• Post category:EEG / Hospital
  • Reading time:7 mins read

We tried. We really did. But we just couldn’t keep James out of the hospital. On Thursday, the 11th, he woke up really juicy and congested. I know, it sounds odd, doesn’t it? How can somebody be juicy and congested at the same time? I guess it’s one of James’ talents. For James, being juicy and congested at the same time means that his nose is stuffy and has a flow of secretions coming out of his mouth at the same time. So, on Thursday, he woke up juicy AND congested. He didn’t have a fever, but his snot was a bit discolored. Is snot the right word to use? Or would boogers be better? How about nasal discharge? That’s probably the least gross one.

The discolored discharge from his nose is usually a sign that the body is fighting something. Not sure what, though. He was on an antibiotic that the pediatrician prescribed the week before. That antibiotic should have been fighting any infection that may have been wandering around in James’ body.

Because he had a VEEG scheduled for Monday, we decided to keep him home from school on that Friday to give him a couple of days to rest and hopefully get over whatever this was. James had other plans, though. At about 12:30 am on Friday he started having breathing issues, couldn’t keep his sats up and had a fever of 101 degrees. Stacy got him out of bed, gave him some Motrin for the fever, put him on his cooling mat in the living room and put him on 2 liters of oxygen. Stacy and James spent the night in the living room. At 8 am his temp was down to 99 degrees, but he was still having breathing issues. He was what we call double breathing. He was taking two inhales for every exhale. You’re doing it now, aren’t you? Taking two small inhales, and then an exhale?

 

ER and Hospital Stay

We didn’t like the way he was breathing so we decided to take him to the emergency room. They did a complete blood count, urine culture, and blood culture…all of which came back within a normal range. They took an x-ray of his lungs and saw a little something, which is strange because he had been on antibiotics for a week. They ran a virus panel and started him on IV fluids and gave him some Pedialyte to make sure he stayed hydrated. The virus panel said that he had rhinovirus. What the hell is that? We haven’t taken him to the zoo. This virus has nothing to do with rhinoceroses. Rhinovirus is the most common cause of the common cold.

Because of his double breathing, they admitted him, which we were fine with. This may sound bad, but Stacy is burned out, and this could give her a little bit of a break. Although she is pretty hands on when James is in the hospital, having nurses taking care of James would allow her to rest a bit. This is still a sore subject in our house, but our insurance won’t provide nursing at home so that Stacy can get a break. They literally told Stacy that she does such a good job taking care of James that we don’t need nursing. So, I guess we’ll do this instead. I’m pretty sure a hospital bill will be a lot more than whatever they would pay a nurse to come to the house. But we’ve gotta do what we’ve gotta do, right?

Yes, this is about getting James better. That’s the most important thing. But if we can also get Stacy a little bit of a break, it’s an added bonus. She needs it. And I can’t be home all day long to help her out. I wish I could be, but it’s my job that provides us the health insurance.

 

James in the hospital 4/14/2013

 

James was actually doing so much better on Saturday that there was talk about sending him home on Sunday, which put us in a little bit of a dilemma. His VEEG was scheduled for Monday at the same hospital. We asked about having James do his VEEG on Sunday instead of Monday so that he could do the VEEG and then go home, but unfortunately, they don’t do VEEGs on weekends. So that left us with either taking him home on Sunday only to come back on Monday, or just stay at the hospital until after the VEEG on Monday. The hospital allowed us to stay through Sunday.

 

VEEG

Monday morning the neurology team came by the room to set James up for the overnight VEEG. James has had a few of these now and I am always fascinated watching the tech put the leads on James’ head. So many wires that have to go on just the right spot on the scalp.

 

So many wires

 

James is wired for the VEEG

 

After all the leads were in place, the tech wrapped James head in gauze to keep everything in place.

 

Head wrapped in gauze to keep the EEG leads in place

 

Tuesday morning the tech came back to remove all of the leads from James’ head. Shortly after that the neurologist stopped by. He had briefly looked over the VEEG readout and said that he did not see much seizure activity, but lots of abnormal activity on the right side of James’ brain. He wants to compare this VEEG with the one James had last year and will also review the MRI and MEG scan that James did last year.

After we got home from the hospital, Stacy said that she was just going to relax for a bit. Minutes later I heard her in the laundry room and asked what she was doing. “Laundry.” “I thought you said you were going to relax,” I said. “I know, I will, after I get the laundry started.”

She missed that brief opportunity to relax. James’ heartrate went up to about 180 beat per minute, his sats were in the high 80s and low 90s, and he had another temperature. We put him on oxygen, gave him some Motrin and laid him on his cooling mat to try to bring his temperature down. All this seemed to help.

Wednesday was a bit of a rollercoaster. He would be fine for a while in the morning, but then take a turn in the afternoon. Thursday was a repeat of Wednesday. He was fine in the morning and then a mess in the afternoon. We don’t know what changed, but Friday he seemed to be doing much better. Saturday and today he had good days.

We think we will attempt to send him back to school next week. We’ll see how that goes. I swear he’s allergic to school. He’s spent more time home sick than he’s been in school. He definitely won’t get a perfect attendance award.

We want to thank everyone that stopped by the hospital to visit, or texted us to see how James was doing, or commented on his Facebook posts. James has some of the best fans.