Truth Be Told! and the Latest Drama...

Hi Hi!


Jason and I have decided to give PG a good go. We've always talked about moving back to PG and now with a little fella part of the package it makes it all the nicer to be closer to mom. Plus it's good timing to trial PG out while I'm on mat leave and Jason can test the waters down here. He'll still do odd jobs up north but we'll just see how it goes. I don't really expect either place to be hummin busy over the winter so we may as well be here with Grandma. I actually made a blog for his business as well to add a visual when we advertise in the paper. Check it out at http://jrmacmillanconstruction.blogspot.com/ Mom is in absolute heaven having Alistair about. I'm sure at times its a bit of a challenge for her having the full house. She went from having a place all to herself to sharing it with 2 dogs, her daugher, her son in law, and her grandson. I think for the most part she's lovin it!.... I have to say if we do move permanently away from FSJ I'll miss the people forsure. I've made some really good friends there. But another one of the drawing factors to PG is the huge slash in house prices.

So I have been attempting to write about moving here for awhile now but I always get started and then something else happens. Well SOMETHING ELSE HAPPENED. Friday afternoon I took Alistair outside for a walk. As usual he had his massive melt down as he seems to not be a lover of the outdoors as of yet. But my attitude was "tough kid" I've been feeling quite house bound so he had a good fit while I walked around moms farm with him flailing in my arms. Well when we got back inside I put him on the floor and he instantly fell asleep. Mom and I laughed as his leg was all cocked up funny and I came to the computer to start the above blog. Well I heard mom fussing in the living room and went in and she said he was really stiff. Well when I took him he was what seemed to me spasming to the right. His spine was completely curved to the right along with his neck and right leg. But along with all that his bloomin eyes were fixed up and over to the left. This lasted a couple minutes and then it went away and bam he was zonked again. Then it happened again. I stopped ...put on my nursing hat ( as I'm always worried that I'm just being paranoid from instutionalization) and assessed the situation....a minute later Mom and I were heading to Emerg in PG with Alistair....When we got there the place was hummin busy. As you know I've been quarantining him and being strict with his interactions. So to my utter dismay we head into this craziness. Well I have to say I was very impressed with how quick they got us in. I think we waited 5 minutes. The part that really got me was the Locum Doc. The bloody fellow was hackin and coughing up a storm....at least into his sleeve...and yes he did use hand sanitizer but even Jason, who turned up shortly after we arrived, gave me the look...anyhoo on top of all that the silly bugger stuck his bare sanitized finger into his mouth! ACK. I kept my mouth shut as it wouldn't have made a difference at that point and plus I didn't want to burn any bridges of getting fast tracked. Before long they were taking us up to the Pediatric Unit. So between the time of 4pm and 7 pm Alistair had aproximately 10 of these spasms and then he would zonk out. I was so hoping that this was just going to be a simple febrile seizure. But there was no fever. The Pediatrician on call that night started talking of spinal taps, CT scans, EEG, and blood work. First of all, I've experienced being the nurse during spinal taps with larger children and it isn't the nicest experience to say the least let alone on my 4 month old son! Plus with the CT scan I was like WOOOOO hold your horses there. This is said as when I worked up North I had heard people such as Dr Mackey talk about how children who have had a CT scan can have a higher risk of aquiring cancer. So to me that was a absolute NO or at least a last resort after seeing results from less invasive stuff ....I tell you its a bugger to be suddenly put in a position where you have to make decisions and quick ones in regards to your kid. I said yes to blood work and an EEG (which is a noninvasive test that measures and records the electrical activity of the brain) and with a hell of a lot of persuation I said yes to a spinal tap but I told the Pediatrican he had 2 attempts and that was it. ....Well I nearly threw up during the spinal tap as I sat in the corner watching them fold our poor kid literally in half as he had a massive melt down. I was so close to calling it all off. But one sure struggles with that...you want the results ....does Alistairs symptoms really show a need for a spinal tap....if we don't try and it is something then what...like hells bells its not easy. Plus you have some random guy with a needle sticking it into your kids back. And yes I know he's a pediatrician but we all know that there are people in every profession that shouldn't be there. Not that I'm putting this guy down I'm just saying mama goes in blind. I have to say I sure was wishin I was in FSJ with Dr Moody at the bedside. I just say Dr Moody as I've seen him do a spinal tap on a child and man he was smooth for a lack of a better word. Anyhow the doc wasn't successful and we called it quits. They drew the blood work and that all came back normal except the lymphocytes (shows a viral infection) were elevated and thats it. I was so hoping that something would show up there that would just clearly explain these "spasms" or seizures as the doc was starting to call them. Anyhow, the weekend was hell. We were really just waiting for Monday to arrive where our own Pediatrician would take over care and everyone would come back to work so all these other tests could be done. The other crappy part is the doc was talking tumors, lesions on the brain, viruses, etc... Then on top of it Alistair went down hill over the weekend. His anterior fontanel or front soft spot was visually sucken in on Sat and Sun which had never been the case before. His vitals were super stable yet he would have a total conniption whenever we would pick him up. He just wanted to remain in the crib on his own and he's usually a pretty cuddly fella. Monday at 1am Alistair finally let me hold him. At this point I was beside myself. I definitely was trying to keep things together but flipp ones brain sure can go on a run away. Each time I held him I wondered if it could be the last. The sucken fontanel alarmed me and all his other symptoms. After having a good bawl and cuddle for several hours I jumped in the shower and talked myself back to sanity. Needless to say I really didn't sleep that night. ...Luckily he just got better and better from Monday AM onward, wanting and craving more attention. At least during this whole weekend process he would put up with me holding him just for a feed and then it was instant melt down. So at least his intake was ok. Anyhoo Monday we got an EEG done and today we had a head ultrasound. This evening we found out from Doctor Earl, our pediatrician, that they both came back normal. Whew! I nearly cried. As for his sunken fontanels they are still depressed. However, my super smart little bud there ~ Sandra Whitney~ was chatting with me today and came up with the idea that perhaps Alistair's spinal column was nicked during the attempted spinal tap. Therefore, CSF (spinal fluid) could have leaked out and caused a depressed fontanel as the brain and spinal column are as one. When prego women have this happen after an epidural they can get massive headaches when they move or elevated their heads so they need to remain horizontal. So this could explain why Alistair wanted to remain horizontal all weekend and would have a melt down every time we tried to pick him up. Anyhow, I passed this by Dr. Earl and he agreed this was very likely the case. My poor little man! .............So its been a hellava long weekend for this mama along with Dad and Grandma. I have to say though that there were a heap of wonderful staff that kept on checking up on Alistair and I while we were in the hospital. Eunice, the lactation consultant, Rita, the physiotherapist, and many of the nurses who had originally cared for us when we returned from Women's Hosptial. They were so great for my brain. Everytime they came around I would have verbal diarrhea to get things off my chest! Jason of course was the best. He stayed in the hosptial with us the whole weekend and kept me grounded and slowed me down when I really started to sprial out of control. You know now it almost seems ridiculous how worked up I got internally but hells bells you just don't know whats causing those stupid seizures. Mind you we still don't. Even though the pediatrican doesn't think they were febrile I still think they may have been. This is said as when we were at Women's the nurses always commented on how low Alistairs average temperature always was. Therefore, perhaps a temp of 37.6 C for him would actually be quite a significant temp. Plus he had one of these similar episodes within a week of his 2 month immunizations but it lasted seconds and I put it down to my paranoia. However, he had been dealing with a fever from the shots and it was a scorching 30+ C outside. Then with this last situation he had been off all day but I never took his temp. Then when I bundled him for outside he truly went a bit bazzerk and perhaps his temp sky rocketed quickly and he had a seizure. Its common for kids under 3 (i think 3) to have temperature induced seizures however Dr. Earl said its rare for under 6 months. Not sure why though...I should have asked. Anyhow, perhaps I'm grasping a bit but at least the electrical activity of his brain came back normal and we'll just hope that this seizure issue has or will peter out! He definitely has been his little normal self since Monday...smiling....kickin....swattin....so yahflippinhooo for that! You wouldn't believe how much I loved the smell of the dirt on the farm as i opened the car door to take Alistair inside Mom's house!!! Ahhh yes hopefully I can just continue to look back and smile........Cheers Peps J