Deja Vous

Seven years ago today we were released from the hospital so that Gage could enjoy his first Christmas at home, he was seven months old. He'd been in the critical care unit and stayed in the hospital for four days fighting for his life. There were times when his fever was 104 degrees and I begged God not to take him from me. "I'll do whatever you want, don't take him." And he got better. It took him a couple of months to recover but he got well. Gage woke up yesterday as any other day, began playing with toys, Brook and I were cleaning out toy boxes...making room for Santa's surprises. He came to me and noted that his head hurt which is fairly common these days since we've had issues with the ear his cochlear implant calls home. Within two minutes, he came back and said "I need it now!" I stopped what I was doing, as I heard the urgency in his voice. He went to his room to rest, which is not what I'm used to seeing with him. Within minutes, instead his headache getting better, it got worse. I mean worse to the point where he was clutching his head, fetal position, opposite ear (not ci side) and said he couldn't move, it hurt that bad. I gave the medicine 45 min to "kick in" and it never helped at all, it continued to get worse. I emailed and called the doctor who had just left for the holidays going out of town (so there was a slight delay in answering my desperate attempts).
Unfortunately, this doctor is the only man on earth who knows Gage's complicated anatomy and his complicated history. I was instructed by his nurse however to take him to the ER immediately. While on the way, he began vomiting, which actually made him feel a little better. I decided he needed to be checked anyway, so we continued. When we almost got there, he started telling me his fingers were numb. I didn't like this at all. The nurse called about that time and told me our Dr. did contact them and he thought we should go to the ER as well. I told her of our new symptoms and more than ever did we need to make our way to the ER, she told me.
When we arrived, I carried him in, he went right back and I began my search for Nurse Nicole....but she wasn't working yesterday, shoot. We got him Tylenol (which did nothing) and later an IV, and did some preliminary checks for meningitis. He had no fever so we seemed to be in the clear there but did need to stay overnight for observation. He continued to say "I can't hold my head up, it hurts..." and they gave him an IV antibiotic. Then, miraculously, he got better. I mean a lot better. We did a CT scan w/contrast and his brain and all looked okay but there was fluid behind the mastiod of that ear. I was very nervous on the ride down there, but after one dose of this particular antibiotic, and he was back to his limited old self (pre sick state, not pre ci problem state). We were released this morning to enjoy our seventh Christmas at home and boy aren't we glad....Santa's coming!!!!!!!!
As soon as the holidays are over, we will be checking in with our ci surgeon and I'm sure the plan will remain the same, remove ci within the next couple of weeks, unless it becomes an emergent situation where it has to come out now. This time it was the opposite side hurting, not the ci side...and the antibiotics are helping...so we are good for a few more days at least. He's playing, he's fighting with his sister (but not much, they missed each other) and hopefully the fluid will drain w/these meds and the drops we are using.
oh, and the finger numbness could be a sign of hyperventilation...said the RN