One Day More!

The first full week back to work after vacation, proved to be a busy one. By the time Thursday came, the daily coffee and espresso consumption was barely managing my fatigue. The previous weekend was difficult, with Greyson having a long weekend of crying, headbanging and aggression. Because of the stressful weekend, Monday morning was greeted as my relief.

Wednesday, Derek and I brought G to CHI St. Joseph’s for a follow up appointment with his child psychiatrist. After a year of debating and consulting with the neurologist, pediatrician and psychiatrist, we decided we would try a very low dose of Risperdal for Greyson’s behaviors and irritability. After the appointment, I was able to discuss our plans moving forward with a family social worker, and was able to get some help from her with organizing possible respite care. I left the CHI office feeling encouraged and optimistic that the medicine may help Greyson, and that the social worker may help us get resources together to help the entire family.

Flash forward to Thursday, the busiest day of the week (at the office AND at home), which began eerily calm. My wonderful co-worker, Lara and I opened the office as we typically do Tuesday thru Friday at 7:30 am. We both discussed looking forward to the weekend and only having “one more day” until the weekend. I explained to her the song from the musical Les Miserables, “One day More”, and how Derek and I usually sing/reference it on Thursday evenings or on Friday mornings to encourage us to finish the week. Naturally, I had to play it for Lara and sing along to get us to Friday.

One Day More- Les Mis

Roslynn had he first tap/ballet class on Thursday afternoon, so I picked up the kids, ran home, for her ready for dance and high-tailed it down to Lampeter to the dance studio. The class does not permit parents to be in the studio until observation day, so I was able to take some time and catch up on emails and other stuff that needed addressing after vacation.

(Roslynn practicing her tap moves)

By the time we got home, our dinner was almost cold and it was nearly 7:00 pm. We had picked up Greyson’s Risperdal on Thursday, so he was given his first dose around 7:00, with the rest of his evening medications. G fell asleep about an hour or so later and was peacefully asleep in his crib until 9:00, when Duke began to pace and bark, as if he needed to go out. When he continued his restlessness after coming back inside, I heard coughing coming from the nursery upstairs. I checked our “Nanny Cam” that is set up in G’s room, and saw that he was convulsing in his crib. I began to run upstairs and was immediately followed by Duke and Derek. Upon entering the nursery, Greyson was having trouble breathing. We turned him to his side, and he continued to gasp for air. We brought him downstairs to the living room and made some calls, which resulted in us being advised us to contact 911 and have Greyson taken to the Emergency Department.

The ride over to the ER in the ambulance confirmed that G was having trouble getting air into his lungs, possibly due to them not expanding. I thought, could this be an allergic reaction to the Risperdal? That suspicion was ruled-out once arriving at the ER and G’s bloodwork showed an elevated WBC count. He also was tested for an array of respiratory viruses, which came back as positive for the virus that causes croup. Until his difficulty breathing and his coughing in the crib from the seizure, Greyson showed zero signs of being sick. The hospital provided G with breathing treatments and an IV steroid to open up his lungs. The seizure may have been caused by his lack of oxygen or that the Risperdal caused it (one side effect is that the medicine causes an increase in the seizure threshold, typically resulting in some breakthrough seizures). Finally, G was discharged around 2:30 am and everyone was more than ready to get to bed.

The alarm clock went off way too soon, at 4:30 am. I decided to stay in bed another hour and chose sleep over straight hair and makeup for my work day. I managed to get to the office and survived the entire day, though I did have to make and take several calls regarding increasing G’s seizure meds, scheduling follow up appointments, etc. Once at home, dinner and bed couldn’t come soon enough. The Martin family settled in and had an early bedtime.

As I write this post (8-9 am on Saturday morning), Greyson is still asleep in his crib. He has never slept past 6:30 am on a Saturday morning and certainly never needs woken up to eat/start the day. Fingers crossed for a calm, low-key weekend and no further seizures or emergency room trips.