Triple Shock!: Will's week at St. Louis Children's Hospital

On the evening on August 3^rd, Will and Cabo were walking in the driveway when they walked into each other. Will fell and landed on the back of his head, hard! He immediately got up and began to cry. He had a big goose egg on the back of his head, but otherwise was fine. Around 2 a.m. he woke with a headache that kept getting worse and then he began vomiting. We immediately called the exchange who told us to take him to the ER. He vomited on the way to the ER and again there. They ran a CT on him which came back fine. He was diagnosed with a concussion and we were sent home. That day he was relatively well. He got headaches that would come and go, but that’s normal for a concussion. The following day, Wednesday, we followed up with his pediatrician. He had a terrible headache and was vomiting again. She gave him anti-nausea medicine and had us stay in her office until he was feeling ok enough to go home. He was pretty miserable all day. He would sleep for a while, and then wake up crying from pain. The next morning there was no change and may have been a little worse. When the pediatrician called to check on him she decided he needed to get in to see a neurologist. We went to a neurologist that afternoon at St. Louis Children's Hospital. His pain was getting worse and he was vomiting again. The neurologist immediately sent him down to the ER. We thought that he probably just needed fluids, but in the ER there were doctors scrambling everywhere. His heart rate dropped pretty low and he was in excruciating pain. We were sent for another CT which again was clear. He kept complaining of neck pain getting worse and he wouldn’t move his neck. He then was sent for cervical x-rays to make sure there was no fracture. Again it was clear. We were admitted to the hospital for further observation but he could not receive pain medicine at this time because they did not know what was going on and his heart rate was low. The following morning, several teams of doctors were in trying to find out what was going on. By this time Will was literally looking at the ceiling due to the pain and we couldn’t get him to move it. They finally ordered and MRI which he had to be sedated for. After his MRI he was smiling a bit and actually wanted something to eat. We were giving him some dry cereal when the nurse ran in and said change of plans he cannot eat. We were freaked out since that meant they found something on the MRI. Finally a neurologist came in and they had found a tiny bleed between his skull and brain. Then a little bit later a neurosurgeon came in and said there was bleeding in his cervical spine as well (subarachnoid hemorrhage). We were terrified! This bleeding in his cervical spine is why he was having such excruciating neck pain. Since they now knew what was wrong, the plan of care was to manage his pain until the blood in the head and spine absolves, which could take up to two weeks. He was able to get pain medicine now as well since they concluded that Will just has a low resting heart rate. This type of injury can also cause seizure so he had to be put on an anti-seizure medicine. It was now Saturday and Max and Levi got to come and visit. Will was very happy to see them. When we left however, Levi was very upset. He wouldn’t stop crying and was confused as to what was going on. On Sunday morning Will was trying to play in his bed and hit his eye on the bed rail. He had a little black eye and they had to put padding on his rails. (This child needs a bubble). Will was asking for his brothers again so they came for another visit which cheered him up and made Levi feel a little better. Will was getting better every day. By Monday afternoon he was doing really well, but Tuesday morning was not good. He was vomiting again and did not feel well. At this point that was the only thing keeping us from going home. He took a nap and by Tuesday afternoon he was a completely different kid. He ate his lunch, and kept it down, and he wanted to walk around. We went to the rooftop garden and listened to music and went to play in the play room. He slept great (as great as you can with 24 hour construction work going on outside your room and a roommate moving in a 11 p.m.) and had a great morning. Will had to get a Shunt MRI and if the blood was doing what it supposed to do then we were able to go home. We finally got discharge orders at 7:00 p.m. and after 6 nights in the hospital we were going home! Will was a very happy boy! The car ride home made him feel crappy again, but he had a great night sleep and was so happy to be home. He had to miss his first day of First Grade and in fact cannot go back to school until next Wednesday. He cannot do sports, PE or play at recess for 4 weeks. We can tell when his neck is hurting and have to force him to take it easy. I think as the weeks go by it will be harder and harder to keep him calm! Overall this was an extremely terrifying week and a half. There is nothing worse than seeing your child in so much pain and there is nothing you can do about it. However, many prayers were answered and we know how truly blessed we are that Will be ok.