "You're as hot as the sun."
After getting a more comfortable bed in the emergency department she drifted to sleep while I answered question after question. They woke her to take her vitals and ask her the usual questions like; Do you know what day it is? and What did we just celebrate? It went fine until a resident asked her what school she goes to. When she answered, "I don't go to school," through her exhausted haze the doctor immediately shot me a confused glance.
"We homeschool," I replied without hesitation.
"I see," the resident offered while looking me over. I'm sure hearing that I am my children's primary educator would have been slightly less shocking if I hadn't been dressed in bleach splattered powder blue sweat pants and a pastel pink hoodie with a red cat demanding a caffeine fix. But nevertheless, news that homeschoolers were in the building spread rapidly and I didn't have to repeat that little tidbit of information because all of the other doctors and nurses had already been told.
While we were awaiting a CT scan I received a text message from home. The 10 year-old wanted to tell her sister to "get better very soon" and the 7 year-old wanted her "home.... TONIGHT". I found out later that Buddy #2 wanted Hubby to text "Don't die" but he thought he ought not.
We found out that we would be ringing in the New Year right there in the hospital. A young nurse came around with 2 teddy bears and allowed my girl to pick which one she would like to keep. She was thrilled. At midnight a nice orderly wheeled her into her very own room and wished her a very happy New Year. She smiled and said, "I got to stay awake but my brothers and sisters had to go to bed."
At 1:30 am the Pediatrician came in to inform me that all of her tests had returned normal and they didn't see any apparent cause for the seizure. Being that she is too old for a fever induced seizure, they decided to treat this as her first seizure, meaning that we can't be sure that she won't have another one but we can hope.
The next morning we celebrated a new year and a fresh start by enjoying time together, just the two of us. We cuddled, talked, told stories and laughed about how quiet it seemed to be with no sisters or Buddies around. It seemed to take a long time for the doctor to discharge her so one of the nurses wheeled a huge Wii system into her room to keep us busy while we waited. We both got a kick out of the seizure warning sticker on the monitor and playfully debated whether Mario Kart or Mario Galaxy would be safer to play.
Hubby came with sisters and Buddies to pick us up and the nurse came in with restaurant coupons and hockey tickets for the whole family. The 10 year-old took a look at all the loot and informed the nurse that she might see her next week. The puzzled nurse asked why.
"Because," she said, "if this is what you get for being in the hospital, I just may have to break my arm!"
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