Two years.

That's how long it's been since my baby has had a seizure.

Two years ago this month, I watched my six month old have a full blown Grand Mal seizure in my arms and there was nothing I could do about it. It was the most scariest thing I've ever witnessed as a mother.

It was like time had stopped and I held him like that for hours, when in reality it was only about a minute or two long.

Tucker had a pretty rough time with medical issues in his first year of life. I spent a lot of time sleeping on hospital couches with him.

When he was six weeks old, he was hospitalized for high fever and had to have a spinal tap. 

A. Spinal. Tap.

And I heard him scream.

At four months, he was diagnosed with Complex Partial Seizures.

He's had to have MRI's, CT Scans, and surgery (for another reason).

You can read all about my poor Tucker man's medical history here, here, and here.

But today marks an awesome new start.

Not one seizure in two years. And I'm hoping never again, but there's always the chance they could come back later in life.

He goes to LeBonheur Children's Hospital for checkups every so often.
We saw his Neurologist yesterday and he said he wants to do a few more tests and if they check out, Tucker should be off his medication by this summer!

We go to Memphis next week for the EEG test.
LeBonheur has been so good to us, and I haven't had to worry about him once when he was there.
But I sure will be one happy Momma if we never have to go back!

Thank you for all the prayers and happy thoughts sent our way throughout those difficult times two years ago (for those who have known about it).
 

10 Day You Challenge & T-Man update

[9] Loves

1. My babies, Kenzie & Tucker. 

2. My crazy, makes-me-laugh-when-I-don’t-want-to, hardheaded, husband. 

3. Pinterest
4. Blogging
5. Crafting
6. My wonderful friends and family 

7. Sweet tea
8. Watching movies
9. And my new found favorite thing….slip-n-sliding!! lol:)

(And note for all fellow slip-n-sliders, it's much more fun when you have an adult size tarp, dishwashing liquid, and alcohol.)

  =

Update on Tucker

I had to go back to LeBonhuer Children's Hospital in Memphis today for Tucker's check up. For all you "new" readers (hi!), Tucker started having seizures for no reason at 4 months old. You can read more about that here, here
or here.

Anyways, today was just a check up. He has not had any seizure activity since January of this year! YAY! But the neurologist wants him to stay seizure free for 2 years before we can take him off his medicine. 

The only thing they did today was up his dosage. They have to keep up-ing his dosages with his weight gain. But he is 

 perfectly healthy now=

Here's some pictures from today. I had to take them on my phone so they aren't very good :(

 When we first started our 2 hour drive (above)

 15 minutes later.... haha

 Such a pretty girl:)

 He was thirsty...obviously.

Hope everyone had a great Monday!
{

Update on Tucker man!

Today has been a super LONG day. Me, Doug, and the kids, left the house at 5AM this morning to head to Memphis for Tucker's MRI. The instructions given to me when we made this appointment were to not give him anything to eat/drink for 8 hours prior to the procedure. We were supposed to be at LeBonhuer at 7:30AM so they can begin the MRI at 8AM.  Well.....we hit Memphis traffic at 7:15, making us a little late and I HATE being late. We finally make it there and go to the Neurology Department. Wrong. We were supposed to be in the Radiology Department. We get back on the elevator, finally making it to where we needed to be at 8AM. They call us back to the "prep" room only to be told that in THEIR computer, we weren't scheduled for the MRI until 10:30..  WHAT??!! My poor baby can't eat anything for ANOTHER 2 hours on top of the 8 he already couldn't eat??!!! Oh. No. They. Didn't.

But, it turns out, one child that was ahead of us for the MRI was too sick to go through with it. So it bumped Tucker up to getting his done quicker than we thought!

BUT....they had to put him to sleep because he is so young and they needed to put an IV in him in case he had a seizure during the MRI. I told the nurse that Tucker has really small veins, like me, and that they always have trouble finding one to use. This stupid nurse tells me to hold his legs down while her and the other nurse find a vein. She looks for like 0.4 seconds on this hand then sticks a needle in it. And was wiggling it around!!!!! Oh I was sick. Literally. The room started spinning. Tucker was screaming bloody murder (and I don't blame him). Doug took over just in time. I almost passed out. Why would you do that to a baby?? After I JUST told you he had small veins!!! So as I sat in the chair beside Kenzie getting my breath back and crying, Doug held Tucker down while they stuck him 3 more times. Yes, three. Once in each food and one on the other hand. Doug finally told them to quit. She said she would let the doctor do it. Thanks. Idiot. 
They took Tucker back to the anesthesiologist to finish his IV. Thankfully, this doctor has a heart and gave him "the gas" before they stuck him again. So he didn't feel that one, thank goodness. I thought I was gonna have to hurt somebody. It only took about 45 minutes to complete the MRI. When they let me come back to the recovery room, Tuck was out of it lol. He was so funny. But he did great!

We finally met with his Neurologist at around 11AM. He looked at the MRI results and all was great! Nothing was abnormal. He diagnosed him with having Idiopathic seizures. They are the most common type and they have no known causes. He is most likely to outgrow them by the age of 2, if not before. He will continue to take his medicine for 2 more years. We go back every 6 months for a checkup to see if we need to up his dosages. That's why he had a "general seizure" a couple of weeks ago; because he had hit a growth spurt and the dosage he was taking just wasn't strong enough for him anymore. So we are gonna keep an eye out for that.

Here is a link explaining more about Idiopathic Seizures     CLICK HERE

I wanted to thank everyone for praying for us! It means so much to me and my family that so many people are thinking of Tucker and us in these times! I'm just so thankful for a healthy baby boy. I know it could be worse, that's why I'm counting my blessings. My sweet little family means everything to me!

Answers and Prayers

Tomorrow morning me, Doug, and the kids will be heading to Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis to do an MRI on Tucker. My poor baby man has to be put to sleep! I'm a little worried. But, I know this will hopefully give us some answers as to why he is having seizures! The worst feeling in the world is NOT knowing. I'm praying to God that everything goes OK tomorrow and to get some answers soon. My favorite quote of all time is "Everything happens for a reason". And I truly believe that. God will never hand me anything He knows I can't overcome! Little Tucker is a blessing to my life and others lives. He was brought to this earth for a reason:)

Oh, by the way. Tucker, who is 7 months old, has learned to say "momma", crawl, pull up, and say "bababa" all in one week!! Next week he will be talking in sentences and walking! He is growing up too fast! My sweet little man:)

Home is where the heart is

I'm SO glad and thankful to be home today! After spending 2 nights in the hospital with little man, my couch has never felt so good:)

My poor man and his hospital bracelet:(

The hubby and I were supposed to do our Valentine's date night tonight but I wanted to stay with the kiddos since I haven't seen Kenzie in 2 days and my Tucker man still isn't fully himself. So instead, he picked up Dominoe's and some Valentine cookies and we caught up on some DVR's of American Idol. And that was just all right with me:) Tucker has to take breathing treatments for a week. The breathing machine they gave us is a firetruck! Its so cool! Kenzie thought it was a toy lol. I'm hoping Tucker gets back to himself soon. It breaks my heart for him to be sick! Poor thing has gone through so much in his short little life. At 6 weeks old, he had to be hospitalized for 3 days for a high fever. He had to have a spinal tap done and two catheters :( Then, when he was 4 months old, he started to have weird "spells", which was diagnosed as Complex Partial Seizures. Last Saturday, he had a General Seizure (like a Grand Mal). So he takes medicine twice a day for the seizures. He will probably have to take the medicine for 2 years. We are taking him to LeBonhuer in Memphis for tests. He gets an MRI done Feb. 22nd. I'm hoping we can finally get some answers as to why he is having the seizures! It scares me not knowing.

When things get tough for me, I kind of just quietly and slowly fall apart. I try to act strong on the outside, but in the inside, I'm breaking down. I tend to think more negatively about things. And I tend to blame myself for unnecessary things; like "well maybe because I did this, I'm being punished through what I love the most in this world: my children." That's why I'm glad I have Doug. He is my shoulder to cry on and to tell me everything will be okay. And when I finally get myself semi-back in order, I remember to pray. I know that should probably be the first thing I do, but for some reason, I just forget. After I pray, I feel better. And then things start to get better. I've lost faith, but I'm finding it again. And I'm praying again.