I can't even think of a title for this post.

So; Friday, Matthew got a fever. He was working a little bit harder to breathe; so I though for sure he was getting pneumonia. I made a Dr. appointment for the afternoon; and by the time we went to the doctor, he didn't have a fever anymore, but just seemed tired. He's been especially tired for the last few days; but I took it as he was trying to get recuperate from his last hospital stay. The doctor wanted to run some lab work just to make sure he didn't have any bacterial infection brewing and then we went home.

Around 5:30, our pediatrician called and said that his potassium level was dangerously low. She had already called the doctors at Children's in Omaha and they all agreed we should be admitted. I was not happy. I was SOO bummed. We've been doing so good at home. Reluctantly, and dragging my feet, I packed a bag and drove to omaha.

When we arrived, the doctor came to visit us and said that this would hopefully be a short stay. They wouldn't even start an IV. They would just get lab work, and then give him some potassium in his g-button, check his labwork again in the morning; and as long as his potassium was trending upward, we could go home.

Around 2 am; Matthew started spiking a fever.
We could not get it down with tylenol or motrin.
They drew more lab work (which coincidentally showed his potassium to be getting better).

When the doctor rounded this morning, she thought he looked a little stiff, not himself and his color was "off". They checked his oxygen sats' and they were in the 50's. She thought maybe he was having a seizure. His sats returned to normal quickly, and she gave some orders, and left the room.

The nurse was in the room, and I picked him up so they could change his bedding (he had thrown up while the doctor was in the room...oh, and it was bloody..grr) and when I layed him down, he had that same look on his face, and he wasn't breathing.
They plugged his sat monitor in and once again, his sat's were in the 50's. The nurse yelled out help and they got out the ambu bag. The did bag him for about 30 seconds, until he started breathing again. The doctor thinks maybe he is having atypical seizures. If these are seizures, he's been doing it for probably a week. He basically just gets a bit stiffer and his eyes glaze over and roll back a bit.


Our little "overnight stay", is turning into something that isn't so easy.

They loaded him with ativan and phosphentoin (2 seizures meds) and told us that if he is still doing this tomorrow, they are going to arrange transfer to Minnesota to his epilepsy doctors.

I am weary of this. I can only imagine Matthew is too.
Our family needs to be together. UNDER ONE ROOF. IN OUR HOME.


His fever is gone. He is resting fairly well this evening. But he is also on a lot of seizure medications.
In talking on the phone with a friend, I started thinking about his shunt. No one has investigated his shunt. He is sleepier than normal, having spells of not breathing, and having weird events. We need to check his shunt. I asked his nurse and she called the doctor.

As I was typing this, they came in and we went down for a CT scan and a shunt series. We need to cross it off the list.

Is it sad that I am hoping this is a shunt failure??? It would be so much easier than the alternative.