Seth's Adventure in the Ambulance continued

So we left off with Steve getting to the hospital in DC. The neurosurgeon and the neurologist came to talk with us. They had reviewed the CT scan that had been done and said that it looked like he had sublaxation of the C1 and C2 (or in layman's terms dislocated vertebrae in his spine) This meant that they would need to put him in traction to try and get the bones back into place. Because he is so little they would have to put him to sleep deep enough that he would essentially be paralyzed. This would also require him to be incubated and kept on a respirator. They would then have to decide whether he would have to wear a halo (which requires holes being drilled into their skull) Needless to say we were extremely worried at this point. They wanted to get another CT scan with his collar on to make sure that there wasn't a mistake. At that point it was midnight and I was exhausted. My sister Emily (who lives about 15 minutes away in Arlington VA) came to get me and I went home with her to try and get some sleep. Steve stayed with Seth and they went to get another CT scan. The new scan still showed that the bones were not in place so they admitted him to the ICU. In the morning the neuro team came to talk to Steve. They said that they had been comparing the two CT scans done and they saw some differences between them. Because of these differences it was leading them to believe that the muscles in his neck were spasming and and pulling thus causing the bones to move. They wanted to observe him and give him some muscle relaxers and see what happened. This was really good news, but they still weren't sure and so we waited and waited and waited..... We were still in ICU because they didn't have a regular room available. ICU requires the kids to be constantly monitored. Seth had so many wires coming from him that it made it hard to him to move around. We spent all day Tuesday trying to keep him occupied and hoping that everything was going to turn out to be muscles spasms. He was hooked up to an IV because he hadn't been allowed to eat just in case. Tuesday afternoon they decided that they didn't need to do an MRI so they unhooked the fluids and allowed him to eat. He spent the next hour eating everything that we put in front of him.

Since we were supposed to have left for St Louis on Monday we began to wonder what Thanksgiving was going to hold. I had decided that we were going to just skip it all. I was just too tired to think of doing anything. Tuesday night we got the good news that in that they wanted to do two more CT scans, but that barring anything new he would be able to leave the hospital on Wednesday. Now that we were pretty much out of danger Steve and I decided that I should go home and see the other kids. Hannah was especially having a hard time. I got home and took a sleeping pill and finally slept after 3 days. Wednesday morning I got the call that I had been waiting for. The new CT scans showed that the muscles had finally relaxed and allowed the bones to go back into place. Seth was being released!

Steve decided that if I got everything ready before they got home that we could leave for St Louis that afternoon. Seth got permission to travel as long as he wore the neck brace in the car as a precaution against further muscle strain or damage.

(this is the exact brace that he wore. I am still working on getting the pictures off of my phone)

I don't remember much about the packing or driving there, but we were able to have a great Thanksgiving with my siblings and parents. I am not sure that I really have recovered. I have been tired ever since.

I am really really grateful for the way things turned out. Steve gave him a blessing in the hospital and was able to feel very confident that no matter what needed to happen that Seth would be fine in the end. The doctors were wonderful and thorough. I especially have to thank the most wonderful nurses on the planet. They made the whole thing bearable.

What a crazy adventure that life leads us on. I am hoping that we won't have that particular adventure ever again.

Steve

We have been part of a small branch for the last 4 and 1/2 years since we moved to WV. The ward that shared our building had continued to grow larger and larger, but the branch stayed tiny and struggled. Yesterday they finally redid the boundaries and made our small branch into a ward. We knew that this was probably coming because a special meeting had been called for both units in our building. On Saturday before this meeting we got a call that we needed to meet the Stake president before the meeting. This led to a day of speculation and joking on our part as to what they wanted to ask. Steve got called to be 2nd counselor in the new Bishopric.

He has been serving for a long time, but has just kept getting better and better.

He is of course nervous, but excited to be able to serve those people he has really come to love. I have watched him grow especially over the last few years. He is a strong, faithful man who will serve with everything he has. I just hope that I can keep up

Seth's Adventure in the Ambulance

The Thursday before Thanksgiving Seth fell off the couch backwards and landed really hard on the back of his head. He had a decent goose egg, but it seemed ok once it was iced. The next morning the goose egg was gone and other than a little complaining that his neck hurt he seemed fine. Over the weekend the complaining continue and he started holding his head funny. On Monday I decided that I should take him in to the doctor to make sure that everything was fine. I took him to the urgent care center in Frederick (about 1/2 hour from home) so that I could set my own schedule. They had an x-ray machine and a CT scan so I figured we could be in and out. After 3 x-rays and 1 CT scan the doctor came out and said that they didn't like what they saw so the EMT's were on their way to transport us to the hospital. (What!!? You mean Motrin and icy hot right?) I called Steve who was working from home and told him what was going on. He decided to wait at home for the other kids to get off the bus and see what the hospital said. When the ambulance got there they put him on the backboard that you have seen a million times on TV and movies. They also put him in a neck brace. Seth didn't think that it was as wonderful as it sounded to ride in an ambulance. When we got to Frederick Memorial Hospital they sent the films that we had with us up to the Neurologist and we waited. After a little while we got word that the Neurologist didn't like the looks of his films either, but he wasn't a pediatric specialist so didn't feel comfortable treating him. They put in a call to Johns Hopkins and DC Children's hospitals. DC Children's accepted us and off we went in another ambulance. It is about an hour from Frederick, but because by now it was rush hour it took us 2 hours to get to DC. Steve in the mean time had arranged for his mom to come and take care of the other kids and a friend to drive him to Frederick to get the car and then follow us to DC. By now this adventure had taken about 8 hours of which neither one of us had eaten anything. They decided that Seth could not eat just in case they had to do further tests. Needless to say the two of us were not very happy campers. Seth did really well with little complaining especially once Steve got to DC with the mini movie player and toys. Seth is a Daddy's boy through and through.

Stay tuned for the rest of the story and a picture of my trooper.