A Bad Night

We had decided to spend the latter part of yesterday breaking from the hospital... visited with the Lehmans for the OSU game and then with Lynette and Henry for a pre-race carb meal, Jackson in tow.

Our update calls to the hospital all day had reported nothing out of the ordinary. Then, Scott received a call from the ICU doc at about 8:00pm. Duncan had had another bout of seizure-like symptoms. This time (unlike Tues night when there were some mixed feelings about what Duncan experienced), there was no doubt that it was indeed a series of seizures. His right arm was rhythmic and both his legs were stiff and flexing over and over. The nurse said he probably had 5 altogether.

When we arrived at the hospital (this time flying down I-71), Duncan had just returned from the CT scan. We had to wait a couple more minutes for Dr. Swartz (the ICU doc) to read the results to us. He explained that Duncan had suffered a stroke. There was some damage the scan showed to a portion of the right side of his brain. At this point, noone knows the impact this will have on little Duncan. Of course, our minds are filled with the best and worst-case possibilities. The only refreshing news is that strokes in young babies are unpredictable, because - since the brain is still forming - it has the power to rewire the work that the damaged part normally does to new parts of the brain. In other words, the damage has the potential to be limited. But, clearly, we will not know either way for quite some time.

One cannot help but wonder if his eye problems, that nystagmus issue in particular, are related to a deficiency in the brain. The CT from several weeks back showed nothing, but we never had the opportunity to get the desired MRI done (because his previous stint had been placed too soon prior to).

We stayed overnight in the hospital because he experienced two more seizures in our presence after the inital ones. We weren't about to say, "See ya." They had been experimenting with trying to find the right amount of anti-seizure medication. I think at this point the magic amount has been found, because he was peaceful the remainder of the evening.

Neurology will be making a visit first thing this morning. We'll get more information then, hopefully. Probably more tests. Now we have to crack this case. I feel like we've cracked too many cases.

We are devastated. It just seems like too much right now, quite honestly. Scott and I decided to forego the half marathon this morning. We are too stressed and under-rested. As always, we refuse to underestimate our faith... we realize that God's hand is wrapped around all of us... but, as I'm sure it is easy to understand, we feel that there's not much more we can handle. Please keep Duncan in your prayers. We have not witnessed him awake since Tuesday afternoon and we miss our little guy.