Sunday, October 26, 2014.
The kids woke up at about 7 am and were getting along fine, so I let them play while I stayed in bed. About 8 am we all went downstairs to get breakfast. Lillie asked me to make her some oatmeal, but then told me that she didn't feel very good so went to lay down on the couch to go back to sleep. This is what she usually does when she doesn't feel good, so I figured she was catching something that was going around the neighborhood. So I got the boys fed and jumped in the shower. About 9:30 am I came down to check on Lillie and noticed that she was sweating profusely. I wondered if maybe she had had a fever and it was breaking, but noticed as I wiped it off, it just kept bubbling to the surface. I started to worry about her and just sat on the couch to say a prayer that I would be able to know what to do to help her. Around 10am I was sitting next to her on the couch with the boys when she just started jerking and shaking, but not continuously. I immediately went to her face and snapped my fingers and wanted her to talk to me. She opened her eyes and acknowledged me but the jerking continued. I noticed her eyes starting to dilate so I started speaking her name loudly and picked her up into my arms. Her fists were clenched and she was jerking and started screaming. I asked her if she was scared and she said "yes! I'm scared!" I didn't know what to do, so I immediately called Darrell, hoping his Bishopric meeting was out and he answered quickly. I told him that I thought Lillie was having a seizure and he said he was on his way home. I then called 911 and told them I didn't know if my daughter was having a seizure, but they wouldn't give medical advice over the phone, but alerted the paramedics out here. Within a couple of minutes Lillie was still jerking but not quite so badly and Darrell and one of his counselors, Joey Kent walked in the door. They immediately administered consecrated oil and gave her a blessing. In the blessing she was told her body and mind would heal completely and that the doctors that would work with her would know what to do to help her. Within a minute of the blessing, a police officer showed up and was soon followed by the ambulance. By the time they got here Lillie had stopped shaking completely and would acknowledge us, but her speech was slow and she wouldn't really talk. The paramedics immediately checked her blood sugar, which was an extreme low of 34. I told Darrell to get her juice and we started having her drink it while they continued to do vitals and other check ups on Lillie. They told us they were shocked she was conscious because her sugar levels were so low, so we were very blessed. They checked her blood sugar again 15 minutes later and she was up to a 48. She then asked for oatmeal and started talking to the paramedics. When her blood sugars got up to 54, they felt comfortable leaving us, but recommended we take her to the ER at Primary Children's so they could test and find out what was wrong - specifically checking to see if she had diabetes.
Bro. Kent then came back to check up on us and he and Darrell gave me a blessing to help me. It was one of the most special beautiful blessings and really helped give me strength. Darrell then suggested we leave for the hospital soon so we could get things figured out. Our neighbors Emma and Kris read Lillie a book while I got the boys off to a neighbor and got a few things ready for us to go up to SLC. Darrell got things set up for his things to be taken care of at church and then we headed up.
When we got to the ER at Primary's, the doctor tried to help us figure out why her blood sugars had dropped so low, but we were all stumped. She had eaten dinner the night before, she hadn't gotten into any medication she wasn't supposed to, and nothing out of the ordinary had happened. They got an IV put in her arm and drew blood to send it off to see if there were any toxins or anything and got a urine sample. Lillie was nervous, but at the same time, very intrigued by all of the medical aspects. She loved watching the IV and didn't even flinch when they put it in her. We mentioned to the dr's that she's on a medication - Propranolol- to help with PVC's she has in her heart and a heart murmur. They took that into account. After waiting, her blood work all came back clean (No diabetes!), which stumped them even more. After talking to her cardiologists, they said that medication shouldn't cause hypoglycemia, but the pharmacist said it could, so they had to again talk to the cardiologists to try to pin point it to that.
Even with no answers, they wanted to keep Lillie overnight to monitor her blood sugars to make sure it didn't happen again. One of the only times she cried was when they told her she had to sleep over. However, once we got admitted into a room, and we asked my sister to bring the boys up to visit, she started to see this as more of an adventure. :)
Before we left the ER, they drew more blood to run a metabolic panel so they could see if she has any metabolic disorders, but knew those test results would take a couple of days.
The boys enjoyed coming to visit, and Lillie started to feel like a superstar. She got macaroni and cheese for dinner, they gave her a blanket for being brave for her IV, and she got to talk to her grandmas on the phone and tell them all about it! I stayed the night with her at the hospital, and she didn't want to go to sleep from all the excitement. She wanted to turn off the lights and watch a movie, she kept saying funny things like "This hospital bracelet makes me feel like a mom coming to have a baby!" and " I want to be a nurse when I grow up!" She wouldn't let the nurses do any blood draws or flush out her IV without letting her watch the whole process.
The night was very uneventful, and they just had to do Lillie's vitals and test her blood sugar levels every 4 hours, all of which were normal and good. In the morning the doctor came in to talk to us and said metabolics didn't feel like we needed to go into their clinic, and they were chalking up the incident to being a rare side effect of her medication. They let us go home by 10am. They did diagnose her with Hypoglycemia, which is basically what they call it when there is no found explanation for a drop in blood sugars. Her treatment plan is to give her snacks every few hours and make sure she has a high protein snack before bed each night. I can definitely handle that.
Now to Wednesday - I got a call with all of her metabolic testing results and the RN was awesome to go through and tell me every test that they did. All of her tests came back normal and she does not have any metabolic disorders. The nurse said since it's an isolated incident, she doesn't need to come in, but if it ever does happen again then they will have us schedule an appointment up there.
After I got off of the phone, I couldn't help but think how blessed we are. Darrell also mentioned in our family prayer gratitude that Lillie had been healed. As I think about it, even though they think it may have been her medication to cause this, I know the Priesthood Power healed my daughter. There is no doubt in my mind that that is what happened. Also, with Darrell being bishop now, it was announced in church on Sunday that we had gone to Primary's with Lillie and I know SO many prayers and thoughts were offered in her behalf. I felt the love and strength that comes from the love and unity of friends, neighbors, and family. I still cry tears of gratitude that we have been so blessed, and I hope we can be a part of helping other miracles
2 comments:
Wow! What an incredible story. So glad you're sweet girl is ok. And um, Darrell's the bishop? That makes you the bishop's wife!! You're amazing.
Even though we know the power of the Priesthood is real, it still amazes me at how miraculous and fast it is. That it surpasses all scientific and human capabilities. Thanks goodness she's ok!!
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