Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Praying for 13 day old Rhett

This morning I received this email from Amanda, my sister-in-law, Rhett's mommy:
Last Sunday, I was taking a much needed nap in the afternoon and Jonathan was watching the three kids, when he suddenly came running into the bedroom telling me to get up and come and look at Rhett. I was scared immediately. I ran and picked him up and he was having a seizure. His little body would scream, shake, arch his head, throw his hands back behind his head in a tense way, and he had a foam like drool coming out of his mouth and nose. We were grabbing bags and were going to take him to the ER. It seemed as though the episodes were happening faster so we decided to call 911. My neighbor and Jamee Fouts came over to watch Rhys and Raegan as we left in the ambulance. We were so scared. They took us to Silver Cross in Joliet. By this time he had stopped with the seizure and had not repeated it. Mom, Dad, and Pastor came immediately to be with us. They did a lot of blood work(5 vials full) and they did a brain scan. After calling our doctor, they decided to send us to Children's Memorial in Chicago for further testing and observation. Children's came and picked up Rhett. Before we left they wanted him on I.V.s to start antibiotics immediately and they wanted a spinal tap for fluid. They did not get much fluid from him, he's so little. His veins are still beat up and bruised from his last visit to the hospital and they could not get an I.V. They tried 7 times, with a special light and even tried his head, (which they told me worked well on infants) and they couldn't get anything. They informed us that they might have to put an I.V. straight into his bone if they couldn't get it. We felt sick hearing that. They decided to go without the I.V.s. It was so hard to hear his little scream(he is not normally a screamer) and to watch them lift him into the little air vac baby holder. It was even harder to see the blood all over his bed from all of his sticks and procedures he already went through. I went in the ambulance and Jonathan followed. We got there around 12:30 at night. When we got there they started lots of tests, they did finally get an I.V. in after 2 more sticks and some heat and special lighting. This is one of my main prayer requests
right now. Please pray that his site does not collapse and that they can continue his meds through it. It's so hard to watch them stick him over and over. On Monday they did an EEG to test his brain waves and an MRI. They drew some more blood from him, (more pokes) and we got the news that the spinal was insufficient, they would have to do it again. That just broke us. Sometimes I just wanted to yell, "Enough!", yet we knew it had to be done. They are running every test they possibly can to rule out every possible reason for his seizure and his shaking. They are testing him for everything, including meningitis and mersa. It's nice to know they are being thorough, yet it's a lot to watch Rhett go through. Jonathan and
I were recently talking about how glad we are that our lives are not in our control or the doctors. It doesn't matter how much money, fame, or friends you have, you cannot change what God's plan is for your life. I guess we didn't realize how fast we would have to live this. Rhett is stable right now. He is eating normally. He is getting anibiotics and a viral medicine in case he has a virus. The main thing that is being done to him is lots of tests. Most of them take 48 hours to come back so he will be in the hospital for at least 3-4 days until they all come back. The main thing we need right now is prayer for Rhett.
1. That his I.V. site does not collapse.
2. That the tests will show where the problem is.
3. That it is fixable.We are doing as well as we can, we are extremely tired with this emotional roller coaster and not much sleep.
Connie is here to watch the kids for now and Jonathan is going to go back to work. (He's missed a lot already) I am going to Children's by myself tomorrow. I will try to keep everyone updated the best I can. I figure emails are the best way to tell everyone at once.


Thanks, Amanda
Thank you for the emails and Facebook messages I have received telling me that they are praying for Rhett!

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