Another Trip to Hospital

It started Thursday morning as I was writing in his school journal.  Thursday's forecast was a high of 99 with high humidity and a heat index of 105.  I wrote to his teacher that I would not be surprised if he got a headache, became lethargic, or even started vomiting.  I had noticed during the summer that very hot days seemed to trigger his migraines.  It was not shocking to get the phone call that he was, in fact, in the office vomiting.  However, I was confused as to what it was because I had also been called earlier that day to go pick up another sick one but he had a headache and sore throat.  Just in case we were dealing with strictly a migraine, I gave him his medication.

I watched Joseph closely that night as he continued the vomiting.  His only other symptom was a horrible headache.  Still not sure if it was a migraine and/or what the other one had I kept him (both of them) home from school yesterday.  So we spent all day Friday vomiting and dealing with the headache in waves.  It was always there but it would be moderate and then severe.  He was able to keep a little food done but as the day went on he started crying and holding his head.  Dark circles were forming under his eyes.  By yesterday evening he was begging us to bring him to the hospital because he thought he was dying.

He vomited on the way there and was screaming to hurry.  When we walked in they put him straight in a room and started tests.  The blood work came back great.  Blood count and electrolytes all looked good.  He had a low grade temperature of 99 probably due to the pain.  He had a sheet over his eyes saying the light hurt his head.  They started an IV and gave him Benadryl and Reglan for the pain.  A CT scan was done and everything looked great.  Diagnosis was a severe migraine. 

I see there were many warnings of what was to come.  I believe that he has auras.  Wednesday I talked to his teacher and she mentioned him rubbing his eyes a lot that day.  Auras in children start up to 24 hours before the migraine hits.  Another warning is extreme hyperactivity.  We were seeing him blurting out and not being able to sit still and stay quiet.  If I can start charting this more closely there are foods and situations he can avoid and medication he can take that will stop the headaches from getting this bad.  These post traumatic headaches are often life long and can get much worse over time. 

Today he is in what they call postdrome.  This is the time of lethargy, dull head pain, exhaustion, and loss of appetite.  God has asked our little boy to suffer so much but I know that all things are in His hands.  As painful as it is, as a mother, to watch I tried to offer it up for all the mothers in this world that watch their little ones suffer from things from which there is no return.  I could not imagine walking in their shoes.