Milwaukee Children's Hospital

This blog started as a way to keep friends and family up to date as we were in the hospital and sort of as a log of Jackson's surgeries (from 2007 and on).

Well we had our first visit to Milwaukee's Children's Hospital this week. Tues morning Jackson woke up early (earlier than usual) and went to the potty and was ready to play. I told him that it was a little too early to play and that he needed to go back to bed. So he did and I laid on his floor until he fell back asleep then went back to my room. Brandon got ready for work and before leaving he peeked in on him, as he normally does and when I left our room I also peeked in. Jackson was sleeping and everything seemed normal. About 7:30 I saw Bubba walk by and shortly after that I heard some noises coming from Jackson's room. I thought he was talking to Bubba or his animals and let it be. After about 5 mins I still heard the noises and went in to say Good Morning. When I walked in noticed he wasn't talking like I had thought but he was convulsing and foaming at the mouth. He was having a seizure.

I quickly picked him up and ran down the hall in search of the phone. I called 911 and explained the situation. When they hung up I called Brandon and talked to him until the police and ambulance arrived. Jackson was still having a seizure at this point. The ambulance made a quick stop (less than 5mins) to wait for the West Bend paramedics who had Adavant (a medication to stop seizures). Jackson had been seizing for about 20 mins at this time. While waiting for the WB paramedics the Jackson ones were able to put in an IV so as soon as the WB crew got there they were able to administer the meds. Once the meds were in him he stopped seizing and was pretty much out of it.

When we arrived at Children's they did the necessary vitals and info exchange and within 20 mins after arriving they took us back to xray and CT. They compared the CT results w/the ones we had on disk from Greenville (back in '07) and noticed that one of the ventricles was slightly enlarged. Brandon arrived shortly after that and we were told he'd be taken into surgery around 1pm. We were given a room and our great friend Crystal came up to be with us and make a few runs for us so that we didn't have to leave the hospital. Around 1pm they took us down to pre-op, where we met with the anesthesiologists and said our "see-ya-laters". Jackson was still pretty out of it which made it easier. Surgery took a little over an hour and then the neurosurgeons came up and said they had found a blockage in the catheter that goes into the ventricle. They replaced that and then checked the rest of the shunt to make sure that was working alright before closing him up.

In the past, when waking up in recovery Jackson had always been really ill (upset, screaming, crying, etc.). This time he didn't do any of that. He was very sleepy and didn't want to wake up but when he finally did he said "Do you know what? James was covered in coal and had to get a washdown". I just laughed. Who else would be talking about trains but Jackson. I knew right then that he was feeling much better.

He was excited to see daddy when we got back to the room and a little sore. They gave him some morphine and then we rested for awhile. Brandon went back to the house that night to get some sleep, check on the house and the cats and to bring a few things back with him the next morning. Jackson slept on and off that night. We watched a lot of Thomas and Mighty Machines (actually the same movies over and over and over again) but whatever was going make him feel better I was up for. He did so well every time the nurses came in to do vitals. He'd show them which arm he wanted them to take his temp under and he'd hold out his leg for the blood pressure. This is something that he once would scream about every time they came in. It was such a relief. By the next morning he was ready to go home and kept asking when we could. Thankfully they had a playroom and that helped to pass the time while waiting for the ok to go. They wanted to be sure he was eating and drinking alright before releasing us and shortly after lunch we had the ok. We got home around 3pm on Wed. He was still really weak and wobbly that night but slept great!

Its been almost two years since the last time we were in the hospital maybe we can make it longer until the next time. At least we're praying that we do.