Caleb's second hospitalization lasted from Wednesday evening until Monday, when we went and picked him up. We found out that they decreased one of his meds and didn't titrate up his new seizure medication per the schedule his neurologist had given us.
Caleb came home on Monday and Monday night we had some issues over dinner. We knew things weren't going to be all rosey and we'd continue to have difficulty, but I think we were hoping that we'd have a good period for at least a short time. We made it through the issues and Caleb eventually ate.
Tuesday morning Caleb woke up and I took him to school. I received an e-mail from his teacher that he had fallen asleep at school in the morning, but had a good day overall. Shortly after getting home from school, though, we had to leave for a therapy appointment for Cassidy. I brought paper and crayons for Caleb, as I know that is something that he likes to do.
While we were in the waiting room, he dumped the crayons out and refused to pick them up. We were able to tell him to pick them up or lose them and he did it. When we got into the therapists office, things changed.
This is an e-mail about what happened as I updated people involved in Caleb's treatment:
Tonight (Tuesday) Caleb had an issue with non-compliance while we were at our daughter's therapy appointment. We attempted to take away his crayons that he had dumped on the floor and things went spiraling out of control. Things were so bad where he was hitting and kicking, throwing furniture, et cetera. The therapist ended up calling 911 and we had them transport him to the ER. While we were there he was completely non-compliant, but was not acting out. All of a sudden, he stood up on the bed, started screaming at the top of his lungs and lunged at his dad. I screamed and he started to lunge at me. The security guards were outside his door and came running in. His foot got caught on the bed and he fell, but fortunately landed on his butt on the bed. The security guards and one other man came in and held him down. They probably held him down for at least 30 minutes. The doctor came in and we talked to him quickly. The doctor ended up ordering a shot to calm him down.
I don't really know how it happened, but one of the guys holding him down somehow got scratched or bit and his hand was bleeding. We were at St. Joes ER Assessmnet Center until 10 tonight. They screened him for a state hospitalization, but Kaw Valley had no beds available. They couldn't find a bed anywhere else as well. The place that he was at wouldn't readmit him without talking to the treating doctor while he was there first.
I took Caleb home and got home about 11 and gave him another sedative to help us get through the night. We had an 8:30 appointment with his neurologist the next morning so we got up and headed to the doctor.
This is what happened at the appointment on Wednesday:
We arrived at Caleb's doctor's appointment this morning and things went downhill very quickly! He refused to get weighed and then things just got worse. Caleb started raging and kicking and hitting. We restrained him, doctor came in and tried to help. He even started banging his head on the doctor's table. Doctor tired to make some phone calls to see where we could get Caleb admitted.
The decision was finally made to admit Caleb to St. Francis in the PICU, which is where we are at right now. He has had to receive two shots to bring him out of two different rages where it was very difficult for us to hold him down. At one time we had four of us trying to hold him down. He has had an EEG today. Tomorrow he will be receiving an MRI. We hope that these will provide us some answers!
If these episodes are not neurological related, the doctors are going to try and get him readmitted to the psychiatric hospital.
This is Sunday night and we're still at the hospital and still waiting. The original plan was to get him somewhat stable and transfer him to a psychiatric hospital on Monday. However, his doctor pulled him off of the one seizure medication and wants to have another EEG to make sure the current med he is on is preventing his seizures.
We're all getting very stir crazy and ready for whatever the next step is.
The MRI was negative and nothing more was revealed that we could wrap our hands around and say without a doubt that was causing the problems.
I think that's about all for right now! We're still waiting for answers and a bed somewhere that will help Caleb!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Caleb's Second Hospitalization
Well, for the second time in Caleb's seven years, we had to hospitalize him at the psychiatric hospital. It was not any easier the second time around. This time, though, the most difficult part was we had to take him two and a half hours away. While it was at the same hospital Cassidy was at, it was still hard to take him and leave him.
Things have been progressively getting worse with Caleb since the end of July when his psychiatrist tried to take him off of one of his medications. We were going up on his new seizure med still. He had been doing really well and his doctor tries to keep the meds as low as possible. Well, that didn't work. We worked since that time to put him back on the med and, eventually, even increased it slightly and when that didn't work, we increased it again.
Everything came to a head Wednesday night when Caleb didn't like what I was cooking for dinner. He tried to flip over our recliner, break the glass on our three-way fireplace and then proceeded to attack me, not once, but TWICE. I knew then that we had to make that ultimate decision for the safety of everyone.
After a while we were able to get Caleb calm enough to put him in the van, make sure he wasn't going to take off his seatbelt, so that we could go to our local Crisis center. Once we got there he refused to get out of the van initally, but finally complied. I told them that we felt he needed to be hospitalized. She told me we'd have to go to Kansas City. I asked her about Stor-Mont Vail and she said she'd try them first.
They had a bed. So I ran home, grabbed some clothes and was going to hit the road with Caleb and N (our 2 year old foster son). I told them we'd be there about 9:30 p.m. Tony decided to go with me so that we could come home right after we completed the admission paperwork so that I wouldn't have to get a hotel room. I'm very grateful Tony decided to go with me because in spots it was raining so hard we could hardly see, especially if we were passing a semi!)
We have such great friends. One of them called and said she'd keep Cassidy and N for us so we wouldn't have to worry about them during the admissions process. We knew we had other friends and my parents praying for us during our drive. I gave Caleb his medicine before we left the house so he slept pretty much the whole way there.
Once we got the initial paperwork done, we went back to the unit, put Caleb to bed and completed the rest of the intake process. In all, the process took one and a half hours - much quicker than when we admitted Cassidy last November. We were back on the road by 11 and home by 1:30.
Thursday I was an emotional wreck. Every time I talked about what was going on I broke into tears. I called to check on Caleb. They told me that I could talk to him, but I didn't want to upset him. I was better that evening and tried to talk to him, but every time I called he was either in the shower or asleep. So I ended up going one whole day without talking to my baby! That was very hard on me.
When I talked to the doctor she said the only thing that Caleb could tell her was the he had a fight with Mom and Mom brought him there. That broke my heart to hear. I hope he knows that I did it to keep him safe!
The plan right as we know it right now is for Caleb to come home on Monday. They have decided to give him an ADHD medicine to see if they can't eliminate some of the impulsive behaviors he's been exhibiting there. They wanted to see how he reacted to it in the hospital. So far, they have not had any problems with him reacting poorly to the med. So hopefully that continues tonight and he can come home tomorrow! I want my baby home where he belongs!!!!
Well, I think that's pretty much it for right now. I'll try and post more later.
Things have been progressively getting worse with Caleb since the end of July when his psychiatrist tried to take him off of one of his medications. We were going up on his new seizure med still. He had been doing really well and his doctor tries to keep the meds as low as possible. Well, that didn't work. We worked since that time to put him back on the med and, eventually, even increased it slightly and when that didn't work, we increased it again.
Everything came to a head Wednesday night when Caleb didn't like what I was cooking for dinner. He tried to flip over our recliner, break the glass on our three-way fireplace and then proceeded to attack me, not once, but TWICE. I knew then that we had to make that ultimate decision for the safety of everyone.
After a while we were able to get Caleb calm enough to put him in the van, make sure he wasn't going to take off his seatbelt, so that we could go to our local Crisis center. Once we got there he refused to get out of the van initally, but finally complied. I told them that we felt he needed to be hospitalized. She told me we'd have to go to Kansas City. I asked her about Stor-Mont Vail and she said she'd try them first.
They had a bed. So I ran home, grabbed some clothes and was going to hit the road with Caleb and N (our 2 year old foster son). I told them we'd be there about 9:30 p.m. Tony decided to go with me so that we could come home right after we completed the admission paperwork so that I wouldn't have to get a hotel room. I'm very grateful Tony decided to go with me because in spots it was raining so hard we could hardly see, especially if we were passing a semi!)
We have such great friends. One of them called and said she'd keep Cassidy and N for us so we wouldn't have to worry about them during the admissions process. We knew we had other friends and my parents praying for us during our drive. I gave Caleb his medicine before we left the house so he slept pretty much the whole way there.
Once we got the initial paperwork done, we went back to the unit, put Caleb to bed and completed the rest of the intake process. In all, the process took one and a half hours - much quicker than when we admitted Cassidy last November. We were back on the road by 11 and home by 1:30.
Thursday I was an emotional wreck. Every time I talked about what was going on I broke into tears. I called to check on Caleb. They told me that I could talk to him, but I didn't want to upset him. I was better that evening and tried to talk to him, but every time I called he was either in the shower or asleep. So I ended up going one whole day without talking to my baby! That was very hard on me.
When I talked to the doctor she said the only thing that Caleb could tell her was the he had a fight with Mom and Mom brought him there. That broke my heart to hear. I hope he knows that I did it to keep him safe!
The plan right as we know it right now is for Caleb to come home on Monday. They have decided to give him an ADHD medicine to see if they can't eliminate some of the impulsive behaviors he's been exhibiting there. They wanted to see how he reacted to it in the hospital. So far, they have not had any problems with him reacting poorly to the med. So hopefully that continues tonight and he can come home tomorrow! I want my baby home where he belongs!!!!
Well, I think that's pretty much it for right now. I'll try and post more later.
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