A few weeks ago we were just about to leave for church when Haydenn fell off the table. We were not sure if she was on the table or just standing on her chair. But as I was holding her trying to comfort her and figure out where she had hit, she started throwing up. I knew immediately that this was not like an every day fall and I started watching for other signs. Well then as we were trying to clean her up she kind of just laid on my chest and her eyes started rolling back into her head, kind of like when she has a seizure. I thought to myself, throwing up and passing out are both the signs you watch for on a head injury. After talking with a good friend who is a nurse and her falling into a deep sleep that was very hard to wake her out of, we headed to the E.R.
Luckily we got right in and were able to see a Dr. right away. And like I thought he ordered a CT scan, I knew that she was not going to just willingly lay on that bed while they put her through that circle machine and took x-rays of her brain. What 21 month old child would? So the CT tech tried strapping her down, but she was to little for the straps and could just wiggle her way out of them. He said that there was no way he would be able to do it unless they fully sedated her. He then proceeded to tell me that they have to sedate her with the stuff that killed Michael Jackson. I looked at him kind of funny and said "Really? that's not very comforting!" He then told me that basically what they have to do is stop her heart, take the x-rays and then revive her! I think I look at him funny again and said "Are you serious!?" He said that I might want to weigh my options if this is something that I really wanted to do. At this point I was thinking to myself, you have got to be kidding me! If they think that I'm going to basically let them kill my daughter and then try to bring her back, they are CRAZY! I thought there has got to be another way to get the CT scan done!
The nurse came in to let me know that the Dr had ordered the sedation and was starting to prep me for what was going to happen. Of course I started drilling her with questions, and I think she could see I was really nervous and unsure about the whole thing. She said she would give me some time to think about it and to let me call my husband and stuff. So I called Josh, who was on his way to the hospital, to talk to him about it. What we came to realize was that they were asking us to make a medical decision that we didn't feel like we knew enough about. Do I risk not knowing if she has a bleed in her brain and if it is swelling, or do I risk the CT scan and hope that she comes out of it all right? I was so unsure! Isn't that why Dr.'s go to school? So they can make those decisions based on the knowledge and experience they have? I have no idea what would be the best option! Either way could end very tragically!
When the nurse came back in I asked to speak to the Dr. Again I started drilling him with questions. He seemed a little confused by all my questions and just kept answering with, "everything we do comes with risks". I said I know but is this more risky then most things? And it was then that I told him what the CT tech guy told me. Well the Dr. was very angry at the tech. for telling me those things, it turns out that nothing he said to me was true! After the Dr. realized where my fears where coming from he assured me that yes everything does come with risks and yes fully sedating an infant is very risky but not getting the scan done and just watching and waiting to see if she had any other side effects would be even more risky. He said if she started to show more signs of a head bleed or swelling of the brain that it would most likely be to late. He said you can't mess around with this, and he was encouraging me to let them fully sedate her so they could get the CT scan done. He said if it were his child he would have sedated first thing.
Well that was all I needed to hear. I just wanted to know that the Dr. was confident in doing the sedation and that is what he is recommending. Well by this time Haydenn was so tired that I thought for sure it would only take a small dose to knock her out. So they started the IV and after she settled down from that they gave her the dose of sedation. Luckily the Dr. was very thorough about warning me about what to expect. And just like he said she stared to foam at the mouth and her eyes started to roll back into her head and she just became life less. It was so scary to watch and I was so glad that he had given me a heads up! Well sure enough she was good and out in no time. The Dr. decides to come with us to the CT scan just to make sure everything goes well and he also wants me to point out to him the lunatic teck that told me all that garbage. As you can image Haydenn is hooked up to all sorts of machines. Machines to check her heart rate, her oxygen levels, and they are taking her blood pressure like every 2 min. just to make sure everything stays on track.
I'm just getting ready to lay her on the bed and she starts to throw, what looked like a slow motion fit. She was crying and kicking her legs and throwing her arms but all in slow motion. My heart started to race. As I was still holding her, she starts to hold her breath (for those of you who don't know Haydenn has a condition where she holds her breath till she has a seizure). All the machines start to beep and the blood pressure cuff is going off like crazy! The nurse yells for oxygen and everybody all the sudden is running all around me and Haydenn. The nurse tells me that they can't tell if she went into a seizure because of the sedation. I was so scared, after all we had been through, all I kept thinking was I made the wrong decision! The nurse got right in Haydenns face and said "little girl we need you to take a big breath RIGHT NOW! and then all of the sudden everyone goes, oh good, good job Haydenn! And I could feel the tension in the room leave! but I was thinking, What? I didn't see her take a big breath, in fact I couldn't see her breathing at all. She was still so sedated! But they assured me that they were watching the monitors and they could see her breathing again!
They ended up having to give her 1 and a half more doses of the sedation. She just kept wiggling and moving just enough that they couldn't get the scan. With every dose he would give her my heart would race hoping she would be ok! The Doc. kept telling me, "Wow she is a fighter!" Finally after the last dose she seemed to be good and out. Just as they started the scan she started to cry, again in slow slow motion. But luckily she was so sedated that she could only move her lips and nothing else, so they were able to get a good scan!
After we got back to the room and I was holding her, I just wanted to bawl! The nurses stayed with us the whole time to make sure Haydenns vitals stayed good. At one point the Dr. pocked his head in and told us to expect to wait a long time before she came out of it. He said "I gave her enough stuff to sedate a rhino!" I wasn't sure I liked that comment, but just tried to focus on Haydenn! It wasn't 2 min. later that Haydenn started to come out of the sedation. The Dr. had told us that for kids it is like being in a nightmare and to expect a lot of crying and for her to be very confused and even unsure of us as she is coming out of it. Well as she is coming out of it she is happy as a clam, and still in slow motion is asking for Ariel, and Balloo (her 2 new obsessions)! We were laughing so hard! She was trying so hard to be funny and make everyone laugh. She couldn't even hold her head up and was so floppy! The Dr. came back in and said "Wow, this girl continues to amaze me!" and he also said that the CT scan looked good she just had a good concussion. We would need to wait just a little longer to make sure she was still coming out of the sedation ok and then we were free to go home! I was so relieved! As we were leaving she was still a little bit out of it. They told us not to let her down to walk around on her own for awhile and just to keep a close eye on her. When we got to my parents to pick up the other kids, everyone got a good laugh as she was still trying to be so funny and was still a little loopy! I'm so glad that everything that could have been really bad turned out to be ok. And that my baby girl is going to be just fine!!
I'm sad this is the only picture we got and it is with Josh's phone so its not that great. But you can see how the had to splint her arm. She had an I.V. going in one way and the medicine going in the other. You can also see her blood pressure cuff. It was kind of cute cause it was so small, but man did she hate that thing! It would go off every other minute. This was taken after the whole ordeal with the scan, you can see she is coming out of the sedation, but her mouth and stuff is still all droopy. Poor girl! I hope we never have to go through this again, but with 4 kids (and Tucker counts for like 3 just by himself!) I have a feeling this is not our last trip to the E.R.
