I know I promised pictures of these two events but sadly, they never happened. So here's the long story.
Friday morning, July 11, I was up early to get ready for the homeschool convention. I'd been looking forward to it for weeks. Hannah was going to attend too for the first time and go to their teen program which was a Film Camp theme this year.
I heard a thump upstairs so I assumed Hannah was up because we needed to curl her hair before we left so I would only need to do touch-ups at the convention before the graduation rehearsal. The thump sounded like a shampoo bottle falling in the tub. I thought nothing of it. Joshua came down saying Hannah fainted. So that thump was actually Hannah fainting & she hit her head on the way down. I should be in the running for great mom of the year award, right? I found her sitting up and awake but dazed looking. She had a little bump on her forehead too. After a few minutes she tried to get up to get dressed & she fainted into my arms and had the same "seizure" like behavior that happened after JBQ Nationals in 2012 on the airplane. She comes around after about 30 seconds and we're all off to the ER.
She did say she fainted after she came into the bathroom to throw up (she never did). So her fall wasn't from a standing position. The bump on her head went away before we got to the ER.
In the ER she had blood drawn, of course. I warned them she faints when having blood drawn but she did ok with that. She had an EKG and CT scan as well. It was after they put in an IV that she said she felt dizzy (while laying down) and she had another seizure like episode. Machines were beeping & nurses/doctors are swarming in. The doctor said it was a seizure & her heart stopped for 6 seconds. He begins searching for a bed at one of 3 hospitals. At this point it's obvious that we're not making it to graduation!
We wait a bit longer for an ambulance to take her to the hospital she was born at. I went with her in the ambulance while Todd took Joshua home to gather stuff for a weekend hospital stay. Things like comfortable clothes,books,Kindle,snacks,etc. Who knows how long this is going to take, right? Ugh! We already had Todd in the hospital for 2 nights in June. Here we go again.
As a side note, Joshua began to feel faint while in the ER. He said things were getting dark,he was pale,clammy, and tired. Just great! Of course none of us had eaten anything because I was the only one up when this started & we just wanted to get her to the ER so we didn't think of eating. He was hungry & maybe a little scared from what he saw at home & in the ER. Todd took him to the cafeteria to get something to eat & drink while we waited for the ambulance. He seemed fine the rest of the day but now I know I have another possible fainter on my hands.
We got to the PICU part of the hospital not because she was critical but that they were best equipped to deal with a child. I think they only had one other kid there anyway so we got a lot of attention.
Because her blood pressure was so low at the ER & that doctor said her heart stopped, a cardiologist was on his way. After Hannah & us repeating the story for the umpteenth time, this doctor didn't seem as concerned about her heart. The cardiologist & pediatric doctor felt that her blood pressure was just REALLY low for those few seconds. The pediatric doctor said if the ER thinks her heart stopped for that long then they should have performed CPR. Makes sense!
Basically she was dehydrated and her body doesn't deal with that well. Understatement, I know.
The cardiologist did want her to take a holter test to monitor her heart for 24 hours. We actually went to have it put on yesterday. It was 3 "thingies" stuck in various areas around her heart that was attached to wires to a pager like box. It looked a lot like the microphone she wears during a show. She was given a "phone" that needed to stay within 15 feet of her. If she felt any kind of symptoms then she needed to record what was happening-like dizzyness,headaches,vomiting,etc. I figured this was a waste of time but since insurance is supposed to cover it we did it. She had to sleep in it & couldn't shower. We just detached it a couple hours ago.
The ambulance workers said she'd be lucky if she was released by the end of the weekend. The doctors & nurses knew we still had a hope that she could get released & make it a little late to the graduation. She'd miss rehearsal but how hard would it be to fill her in? Hannah didn't feel she could pull it off so we didn't try to get downtown. We really didn't need her fainting backstage or anything. She did get released Friday night around 6pm. We were all glad she wasn't spending the night.
So why was our water loving daughter dehydrated? Seems just like that Florida trip,no? Well, the day before she went to Big Surf with friends. She spent 5-6 hours out in the sun but only drank at lunch & on the way home. She was having FAR too much fun to stop & find water. Plus she didn't re-apply sunscreen that well even though I warned her to. So on top of the dehydration that causes her body to react in scary ways, she had a MAJOR sunburn. It was on her arms pretty bad & a little on her back but all over the back of her legs. Terribly red. Awful red. Hard to walk red. Those were some very hard lessons to learn but my guess is she will always remember to drink water when she's out in the heat & re-apply sunscreen like she's visiting the sun.
This sunburn was a pain. Literally, of course but it also made it hard for her to walk or move comfortably. Monday she was going to audition for the play at Luke AFB. She did make it to auditions & got a part that required her to come back for practice after lunch. After that practice though she knew she'd have a tough time all week with choreography. So we did something we don't usually advocate. She dropped out. Very sad. Her sunburn should have been disappearing after 4 days but it was still as pink as ever. I was surprised she wasn't blistering. It actually didn't start to go away till nearly a week after she got it. She's fine now.
We had some disappointments in the events we missed but it was out of our control. We had some good plans but they didn't work out. That's why there's no pictures:)
I did get her graduation certificate mailed to me so I will be posting the pictures of her with that & the poster about her that would have been displayed. I even curled her hair & she wore her fancy dress.
There's nothing exciting coming up for awhile:(
