Thanksgiving 2012

 Our holiday story of 2012 begins a couple days before the holiday.  We were getting ready to spend Thanksgiving with Great-Grandma Alley & Aunt Lynette in Laramie.  Cameron had a tummy bug the day before, but seemed on the tail end of it & ok to travel. We had packed our suitcases that Tuesday night and in the morning watched Kali take Cameron out of the crib on the video cam.  The thing that was different was he let her rock him for quite a while, which he never does.  It was a precious scene, but it got me thinking something was up.  Kali brought him into me and he fell asleep immediately on my chest which really concerned me.  This was definitely not our normal Cameron.  He wouldn't let me put him down as we got going for the day, but finally let me sit him in his high chair. I turned to get breakfast started and out of the corner of my eye saw him starting to shake.  His little fists were balled up next to his face, his eyes rolled back in his head and he was having a seizure!  It was THE LONGEST two minutes of my life.  My years of neuro nursing told my mind there was no reason he should have been seizing, that it was just a seizure, he was in a safe spot and all I needed to do was watch him.  But my mommy heart was PANICKED. Especially at the end of his seizure when his face turned blue and he was taking small gasps for air - I felt completely out of control and shocked.

The kids were all in the kitchen with me, asking "What is he doing?  What's a seizure?"  Trenton launched into an explanation about blood cells changing in the middle of the seizure (?!).  I told the kids to pray and asked Trenton to run and get my phone so I could video it & have proof for the medical world it really was a seizure. The pediatrician advised me to call 911, but he was breathing and I knew he was just post-ictal - an ambulance wouldn't help anything. I called Steve who was able to rush home from work and we dropped off the kids at our dear friends the Walkers on our way to Parker Adventist ER.  I also called Aunt Lynette in tears telling her what was going on.

They ran a number of tests (UA, EKG, blood work) which he was unresponsive to, and gave him some IV fluids.  When the words "breath holding spell" came out of the doctors mouth I whipped out my proof :).  The couldn't find an answer - everything looked normal, so after a few hours they sent us home & instructed us to follow up with a neurologist.  The ER doc said he may have acting so lethargic that morning because he had already had a seizure which breaks my heart thinking of him having one alone in his crib.  But that is speculation - we'll never know. On the way home Aunt Lynette called and said they were bring Thanksgiving to us - that day :). It meant so much to me that they would pack up all the dinner fixings and sweet Grandma (who it is so difficult to travel for) would be willing to make the trek down.  We got home & Cameron slept for hours.  Lynette & Grandma arrived that afternoon & Lynette instructed me to just hold my baby, which I was more that happy and grateful to do.

Lynette and Grandma made it a wonderful holiday.  They played with and took care of the kiddos,

 

Aunt Lynette made her yummy rolls with Kali happy to help,

and made it a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner

 

Kali made the place cards - I thought they were so darn cute:

 

Aunt Lynette was even a gem & took our Christmas card family pictures. Here's a shot with Grandma:

 

If I remember right, Aunt Lynette also cleaned out the pantry and the fridge and left the kitchen spotless - all in about 24 hours :).  She really does the work of 10 women all wrapped into one.And thank goodness, because I was pretty shaken up for a few days after the seizure.

It took us a few months to get into the neurologist and the news was fabulous!  They said Cameron's seizure was caused by a neuropathic stomach virus - the same bug that causes diarrhea caused his seizure.  How crazy is that?! As we were leaving the neurology department at Children's Hospital we saw so many children with sever brain damage/injuries.  I left SO, SO grateful for my healthy children.

I also wanted to include our thankful tree - love this tradition!