I'm going on a trip, and I'm taking:
- Legos
- Magnetic toys
- Chewelry
- Pacifer
- Snuggly Blankets
- Books
- Lock puzzle board
- Pretend retractable knife
- Playdough
- Magic sand
- Bristle block stackadoos
- Wooden puzzle toy
- Mouse and cheese string toy
- Lacing shoe
- Jar of empty thread spools
- Roll of yarn
- Buckle toy
- Tablet
- Two toy cars
- Magic markers and paper
- Singing puppy toy (I just added that to my trip pile.)
- Rubber ducky
- Old wallet
- Sippy cup
- Backpack with stuffed animals
Can you guess where I'm going for my trip?
It's a 24-hour inpatient EEG with Teddy. Tomorrow. I had a legitimate nightmare about this a week ago and have been doing my best to avoid thinking about it. I don't sit well. I don't stay still. Neither does Teddy. Add in the fact that Teddy hates medical procedures and rooms and anything that remotely seems medically related, and I'm sure you can understand my nightmares.
 |
| Please, oh please, keep Teddy entertained oh magical suitcase of toys. |
But, it's what we need to do to make sure he's at an effective dose of Keppra that there are no seizures. We were hoping to wait until school was done but realized we needed to do it as soon as possible after the last seizure in April. We want to make sure we're at a good place with his anti-seizure medication before we head halfway across the country on vacation.
We've done several EEGs and even a sleep study at NIH (which was horrid, might I say, even if I wasn't the one who spent the night with him) but never a 24-hour inpatient one. The plan is to sedate him for the placement of the EEG leads instead of me holding him for 30 minutes or so while he screams hysterically while they place him. We're hoping that's the right decision that he'll wake up without being annoyed by all the leads and funky hat or at least less miserable than if he were awake for the process. I'm hoping the anesthesia goes well and doesn't have any side effects ... like seizures days later, which is what I think happened in April. To be honest, when they offered the option of sedation, I thought they meant more along the lines of a sedative to help him calm down and remain calm for the lead placement rather than full-blown anesthesia.
Once we get past the lead placement, then the challenge is to keep him occupied and content in a medical room for 24 hours. I'd be much less nervous if we were able to go the play room and wander the halls, but we need to stay in the room on camera for the EEG to be most effective. Hence the largest suitcase we own is almost entirely filled with toys.
Dave and AJ are coming up after school is done, so we're hoping that an hour or two of playing with AJ will be a nice form of entertainment for Teddy. AJ has already planned to save some of his tablet time to help Teddy play games on his tablet and is making him a treasure chest with toys to bring when he comes to visit. AJ really is the best big brother.
Then I'll head home with AJ while Dave takes the night shift because Dave is much better at getting Teddy to sleep than I am a saint. As soon as AJ gets on the bus Wednesday morning, I'll head back to Green Bay to relieve Dave. He'll go to work, and I'll finish out the EEG with Teddy.
I'm crossing my fingers that he'll make it to school Wednesday afternoon, but I'm not holding my breath on that. We have a backup plan if we won't be home by the time AJ gets done with school. But, as I said to that person, if we're still at the hospital at 2 p.m. on Wednesday after getting admitted at 7 a.m. Tuesday, I'm going to need a lot more than you just watching AJ for a couple hours. Like sanity.
And as I told my mother-in-law, we have a suitcase of toys packed. We should be good ... at least until the anesthesia wears off.
It needs to happen. It will likely suck. But it'll be done by sometime on Wednesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment