Samantha's Hospital Visit

That's right. Sam's.  Not the 38+ week pregnant mother.  Very confusing for my students when I returned today, let me tell you.

Samantha had her first migraine in seven months on Sunday.  It was the longest stretch we've ever had, but it was a doozy.  We were at Pius and she was running up and down and up and down and up and down the hallway (her favorite thing to do there).  At 6pm I suddenly I heard a scream, walked out and saw her curled up in a ball on the floor.  "I HAVE A MIGRAINE!" she cried. 

Hoping against hope I tried the usual, "Let me see" and "open your eyes" and "stand up please" to see if she was faking it (she's four and likes to experiment sometimes).  Unfortunately this was for real. 

Luckily, I had her meds with me so I was able to give those to her, but she had to wait for me as I locked up all the doors in the building that I had unlocked.  I tried to explain to her that I couldn't carry her, but after her begging, "Just call Daddy so he can carry me, please, please please!" I decided to risk it and carried her to the van with her eyes buried deep into my shoulder.  I had to leave my room a disaster, with all of her crafts on the floor and my papers on my desk, but we made it home before the vomiting started. 

She was able to settle in her dark room and started the usual routine. 

Jeremy took the night shift to wait out the migraine and I went to bed, hoping she'd be better by morning.  It really is a waiting game.  We're suppose to give her zofran, ibuprofen and then hydrate her up with gatorade.  But this time she'd started the migraine a little dehydrated to begin with and so the vomiting wasn't very productive.

At 1am Jeremy woke me up to tell me that he was taking her to the ER because she was vomiting  every 10 minutes and there was blood. 

Now, I'm not very coherent on a regular day when I'm woken-up.  So waking up to hear this I was a complete mess.  Do I go?  Do I stay?  I'm 9 months pregnant.  Not sleeping could cause labor and then there would be TWO of us in the hospital.  My classroom.  Even with a sub they can't have class in the condition it's in. 

I called my mom bawling and she said she'd go to the hospital to be with Samantha and I was to stay home and try and sleep. 

Which lead to me calling my department head bawling and about not coming in and not having anything for the kids the next day and my room being a disaster (this may sound petty, but my teacher friends can understand- right?).  Being the absolute best boss in the world she said they'd take care of it and to keep her updated (my whole department spent the time before school in my room getting things all set up for my sub.  Seriously, I don't deserve them.)

After bawling some more and waking up a little I realized I couldn't NOT be at the hospital.  Good grief, what was I thinking!  So I called my mom sobbing and she said she'd leave to come get me, as I was "in no condition to drive". 

When I got to the hospital my poor baby was hooked up to an IV and sleeping soundly.  Jeremy told me that when it was time for the IV she simply help up her hand, they put it in, she said "It tickles" and then went back to sleep. 

Seriously.

That story makes me chuckle and cry at the same time.  Chuckle because that's my backwards daughter.  Throws a fit if her shoes aren't just right, but says an IV "tickles".
 
Cry because it was mostly likely nothing compared to the migraine pain.  It very well may have "tickled" in comparison.

Anyway around 2:45am they said it looked like she was stabilized and were going to send us home.  I asked that we stay until 3:15, as that would put us 15 minutes past the hour-mark for puking pattern that she usually follows.  She did great, slept the whole way.  They took out her IV, we signed the discharge papers and Sam asked for a drink of water (migraine was still going as she still couldn't open her eyes).

Within a minute she was vomiting again.

So, she got another IV (same routine- still said it tickled) and they decided to take a CAT scan.  I was actually very happy about this- a scan DURING a migraine.  Maybe it would give us some answers.

But it came back normal (that's good, right?)

Around 4:30 they wheeled her up to her room in the Ped's ward.  They got her into her bed and "pop" she opened her eyes.  Jeremy and I just melted with relief, as this is the "switch" that tells us the migraine is gone. 

We had to make sure the doctors orders for more meds were canceled and tried our best to explain that we knew she was ok now (and had to promise the nurse that she did, in fact, have a migraine 2 minutes ago).  Samantha was very charming and so excited about her own room and got to watch TV (the ultimate prize in her book). 

At this point my feet were puffy little pillows and my adrenaline rush was gone so my amazing mom (who was still with us!!!)  took me home while Jeremy stayed at the hospital to sleep while Samantha got her TV fix. 

Fast forward to 11:30am and Sam was back at home.  She had charmed the pants off the nurses and got some serious loot.  She came home with a new baby-doll with three outfits, a new set of PJ's (she's messed her clothes up), a Project Linus blanket and a princess book. 

The rest of the day was spent tag-teaming naps, follow-up with her doctor and game plan for where to go from here as far as her migraines go.  We'll be seeing a pediatric neurologist and a pediatric optamologist.  The latter is because Samantha has some noticeable light sensitivity on a regular day and when she has her migraines she says the pain is all in her eyes and she cannot open them or she starts to vomit immediately.

Aaaaaand that's all for now.  'Cause it's gonna be Wednesday in one hour.