Just when you thought everything was o.k.

As a mother you always worry about your children. But, until something really happens you don't realize how it changes everything including the way you worry.
Shayne is my oldest and strongest child. Physically, Emotionally and Spiritually. She has always been a great example to me. I don't know what I'd do without her but I almost found out.

On Friday the 13th Shayne came home after school and asked for some Excedrin Migraine. We have it in our house because twice a year I get a migraine. But with migraines you can see them coming on and usually have a half an hour to prevent them by taking precautions. So she took 2 and went to swim practice. Saturday morning we were in charge of selling PVHS blankets at the Washington City Cotton Days Carnival. I went at 9 and told her to come over after lunch to help out. When she came she still had the headache and laid down on the grass. Then she started telling me that she felt numb from the right side of her head to the tips of her fingers. Later I found out that it continued down to her toes but she didn't tell me that. So, we came home, gave her more Excedrin and she took a nap.

Sunday she woke up feeling fine and went to church from 9-noon. At 1:00 she was grabbing her head and crying because the pain had come on so fast and so strong. Joel sent Josh over to the Scott's house to get Josh Scott to come help give Shayne a blessing. He brought with him a Phenegrin pill(for nausea)and a Lortab (for the pain). We gave them both to Shayne and 2 minutes later she went into her bathroom and threw them all up. She continued to throw up for another hour. As soon as she'd stop we'd try to get her to take another Phenegrin but up it would come. Ice packs are a huge relief when you have a migraine. You should put one on the back of you neck and one on your forehead. They help keep the inflammation down to help open up the veins so there is less pressure. And get into a dark room. We had her laying in her bathroom on a mat on the floor. Her bathroom is so small that the mat couldn't unfold all the way. But her bathroom also has no windows so it was the darkest and quietest place in the house. So, I called Jan who gets migraines on a regular basis and has 2 prescriptions for them and she told us she had a Phenegrin suppository that Shayne could have. 20 minutes after she had completely stopped throwing up and could keep down a Lortab. Once she calmed down she laid there for forever. I told her to keep the ice packs on but she said it makes the pain worse so she didn't want them. That was odd. I checked on her every hour and all she did was roll over to the other side. I was glad it was over. Or so I thought.

Monday she spent on the floor of her bathroom and around 7pm she got up and took a shower. Now there is something you should know about Shayne. She is just like her father when it comes to throwing up. Joel has only thrown up once since we've been married (19 years!) Shayne very rarely throws up so to see her like this was scary.

Tuesday, She was up, back to school and work and had a small headache all day.

Wednesday, she came home after 3rd period because her head hurt again. She threw up again but only once and was able to take a nap to help her out. When I get a migraine I am very sensitive to light but Shayne didn't seem to be. She just crashed upstairs on the couch. But she was supposed to work from 3-6pm and then go to Young Womens and then back to work for an in-service meeting where they were announcing that they were making her a head guard. So at 2:45 I called her boss to tell her what was going on and when Shayne got to work her boss sent her home. She slept until the in-service where she went but didn't really participate.

Thursday - still has a headache but not to bad.

Friday - same as Thursday.

Saturday - great morning. She felt the best she'd felt all week. Went in to work from 11-4 and at 1:00...she asked to be sent home. They knew she had been sick and luckily the head guard was Shayne's favorite and let her go home. She went straight into the bathroom and stayed there. I wasn't home. I was at Walmart and got a frantic call from Josh telling me she was sick again. At that moment I had a really bad feeling. I found her in a pile on the bathroom floor and told her I was taking her to the Dr's office. Well, our Dr's office was closed of course so we drove to the IHC Instacare. Shayne was still in her Lifeguard swim suit and uniform and throwing up in a garbage can we took along with us. When we pulled up there wasn't a single car in the parking lot which I took as a good sign. No waiting. We got in there and Shayne sat down to throw up again as I talked to the nurses and told them that she has a migraine and that she needs a Phenegrin suppository and maybe an IV to rehydrate her and they said that they couldn't help us. WHAT THE?!? They said it was more than they could do and to go to the emergency room that was just across the huge parking lot. So we started to walk out and got through one set of the double doors going out and Shayne started up again. Now mind you that she is just throwing up stomach acid at this point but she was dizzy and I thought she was going to fall. We waited a minute for her to stop and got out the second door and and she stared again. I ran back inside and screamed for a wheelchair. There was no way that I was going to get her into my van and across the parking lot and find a place to park and have her get back out and walk into the ER. So, a lady came running out with one and helped me get Shayne into it. Then she pushed her over to the ER. They were pretty busy but I think the fact that the Instacare brought her over put us high on the priority list and they got us right in.

The nurse came in and talked to us. Shayne didn't really answer. She was in so much pain and still throwing up. So the nurse put and IV in her and gave her some medication for the nausea then left to find a Dr. While we were waiting Shayne would moan from the pain and her pulse would fall. At first I wasn't too concerned. I've worked in a Dr. office. I know when something like that is serious. The machine went off whenever it dropped below 50. I was watching for 30's. The 30's came and off I went to find someone. Next thing I know they were doing an EKG and making sure everything was o.k. Meanwhile she was still throwing up so they gave her a new medication which worked but didn't take away the pain. They couldn't give her pain killers until the Dr. saw her so they went to get a Dr. What seemed like an eternity later the Dr. came in. The hung a bag of morphine and I told him what the last 8 days had been like. He ordered a CT scan of her head and said they'd go from there. 30 minutes later he came back in and said he had good news and bad news that were the same. The CT was fine and showed nothing wrong. He proceeded to tell me that he thought for sure that they'd find something there. A tumor or something to explain how quickly the migraines came on. But nothing. So, he told me the nest thing to do is to rule out meningitis. And to do that she needed a spinal tap. Well, I've helped out on a couple of these in the Dr.'s office before and knew what it entailed. So, he got ready and by this time Shayne was out. Completely out. So far out that she was snoring. I was so happy! I wanted to cry right then because that was the first time in 8 days that I had seen her in peace. So, we turned Shayne on her side and between the nurse pulling her legs up and me curling her head and shoulders down the Dr. was able to do a great lumbar puncture without any problems. The fluid came out nice and clear which is always a good sign and when the Dr. was done he was kinda flustered that it looked so good. He said that we'd just wait for the results before doing anything else. So, while I waited all by myself I texted everyone and called my parents. A couple minutes later Mike and Elaine came but they would only let one of them back. So, Dad came back and I told him what had been going on and then Joel came and they were able to give her a blessing.
A couple minutes later the Dr. came back to tell us that it was indeed MENINGITIS. Back before Shayne was born a friend of ours died of bacterial meningitis and that memory frightened all of us. She was as pale as her sheets but I knew that we were in the right place if anything were to happen. The Dr. said that in order to find out if this was bacterial or viral they would have to culture it and see if anything grew. If it did - bacterial. If not - viral. We were praying for viral. Although the night before Shayne had gone to a birthday party of her friend Daniel and was around 20 of her friends. Viral was better for her but contagious and not good for everyone else.
So, now it was a 48 hour waiting game to see if anything was going to grow. They got her a room upstairs and moved her. It was an isolation room that had it own air system so that clean air was being pumped in and the air in the room was pumped outside where it couldn't hurt anyone. Also, to get into the room you had to enter an little room before and "glove up" which consisted of gloves, a smock and mask. It was scary. Anyone coming in had to "glove up" and it was interesting to see that they didn't care about me. They figured that since I'd been holding her hair back so she could throw up for 8 days then I was already contagious and there was no hope to cover me up now. Which was fine for me. I hung out on the couch for the next three days.

Sunday afternoon Shayne started to get visitors. It really cheered her up and she was starting to get her color back and look decent. But Sunday night she had a small relapse and they hurried and gave her more medication for the nausea and pain.

Monday - With the pain completely gone she was feeling better. At this point she had been given 10 bags of Saline and 4 smaller bags of antibiotics through her IV and finally felt like eating something. Sunday she was very wary of eating anything for fear of it coming back up. She probably lost more than 10 pounds over the course of this 10 day problem.
The High School only had 1 class that morning to hand out yearbooks and then a mass of students landed in her room. It was awesome. She looked better, felt better and was able to carry on a conversation and not get worn out. Later that night Dr. Chamberlain came in to check on her and gave us the green light to go home. The antibiotics would still be working through her body for the next two weeks and there was no fear of spreading it on. We were glad. She was ready for her own bed and so was I. The couch in there was seriously hard. The only problem was that Joel had taken my keys 3 days earlier to move the van out of the Instacare parking lot and take it home. So, not only did I not know where he had left his car but I didn't have any keys to start it with anyway. So, I called JoEllen and she came and got us. Thank goodness for sisters. Wait until you read the next blog about Jan's surgery. Wow! We sisters will do ANYTHING for each other. Anyway, we got home and James had brought balloons and another sign to welcome her home. And Joel and the kids had disinfected the entire house while we were gone. So, it was a warm welcome.

Today - I took Shayne's yearbook over to the school because the only people there were Mr. Candland and the band who were practicing to play for graduation and asked if I could get him and the students to sign her yearbook since she wasn't able to come to school. He said of course and I started to get all choked up. I told Enrique to pick it up when it was done and bring it by and then left. I cried the entire way home. The only other time I was able to allow myself to cry was when I was alone and she was finally out of pain in the ER. I knew she wouldn't wake up to see me and I could let go for a minute. Then today all day every time I thought/think about it I cry. It was a crazy experience and like when Ben got hit by a car, I couldn't help but think how bad it could have been. I am so incredibly thankful for everyone's support and help, Love and prayers. I am truly blessed to have such wonderful people in my life.