Happy Easter (not so much) April 24, 2011

Happy Easter (not so much)

This Easter started out with Riley waking at 7am. It was a good night. Riley went to bed around 9pm and didn't wake up once. He woke up at 7am very happy, bouncing on the bed as he often does. When I had laid around and kept him in the bed as long as I could, we finally got up. He had some oatmeal and then he was ready to walk. We started doing laps around the house like we typically do and Riley's right foot kept turning on its side. This happened several times and he kept stumbling. Riley had walked barefoot outside the night before and stumped his toes a couple of times, so I thought they might have been bothering him. Finally one of the times he stumbled, he just fell all the way to the ground. When he could not stand back up, I knew something was wrong. I called Joel and told him Riley could not stand up or walk and couldn't move his right leg. Joel asked me to give Riley Adavan, which is what we always pre-treat Riley with if we think he might have a seizure.

By the time Joel got to our house, Riley was no longer able to move his right arm. He was laying in the floor, trying to pull himself across the floor since he couldn't walk. I called his doctor and she said she would meet us at the hospital. While I was changing in to clothes to go to the hospital, Joel watched Riley and it was only a few minutes before I heard him say Riley was having a seizure. We gave Riley diastat to treat the seizure and it worked very quickly. Joel and I were both pretty sure we knew the cause of the seizure. Riley had began a new medication Friday night that we were hoping would help with some of Riley's compulsive behaviors, namely, not wanting to keep any clothes on. We knew a side effect of the medication was that it lowered the threshold for having seizures. Like with everything, if it can happen, it will with Riley.

We left for the hospital and by this time, Riley was already getting some movement back in the right side of his body, although he was leaning to one side. By the time we got to the hospital, Riley was very unhappy. He was crying real tears, which very, very rarely happens and he was moaning in a high pitched voice. Once in a room in emergency, the doctor brought Riley a popsicle and this helped his mood instantly. When Riley's doctor got to the hospital, she was amazed at how well Riley was doing. We all decided there was no need to do any kind of treatment, blood work or tests since we were already sure of the reason for the seizure. After observing him in the emergency room a little while, we were able to take him home. Other than many, many popsicles in the emergency room, the other thing Riley desperately wanted was a bath. He asked over and over and was very upset. Once we got back to the house, Riley finally got his bath and was much happier. Once again, he was ready to walk, but he was very unstable and wobbly. Riley and I did okay for a little while, then Joel gave me a break and took Riley for about an hour and a half this afternoon. He got a little stronger throughout the day, but is still continuing to lean a good bit and is unsteady.

Along with everything else, we are in the process of switching nannies. Alicia, Riley's current nanny, will be moving back to her home town of Paris, TN to go back to school. We have a new nanny, Amanda, who will work a few hours with us this week and will begin full time after she finishes final exams. I will be home with Riley tomorrow and hope it will be a very uneventful day! He has a dentist appointment at noon which should be interesting. He will be having his teeth cleaned under sedation soon, but his dentist needs to see him beforehand. He has no idea what he is in for! It will be a long, rough week getting through this transition, not to mention the possibilities we face with this new medication (not only did it cause a seizure, he has been a little monster for the past few days). We can use all the prayers we can get.
Thank you to Debbie, Brandy and Shannon for your help today!