We spent an absolutely wonderful two weeks in Florida with our extended family in mid-April, loving every minute. We spent time on the beaches, enjoyed some theme park craziness, played lots of games, and basked in the warm sun while it snowed in Calgary. In the midst of it, Drew was trying to learn to sit at 8 months, still not doing it on his own; however, he had learned how to roll from back to front while there so we were not concerned. He has just been so mellow and laid back from the very beginning that we assumed he was just waiting for the right time and letting Peyton entertain him. When we got back we visited his pediatrician to get this checked out for sure and she agreed that he was likely just biding his time, and wasn't concerned. That was about May 10th. On May 14th we spent a delightful day at the Zorn's ranch with our Moms & Tots group and Drew was just one of the happy kids, but didn't really want to eat all day. Mom chalked it up to teething...
1:45 a.m. Drew woke Mom up screaming, which she thought might be attributable to teething, but when she checked him, he was having a seizure. Off we went on a midnight ride via ambulance to the Alberta Children's Hospital. It took the ER staff an hour and a half to get it under control, but not before they gave him enough medicine to shut even his respiratory system down. He was on a ventilator in addition to enough meds to make us sleep for a good week for a few days, and had more tests run in 2 days than we could believe. The only outcome? Your child had a seizure and we aren't sure why. We want to do some more tests and watch him for a while. We grieved at that point over the loss of innocence - life with a child who could have a seizure anytime would never be the same.
Over the first week we were there Drew had an MRI, CAT scan, EEG, EKG, more bloodwork than we knew could be possible (thought he might run out!), and many other tests run, all with no immediate answers, although they did serve to eliminate many of the things that it could have been.
After two weeks of watching, waiting, trying to sleep amidst beeps and nurses checking in and of course of hospital food, we were only too glad to be discharged on Tuesday, May 27th. Drew seemed good, and had not had any other seizures since the major one. He seemed to be responding well to his two anti-seizure medicines and was sent home to watch and wait some more, and with a long list of things to do to practice strengthening his core muscles. He seemed so happy to be home, and thoroughly enjoyed seeing big brother Peyton!
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