So life has been interesting lately.
Understatement of the year.
We have had 12 medical appointments in the space of a fortnight. For a family who usually would only see a doctor a few times a year under usual conditions, this was a big deal.
Worthy of a blog post of its own.
Obviously there are many families who require constant medical care and attention and they do have my sympathy. I do know my busy fortnight was but a drop in the ocean by comparison to their lives.
Im not claiming to be hard done by.
Merely reporting on my 'little life'.
Seizures: not fun by any description and watching your 7 month old son with his right side jerking like he's a puppet on a string is certainly not nice. I don't reccommend it at all.
Even if like we have experienced with Mr G it only occurs a few times ( *to date we have witnessed 3-suspected- seizures and one period of -probable- myoclonic jerks)
Seizures in childhood occur in 10% of the population.
With only 1%-2% going on to have further seizures.
They can occur for many different reasons: epilepsy, brain injury/ deformity/lesions, low blood sugar, medication withdrawal, low calcium, metabolic disorder and the list goes on.
We took Mr G to our GP after the second seizure like episode (we did get medical advice following the first: the advice being "don't worry but if it happens again then see your GP)
He was then referred to a paedatrician, had blood and urine samples taken, sent for a EEG and to have a ultrasound* of his brain done (*only possible because his fontanelle is still open).
It was through all this testing that I was introduced to the horrible reality of waiting.
Waiting for appointments. Waiting for results. Hoping that a hidden timebomb is not about to go off in your beautiful babies brain.
While your waiting lots of concerned people may be talking about this waiting, trying to take your mind off the waiting and Thats how I came up with this list;
Things not to say to a parent whose child is having seizures.
1. "my brothers, girlfriends, cousins daughter had seizures and Shes fine!"
2. "did he/she have a fever? Because Thats really common"
3. "well they will just put him/ her on medication and that will fix it"
4. "are you SURE it was a seizure"?
5. "Im sure its nothing"
All I wanted was for someone to say "this is scary , Im worried too".
Long story short, we have been lucky.
Mr G's test results all came back clear. We have been advised to monitor any future seizures. Write a diary and try capture anything that happens on video.
They don't know if he definitely had seizures or if he had myoclonic jerks.
And Thats good enough for me for now.
Meanwhile I have Mr P in a plaster cast up to his thigh for the next 5 weeks.
Not much fun for a active 5 year old.
He has a midshaft closed fracture to his shin.
This has so far resulted in 10 hours spent in the hospital. The first 3 in casualty with the suspected break, then another 3 after he broke is temporary cast and the last 4 having his full cast fitted.
This also brought with it a few lessons learnt.
*always take a pen and paper to the hospital to help pass the time.
*always wear underwear to hospital ( Mr P was very embarrassed when they removed his trakkies to fit his cast and it required some strategic placement of a towel to solve the issue)
* and this nugget of wisdom - a child will walk on a sprain but are unable to bear weight upon a break or fracture.
I have also learnt how much I take Mr P's ability to walk for granted. Carrying him to the car, to bed, to the toilet, to his toys, to the dining room table has taught me to appreciate the act of moving.
I've also learnt to accept help because its next to impossible to push a wheel chair and a pram simultaneously.
So Im extremely lucky to have such a bloody wonderful family (especially mum) to help Me out.
Im finding a new closeness to Mr P having to attend to him so closely , like when i have to hold his cast up so he can sit on the toilet to poo :-/
All jokes aside I've also developed a admiration for the little guy. He has become skilled at maneuvering his wheel chair about and has a good attitude to the situation.
We were sitting in the hospital when he announced that he wanted to start doing wheel.chair basket ball next year.
I pointed out to him that he wouldn't be in chair that long.
He looked at me incredulous "of course I will mum" he said "bones don't just heal"!
So I explained that bones do heal and crushed his dreams for the paralympics.
Gotta admire his resilience.
Someone who is not so resilient is Miss B (god love her).
Miss B is 11.my first born.
Miss B has aspergers syndrome which leads to many different things , some wonderful, some ....not so much.
I took her to the doctors this week (our final appointment of the fortnight!) to discuss possible treatments for her heavy menstration.
I forewarned her about this appointment and she wasn't keen (obviously) but agreed to come.
Well I learnt a valuable lesson that day. Don't try talk bodily function with my daughter.
The doctor (who was very relaxed and open) tried to talk to Miss B about things ( tampons and vaginas to be exact) but Miss B was unable to communicate. She bawled her eyes out like her dog had just died. She shook and hid her face. She turned red and froze.
In the end her only contribution to any conversation for the next two hours (long after we left the doctor) was to hiss at me "I hate you"!
And I don't blame her.
When did I turn into one of those freaky mums?
Anyway I bought her a chocolate milkshake to make it up to her and have decided next time Im worried about something like that just to go to the doctor without her.
Hopefully she will get past the trauma. ;-)
