I guess I should open this blog with a bit of history since I’m not sure where everyone is on the chain of events and my mind isn’t terribly reliable of what I’ve told who.
Thursday night my main priority was finishing my blasted law paper.
Never ask a teacher candidate to try and write a paper that doesn’t involve some sort of opinion or the opportunity to be persuasive.
That’s like asking a bear to shave its fur and dance the mambo; bears just aren’t built for that sort of thing, regardless how entertaining it might be for everyone around them.
So, around 11:00 I had finished that paper more or less and was looking forward to the prospect of a good night’s sleep, my first in a couple nights.
11:30 found Tom and I curled up in bed but I still wasn’t sleepy. I remember laying there looking at the ceiling wondering if I’d confused Board of Education v Tinker with Board of Education v. Pico and wondering why I actually cared enough to worry about it in the first place when I noticed Tom was twitching pretty hard. He does that as he falls asleep but something didn’t feel right. I turned on the light in time to see his eyes roll up in his head and he started foaming and making guttural animal noises. I called 911 and stammered out what was happening all the while trying to remember where exactly I was supposed to put the wooden spoon, and my mind being what it is immediately offered up some unlikely yet entertaining possibilities none of which were terribly useful at the time. The paramedics arrived in record time and that’s when things got interesting. His seizure stopped just as they knocked on the door. I opened up the door and they headed up the stairs just as Alex our 20 pound Maine Coon woke up to see his most dreaded nemesis bearing down on him.
Alex doesn’t like paramedics. To him, paramedics arrive for the soul purpose of taking me away for hours and returning me home drugged to the gills mumbling incoherently about dancing hippos (its always hippos, I have no idea why). If you don’t know, I get flare ups in my back a couple times of year and occasionally they’re bad enough that I have to go to the ER. Well, Alex wasn’t having any of that and immediately assumed a guard stance in front of me. And this would have been fine if the wheels hadn’t started turning in his head when he noticed that those evil men in blue jumpers were doing some rather scary things to Tom and leaving me alone. The next thing I knew, our Alex who won’t even step over a piece of paper on the floor because its too much effort and will howl until someone moves it for him launched himself three feet from the bed and landed with perfect precision on Tom’s chest. This of course was probably not the best thing for Tom but it did knock the wind out of him long enough that he stopped flailing momentarily. Alex then proceeded to inflate to the size of a beach ball, unsheathe his claws, and opened his mouth showing a fairly impressive array of teeth…then he froze. The paramedics pulled back, understandably wondering what this furry ginger demon had in mind for them and I cautiously approached the bed. Alex’s head swung around and the expression on his face was priceless. It clearly said “okay, so I’m big and scary, and I’m in position…what the heck do I do now?” Relieved I picked him up and he promptly collapsed in my arms. Tom at that point was able to get enough air into his lungs to breath and slowly woke up.
We got to the hospital where they gave him some seizure drugs and a few hours later sent us home with a prescription for more. We got home around 5:30 and after some frantic emails letting people know what happened we fell asleep around 6:00. At 8:30 Lisa, one of my classmates arrived to pick me up for class, I’d forgotten to email her that I wasn’t going. She was just getting ready to leave when I heard Tom calling me. When I got upstairs I knew immediately something was wrong. His hands were clutched like claws and he was hunched over. He looked at me with dilated pupils and said “it’s starting again, we need help.” By the time I got Lisa and we made it upstairs he was back in full seizure. This one was significantly shorter but he didn’t wake up. Lisa watched over Tom so I could get dressed and pack while the medics checked his vital signs. In the end, they transported him to Valley Medical Center (two times in one night – I’ve never liked Thursdays and now I know why) and Lisa, bless her heart drove me because by that time I was too shaken to even put my seatbelt on. A short time later Pam, Tom’s mother arrived.
The rest of the day was a blur. They moved him from the ER to a private room in the Epilepsy Center once a bed was free, the hospital is pretty full right now. Don arrived mid-afternoon with Patty hot on his heels but Tom still wasn’t awake. Lisa and Lesley arrived in the afternoon just before the doctor came. After six hours of waiting we were finally able to talk to a doctor. Pam and Don left fairly late to get some rest, Patty had left earlier in the day. Lesley came and picked me up so I could go home and take a shower (I was become offensive smelling even to myself) before bringing me back to the hospital. The rest of the night he underwent blood tests of all sorts, various checks on his vitals, and finally a spinal tap at around 2:00 am.
By Saturday morning Tom was fully awake. The results of the spinal tap came in along with the MRI’s. Everything was clear including the spinal tap which was a surprise because everyone had been certain his seizures had been caused by viral meningitis. By afternoon the diagnosis was tentatively set at epilepsy although it could be a week before we’ll know anything conclusive.
In the mean time, Tom revealed that the afternoon before his first seizure he took the generic of his Adderall. He knows better than to take that stuff as we had determined last month that he’s very allergic. I hadn’t realized that even though we had a prescription for his regular Adderall, he hadn’t got to the pharmacy to have it filled so in addition to taking the bad meds, he hadn’t been taking the good. We’re hoping now that the meds might be the key to the seizures. The nurse was wonderful helping us research material on the internet about the drugs and helped us take down notes. In the mean time, since we couldn’t remember exactly what the dosage or name of the bad pills was, we called Lizabeth (Tom’s department head who is also the high school choir director) who offered to run down to the school and check. She and Nancy, the orchestra teacher have both been so wonderful and supportive and I just can’t express just how grateful I am to the both of them.
Then the nurse suggested that since Tom was looking good and obviously wanted to get out of his room for a bit that we take a tour of the floor. So, we got him settled into a wheel chair and off we went. I was sad to see that the lights were out in the meditation garden which is just two hallways down from us. There are lights in the fountain that turn it pink and little spotlights all over to highlight various plants. But everything was dark tonight. Still, he seemed in much better spirits to have gotten out.
Tom’s asleep for now and very excited at the prospect of coming home tomorrow. I’m just relieved he’s okay. I’m still very frightened by the amount we still don’t know about his condition. Its hard sitting here in the dark listening to the methodical clicking of the machine that tracks his IV fluid, and the soft sound of his breath, I guess I just feel a bit empty. That makes sense I guess, it’s been a crazy last few days. The thing that gets me through is all the support we’ve gotten. I’m still amazed at all the people who’ve called or emailed to see that he’s okay. I feel truly blessed to be surrounded by so many caring and wonderful people. From my class cohort who bless their hearts filled out my law final for me and turned in my homework to the school staff at Renton and Dimmitt including my cooperating teacher Stephanie who’ve not only kept in contact with us about how the bands are doing but have sent their own kind words and wishes and finally to Lesley and Steph have been in constant contact via email, phone and in person making sure I’m okay and staying sane (which considering I came into this whole thing fairly eccentric to begin with was quite a job on their part).
We’ll my eyelids are getting heavy so I think its time I submit this and get some sleep myself. I will try to add small updates to the blog each night letting you all know how he’s doing and what we’ve learned. I’ll also keep you up to date on my how my internship is going as if all goes well I will probably be starting on Wednesday. Wish us luck, Tom for getting better and me for starting middle school. It should be an interesting week.
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