Sounds like the perfect day? Kinda. I mean, the day was perfect - "achievement unlocked", as Walter would put it. We had dark clouds before this day, and things wouldn't be the same after.
It was June 12th at around 8:30AM that I received a text from Walter prompting me to hurry home, as Daken had 2 episodes of seizures within the 2 hours that I have been away for work. I was hoping and praying my heart out that they were mere convulsions, perhaps from a bacterial infection gone wrong or from fever. Negative. Panicky, I rushed home. Didn't care if it was double pay shit. We didn't know what to do, as we never thought our little boy would be so sick - scarily sick. We sought the help of Tita Marla, my OB who had Pedia background as well. Our last bet was to consult a pedia she recommended at PCMC, within 20 minutes that day, to have Daken diagnosed.
The ride to PCMC was short, but felt like an eternity. Before the cab made its way through the intersection of BIR Road and Agham, Daken had another episode of seizures. I was carrying him at that time, and couldn't help but cry as he went through 30 seconds of agonizing, uncontrollable jerking. The cab driver offered to go through the red light to rush us to the ER, but we declined. We were armed with a bottle of milk, a diaper, and our faith.
We then met Dr. Cabanilla, who, unfortunately, was a pulmonologist. Daken needed a neurologist, who was unavailable during that time due to the holiday. He advised us to have the little boy admitted for observation until further instructions. Being the good parents, we followed suit. While waiting for a room, Daken had another episode. I had to run to the ER. I had to run with such speed that I felt like my heart was jumping up and down my throat. I had to run because I wanted to hide my tears of fear, my fear that my son would be in such danger.
When we made it to the ER, Daken was given a respirator, and since there were a lot of children then, temporarily shared a bed with a baby girl younger than him by half a year. When the seizures stopped, so did my selfishness. There I was, hoping and praying that my child would be okay, when the little girl beside us was being pumped with air as her dad methodically pumped. She was younger than our son, but more frail. I felt sorry for her parents at the same time, thanked the Lord that in so many ways, Daken was still more blessed.
We waited in the ER in a secluded, "paid" room - where children would be detained for further observation until directives were given. We couldn't wait in our room, because the residents had to see how an episode would occur. In the span of 7 hours, Daken went through 7 episodes. For new parents like us, we just wished that it was us instead. As a mother, I just wished he didn't go through such as every episode shattered my heart.
Daken was loaded with Phenobarbital to stop the seizures. For a child, I didn't like the idea of giving him such medicine; they said it would help, and that we just need to observe if he'd respond to the medicine or not. By 8PM, we were escorted to our room to rest. He woke up the minute the nurses had me sit in the wheelchair, and he didn't have the time of his life.
From June 13th-14th, he was grumpy, short-tempered, and hard to please - the exact opposite of our little boy. Due to nurse-doctor miscommunication, restricting water and food made the situation worse. When his pulmonologist finally met him, she finally gave the go-signal to take his IV out, feed him as needed, and give him all the milk he'd want.
Come July 15th, Daken was back to his old self. After the EEG and the ultrasound, he was cleared of Epilepsy. He had to take medicine as maintenance, as the cause was unclear and for precautionary measures. The residents and the nurses fancied him a lot, as he was the little boy every person would love to have. Here's a picture of him a few hours after waking up:
sweet as ever.♥
Here's another, when he decided that picture-taking can be fun again:
Another inconvenience of not having us leave early was that we had to take Daken's blood sample to UST Hospital to check if their findings were the same as what PCMC had at hand - that they didn't screw up on anything, so to speak. Instead of leaving on the 15th, we were delayed by a day. K. In the span of time that we were in the hospital, we all slept soundly, especially our little boy.
Daken's on maintenance meds to date, but hasn't had a single seizure attack since then. We can't say that it's the medicine that keeps the seizures at bay, we can't assume as the doctors can't even figure out the cause and can only diagnose him with seizure disorder. Walter and I are thankful that it didn't progress into anything serious, we just hope that he kind of "short-circuited" into the big 1. We were discharged last June 16th, and boy, you couldn't imagine how relieved we were to get home! ☺
Daken was baptized at Immaculate Conception Parish-Karangalan. Out of the way, we know; but it was Walter's request since he served for 7 years as a Knight - and it meant the world to him. We pushed the celeb to happen on the 20th - not the most organized event - but we did. A handful of friends made it, and if you saw our little boy then; man, it was like he was never confined at all.
Here's a shot where Tita Eva (Eurik's mom) was giving instructions. Daken's sitting on my lap, surprisingly.
Here's the little boy warming up for the ceremony (and a handful of his antics)
Hi! We're the Pecksons. ☺
Here's a beautiful group shot ♥
