Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Bell's Palsy

On Monday evening, I received a text from Soren's dad that his face had been droopy all day. I immediately left work, rushed to my parents' house and took him to Children's Hospital ER with my mom. The worry (and anger) that came with were immense, but I went into survival parenting mode and did my best to stay calm.

Upon arrival to the ER, Soren was shortly directed back to a room in front of many other children in the ER. This was potentially very serious and I knew it. While in the ER, the resident and MD met with Soren and determined they wanted to take a CT scan to rule out any masses/tumors that may be causing the facial droop. They said that Soren needed to be completely still during the CT scan so we opted for sedation. At first they tried a nasal spray sedative but it did not help and caused Soren to become agitated and confused...it was painful to watch as he screamed at the top of his lungs randomly, yelling "AHH CHOO" (as if sneezing) and slur "What's happening?". Because this didn't work, the next course of action was to do an IV sedative. The first IV they put in blew his vein, so they needed to do the other side which was successful. I carried him to CT and they got him strapped up to the CT scan board then administered the drug...he quickly slumped and I was asked to leave the room for the scan. Upon leaving the CT room, the tears began to flow. My mom held my hand and fought back tears as we listened to him fighting the sedation from the room next door; I told myself his persistence should serve him well in the future. I think he needed a couple more boosts before he was knocked out.

After the CT scan was completed, they rolled him back to the ER room where we waited for him to wake up. He was pretty tired (by this time it was about midnight) so because of this and them wanting the ENT doctor to see him in the morning, they decided to admit him into the short care unit at the hospital for continued observance. We also received the news at this time that his CT scan was all clear (THANK GOD!!!)

His night-shift nurse, Isaac, was absolutely phenomenal and he won Soren's heart over with just a "hello". He had lots of funny animal noises that Soren loved, and carried Soren around with him as he was preparing things for his transfer to the hospital. At one point Soren pushed his hand towards us and told Nana and I to "Go Away." I asked him where we should go and he thought a minute and said "Minneapolis"...it was quite a relief amidst the anxiety. Issac carried him up to his new room as we followed.

Soren decided he was hungry at that time (about 3am) so he munched on some Raisin Bran and Teddy Grahams as the RN administered his first course of steroids. The steroids were thought to reduce potential inflammation pushing on the facial nerve causing the droop. He also was put on an eye ointment every 2 hours since his eye wouldn't fully close ...he hated it, along with the bandaid on his toe that was measuring oxygen levels. About 3:30am, we all went to sleep. Soren and I slept on his bed while Nana slept on the cot; I slept for about 30 mins that night as the nurse continued to come check on his IV and give the eye ointment, and Soren slept about 3 hours.

The next morning, the pediatricians (and tons of residents and medical students) came and met with us. The Pediatrician explained it is largely unknown what caused his condition, but research has shown it likely comes from a virus, residual fluid in his ear from his last ear infection, or Lyme's Disease; she said it was highly unlikely it was Lyme's Disease as it is Winter, and decided to not test him for this. The ENT was supposed to meet with us also that morning, but we received word around lunch time that he was not going to be able to make it and provided recommendations to the team. Soren was sent home yesterday with a twice daily steroid for 5 days and an eye lubricant to use at night. I was told that it could take several months for it to clear up but that they are hopeful of his prognosis since the steroids were started so quickly.

Soren had a routine follow-up appt with his eye doctor today and his eye dr does not feel his wandering eye is related to the Bell's Palsy as his eye turned to the outside today which shows that other nerve is working (Nerves 6 and 7 run through the same tight space). Soren's eye script was increased and we go back in 6 weeks for a re-check. Soren also has a follow-up with the ENT doctor tomorrow, and they will test his hearing and such and will try to determine if it is indeed ear fluid that is causing the palsy. The CT scan did not show fluid, but the nurse explained that it is such a small picture that it may not have gotten it in the scan.

It has been a roller coaster past 48-hours, but I am SO thankful it is not something more serious. Nana was my saving grace through all of this, along with nurse Isaac (and all the other doctors and nurses). The new monkey Nana bought Soren, is being named "Isaac". Soren is in very bright spirits and his facial droop has already significantly improved with just 3 days of steroids. His eyelid is shutting now so we can stop the eye ointment. Here's the pics that I took, documenting our adventure:



After unsuccessful nasal spray sedation attempt

Coming out of CT scan

He's trying to smile in this pic, the palsy is very noticeable on the right side

No comments:

Post a Comment