I started this post in mid November 2019 after our youngest needed an emergency hospital stay and I’m just getting around to finishing it….

Thinking back on this last week. It’s funny how often we take for granted things we’ve never had to deal with before. We, my little family, have never had to deal with health issues before. We’ve always been healthy aside from a cold or stomach bug here and there. The issues Isaiah had this week rocked my world. You never plan on a hospital stay with your baby. Especially not an emergency one where the ER PA tells you she called the neurologist and “You’re here for the long haul.”.

Just over one week ago I noticed Isaiah, my baby, was walking a little funny. Almost like he was drunk. It seemed his balance was off and he was unsteady and wobbly. When he went outside that afternoon he walked around more and seemed to do better the longer he walked but then Sunday morning he was back to the same wobbly walking. He was so unsteady that he pretty much gave up walking and began to crawl which was totally out of character for him. David and I decided he must be having issues with his ears and that I would take him to the doctor on Monday. Monday morning rolls around and same deal, wobbly on his feet and no walking. We got an appointment with the new nurse practitioner working in our pediatricians office. She was great! She watched him walk and checked him out. She saw a little fluid in one ear but nothing that she thought would cause unsteadiness. The other ear she checked but couldn’t see because he had too much wax. She also heard a little rattle in his chest and offered a chest x-ray or to just go ahead with an antibiotic. I opted for the antibiotic so I wouldn’t be putting Isaiah through an xray.(oh if only I had known the things to come) She called in the prescription and I headed for home knowing that it wouldn’t be ready until later. I fixed Isaiah and Adeline lunch and put them down for naps. During that time the NP decided she was not happy with what she told me and a gut feeling had her consulting with one of the head doctors in the practice. He told her to call me back and have me take him to a Pediatric ER for testing because there were too many other possibilities to not play it safe. Oh my heart.  I started making phone calls to get things straight to head out.  Call to David to see if he could go with me.  Call to the insurance company to see which direction we needed to head.  Call to my mom to come stay with the kids.  Head out to pick up the big kids from school and then back home to pick up David and head out to the hospital. It was a whirlwind rush of emotions and things to accomplish before leaving. Pull out supper ingredients, do the kids have clean school uniforms for tomorrow, don’t forget the elephant(Isaiah’s lovey)… get out the door.

We finally got on the road and headed to the hospital. Isaiah acted so normal sitting there in his carseat that it was hard to believe we were headed to the emergnecy room with him. We went to the children’s hospital, A.I.Dupont in Wilmington, DE. They were wonderful! We waited in the waiting room for a bit for a room to open up before they finally called us back. We waited in the room for a little bit while the nurses did their thing then the ER PA came in to ask some questions and see him walk.

After the PA watched him walk she called the neurologist who decided based off the PA’s evaluation that Isaiah needed further testing done to rule out anything on the brain or spine. With that being decided the nurses brought us some hot packs to place on his arms to prepare for an iv.

Unfortunately, they had to try twice and couldn’t get one placed.

I don’t have any pictures of him because he came in the middle of one of the iv attempts but I was very thankful my brother took his “lunch” and came to see us. It gave Isaiah a little bit of a distraction after the nurses finished trying and he was even able to get some laughs out of Isaiah before he had to be back on the job.

After my brother left, they got us transferred upstairs to where we were admitted for the night. The nurses there were finally able to get an iv placed and we were instructed that after midnight he would not be able to eat or drink anything in preparation for the anesthetics needed for his MRI. It was a rough night of sleep and David snuck out early in the morning so he could get straight and go to work.

The nurses were super awesome and accommodating. Once they knew David left and I was on my own they offered to bring me something to eat and drink. I accepted but didn’t have the heart to eat or drink in front of Isaiah since he wasn’t allowed anything. He finally relaxed after some physical tests with the neurologists(they wanted to see him walk) and took a short nap.

This gave me time to grab that snack the nurses had brought and update friends and family on what the doctors had to say. By this point, all the blood work had been run and came back with nothing significant to contribute to the reason of his unbalance. Because of this, the neurology team had decided that we were more than likely dealing with a post viral infection that had affected the balance part of Isaiah’s brain. They still wanted the MRI done though so they could rule out any of the “big, bad, scary stuff” as one doctor put it. Thankfully, the head neurologist had decided that Isaiah did not need a full spinal scan just a lower scan which meant that while it would still be a long test it would not be as long as originally thought. They also informed me that they wanted to see twenty four hours of improvement before he would be released.

We sat around waiting and dozing until they came to get us and take us to the anesthesia waiting room.

While there they occupied Isaiah with some brand new donated toys and books. They were given to us and we were told they were ours to keep even after leaving. I read him the book and he played with the little fire truck. He loved that the fire truck made noise and kept pressing the button over and over! He also enjoyed the little puzzle of different vehicle shapes. He was so tired and worn out though that the toy, book and puzzle didn’t keep his attention for long. He eventually took nap and about an hour after waiting they finally called him up.

Guys, let me tell you, I had held it all together until this moment. He was sleeping which was great until they wanted me to lay him down. He was having none of that so the anesthesiologist said he’d work with him sitting, leaning on me. Everything was good until they released the meds into him. Having your child go limp in your arms in not a good feeling. The water works began as the nurses and doctors assured me he was fine and lead me from the room. It took a few minutes as I walked down the hall towards the cafeteria and once in the cafeteria to compose myself but I eventually composed my self enough to go order some food and eat. I tried to take my time but I knew I wanted to be in the waiting room when they called or came looking for me once Isaiah was done. So once I was done eating I found my way to the waiting room and sat and waited. Here’s a link to my Facebook post while I waited.

At the two hour mark, I got a call from the nurse letting me know that Isaiah would be another hour because the doctor performing the MRI decided, based on presenting symptoms, to proceed with a more in depth scan. The nurse assured me that Isaiah was doing wonderful and she would call me again soon. About thirty minutes later I got another call that Isaiah was done and headed to the recovery room where we’d wait for him to wake up.

My first instinct as soon as I saw him was to touch him but I was discouraged from that because they wanted him to wake up naturally. Thankfully, after enjoying the meds to their fullest, he woke up without issue. I told the nurse and doctor that he had decided since he didn’t get a decent night of sleep he was going to take full advantage of his sleeping time! Once he was awake and cleared by the anesthesiologist we were transferred back to our room and Isaiah was finally able to get something to eat and drink!

That afternoon our pastor and a friend from church visited. The pastor prayed for us and the sweet friend brought Isaiah a coloring book. She also offered to stay with Isaiah so I could run to the refreshment center or even run there for me if I needed her to. She had read my post and knew all too well the feelings I had because her son had previously been in and out of the hospital with cancer. I was so grateful to see familiar and friendly faces and will always remember the kindness they showed by taking time out of their own lives to visit us.

That evening we got the wonderful news that Isaiah’s scan was clear and the diagnosis for what was going on was what they originally thought, a post viral infection.

The next morning, we got breakfast and waited for rounds to be done.

After rounds were done, Isaiah got his walking papers! We were so excited to be headed home and couldn’t wait for David to come pick us up!

I knew David would be awhile since it was lunch time by the time I was able to let him know we could go home. So we chilled in the room and took a few walks. I ordered Isaiah some lunch and took my leftovers from the supper David brought me the night before to heat up in the little refreshment room. We each ate a little bit and I gathered up our belongings so we’d be ready when David got there.

You can’t even begin to imagine my excitement at getting out of there! Although it was definitely not an experience I would enjoy again, it was an experience and one to be remembered. If you hung on this long, thanks! Stay tuned for a follow-up post including some helpful gift suggestions if you ever have a friend who ends up in a similar situation.