Well, for those of you who aren’t on Facebook or aren’t in the family, here is a plethora of important yet woefully non-poetic Becker Family Updates:
Our Sam has been having sleep seizures.
He’s had two that we know of, the first of which sent us on an all-night ER fun run. This was back in February. After that, he had an EEG and then saw a pediatric neurologist, who said he had an 80% chance of NOT having another one but gave us an Rx for Diastat (look it up).
So the second seizure was like a stomach punch because we really thought the first one was a total random fluke and that he wouldn’t have another one.
The second one was Friday night, so first thing Monday morning, I called the neurologist’s office to give a full report. And let me just say that trying to communicate with a specialist at a major children’s hospital is probably about as easy as calling up Barack Obama.
I finally talked to a nurse at the pediatric neurology office today after leaving a message on Monday morning. We played phone tag forever. I called to explain about the most recent seizure and ask where to go from here, and I also expressed concern that there hasn't been any sort of imaging done to look for physical damage caused by Sam’s three recent falls (out of a grocery cart, accidentally dropped by his brother, and tripped on the patio). The nurse was very thorough and wrote down everything I said (I made her read it back to me), and she got it all right and worded it well for the doctor's message. Score!
Today she said that the doctor respects my concern about the head injuries, but does not feel that Sam's seizures are being caused by his falls b/c he did not lose consciousness during any of them. This corroborates what everyone else has said -- his regular pediatrician & the ER doctors.
But the neurologist does feel that Sam needs to have another EEG. This one will last 2 hours and will involve us keeping him up very late the night before and getting him up very early on the day of the test. The hope is that he will fall asleep during the EEG and perhaps even have a seizure. Apparently sleep deprivation is often one of the causes. This whole thing terrifies me on many levels, but I'm just gonna suck it up.
And so mainly my question is: WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE RAINING WHEN ALL OF THIS IS HAPPENING?
Because really, I’d be fine if the sun would just come out.
I'm also sad right now because we've had numerous tragedies at work. In addition to several other deaths of my colleagues’ family members, our beloved custodian, James, died unexpectedly over the weekend. He was morbidly obese, so it wasn't completely surprising, but he has a bunch of relatively young kids and was such a jovial addition to my work week. Nevermind the fact that he's the one who walked in on me pumping last semester. RIP sweet James.
And now, a turn in a better direction.
Whenever I am writing comments on students papers, I always try to say several good things first before getting down to the nitty gritty “this is total crap” euphemisms. But tonight I’m reversing that order and trying to end this post with good news.
John had a great baseball scrimmage last night. He stopped a ball really well while playing short stop. He also got a base hit and made it home. How is it that I'm falling in love with such a boring sport? Sam and I cheer him on like complete idiots, but man is it fun! Never thought I'd say that about baseball.
Moreover, Brian's soccer team won last night! After his game, he went to a USA soccer game downtown, by himself, in the rain. Somehow all I remember is something about parking a mile away and sprinting to the stadium after getting caught in traffic. Whoever wrote that Men from Mars, Women from Venus book needs to get the Nobel prize just for the title.
And finally ... the most uplifting and anti-self-pity story I know ...
My friend Sara, who lost her baby @ 38 weeks gestation and then 4 weeks later discovered her stage 4 colon cancer, got a GREAT report this week. Her cancers have shrunk significantly. She has to continue the chemo, but is thrilled of course, as are her husband and her 3 and 5 year old little boys. If you don’t believe people can turn lemons into lemonade, then her blog will make you a believer: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/sarawalker
OUS,
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