Aidan's Medical Emergency Update - August 25, 2008
Those of you that do not know Aidan was air ambulanced to Seattle Saturday evening. He was having a bad day with not feeling well and he was not eating or drinking as he should have been. Mike had been with him all day and Aidan was not able to use the bathroom but was needing to. About 3:00 pm Aidan flipped over on to his stomach and Mike could not get him to respond, he was not breathing well, if at all. Tanya called 911 and an ambulance arrived within minutes to rush him to our local hospital. In the ambulance he had a twitching type of seizure. At the hospital it was decided to fly him to Seattle Children's Hospital. About 30 family members and friends said a prayer in the ER room before they all headed home to pack for the journey to Seattle or do their part in keeping the prayers going. Deb and Sid stayed with Mike and Aidan until they got into the ambulance to the airport. Aidan and Mike arrived about 9:30 pm at Childrens Hospital and Aidan was now responsive to his daddy's voice and his vitals were normal.
The 6 car convoy of family arrived about 12:30 am and walked in to the emergency room all needing Aidan Zaugg family badges, the ER was overwhelmed by the presence of so-o-o-o many family members there; we laughed and said when one of us is in need we all respond as we can... We found out that Aidan had 2 seizures and that he would be admitted to the hospital. Seizures are not caused by this type of tumor and they need to find out what is causing the symptoms. After we were reassured Aidan was okay we left Mike, Tanya, and Tallon there to care for Aidan and we all retired to our motel rooms.
Aidan continued to have several more seizures and a MRI was scheduled for possibly Sunday, if they could, but if not, Monday. Sunday, a CAT scan was done and still it was not clear enough to see what was going on, but they said they could not really see any bleed, which was the fear.
Four of the car convoy headed home with great distress on Sunday. They, like us, wanted to have some kind of answers. Aidan continued to look better but continued to have seizures. The Doctor's scheduled his MRI for Monday morning. Monday came and Aidan did have his MRI and the doctors met with Tanya, Mike & Chet to discuss the results...
Aidan had experienced a small bleed in his tumor; he also had some abnormality in the cortex area of his brain, which looked like different spots of discoloration. They believe those spots are the cause of the seizures. After great discussion they are attributing the abnormality to high blood pressure caused by the steroids. They need to get the steroid levels reduced and the damage, in almost every case, is reversible in about 2-4 weeks.
Aidan has bouts of times where he is so funny and others times of pure frustration. He wants to go home, and tells us frequently that is his desire. Aidan was seeing objects colored differently today (daddy was blue and momma was yellow), and that fits in with the seizure symptoms; he had a bath and is getting lots of sleep.
A family struck with this same monster, the Mara Adam's family, stopped by to see Mike and Tanya today: it was so moving to see the two Moms’ just hold each other and shed a tear for each other's families. I had a hard time not falling apart. Mara is such a pretty girl who is fighting with all her might, she was on her way for an infusion and the family had a few minutes to stop by - we are so glad they did, Mike and Tanya need to sometimes, just have another family around to talk with, that has similar experiences.
One of my cousins had already told me that Brian, Mara's dad went to high school with his brother, who died a few years ago with Deshane's Muscular Dystrophy. Brian grew up in my family's home town. Sometimes when we think this world is so big we get knocked down and then have to realize it is really such a small world. That is why if we can all just get together and fight this monster together we might, just might, have a chance of kicking its as_.
Huge Thank-You -- Mike's family has been by the hospital everyday and has been a great help to them. Chet's sister and brother-in-law, and Mike's brother-in-law, were at the hospital waiting for them to give them any support they needed when the ambulance arrived from Sea-Tac with Aidan and Mike on Saturday. Thank-you family and friends for all of your prayers, and your constant support. I also want to thank everyone for helping with the recent fund raisers. I will delve into the details later of those events when I get home. It is getting late and I need some sleep, Chet, Sage and I should be heading home tomorrow unless something drastic happens.
Please keep the prayers up, and God Bless everyone and their families, especially the staff and doctors at Children's Hospital.
Oh, I forgot to mention, I found a site that helps organize helpers, and I plan on initiating that site when I get home and emailing the site's address and more details out.
Please continue your prayers for Aidan's wellbeing,
Aidan's Nanni
Cath
The 6 car convoy of family arrived about 12:30 am and walked in to the emergency room all needing Aidan Zaugg family badges, the ER was overwhelmed by the presence of so-o-o-o many family members there; we laughed and said when one of us is in need we all respond as we can... We found out that Aidan had 2 seizures and that he would be admitted to the hospital. Seizures are not caused by this type of tumor and they need to find out what is causing the symptoms. After we were reassured Aidan was okay we left Mike, Tanya, and Tallon there to care for Aidan and we all retired to our motel rooms.
Aidan continued to have several more seizures and a MRI was scheduled for possibly Sunday, if they could, but if not, Monday. Sunday, a CAT scan was done and still it was not clear enough to see what was going on, but they said they could not really see any bleed, which was the fear.
Four of the car convoy headed home with great distress on Sunday. They, like us, wanted to have some kind of answers. Aidan continued to look better but continued to have seizures. The Doctor's scheduled his MRI for Monday morning. Monday came and Aidan did have his MRI and the doctors met with Tanya, Mike & Chet to discuss the results...
Aidan had experienced a small bleed in his tumor; he also had some abnormality in the cortex area of his brain, which looked like different spots of discoloration. They believe those spots are the cause of the seizures. After great discussion they are attributing the abnormality to high blood pressure caused by the steroids. They need to get the steroid levels reduced and the damage, in almost every case, is reversible in about 2-4 weeks.
Aidan has bouts of times where he is so funny and others times of pure frustration. He wants to go home, and tells us frequently that is his desire. Aidan was seeing objects colored differently today (daddy was blue and momma was yellow), and that fits in with the seizure symptoms; he had a bath and is getting lots of sleep.
A family struck with this same monster, the Mara Adam's family, stopped by to see Mike and Tanya today: it was so moving to see the two Moms’ just hold each other and shed a tear for each other's families. I had a hard time not falling apart. Mara is such a pretty girl who is fighting with all her might, she was on her way for an infusion and the family had a few minutes to stop by - we are so glad they did, Mike and Tanya need to sometimes, just have another family around to talk with, that has similar experiences.
One of my cousins had already told me that Brian, Mara's dad went to high school with his brother, who died a few years ago with Deshane's Muscular Dystrophy. Brian grew up in my family's home town. Sometimes when we think this world is so big we get knocked down and then have to realize it is really such a small world. That is why if we can all just get together and fight this monster together we might, just might, have a chance of kicking its as_.
Huge Thank-You -- Mike's family has been by the hospital everyday and has been a great help to them. Chet's sister and brother-in-law, and Mike's brother-in-law, were at the hospital waiting for them to give them any support they needed when the ambulance arrived from Sea-Tac with Aidan and Mike on Saturday. Thank-you family and friends for all of your prayers, and your constant support. I also want to thank everyone for helping with the recent fund raisers. I will delve into the details later of those events when I get home. It is getting late and I need some sleep, Chet, Sage and I should be heading home tomorrow unless something drastic happens.
Please keep the prayers up, and God Bless everyone and their families, especially the staff and doctors at Children's Hospital.
Oh, I forgot to mention, I found a site that helps organize helpers, and I plan on initiating that site when I get home and emailing the site's address and more details out.
Please continue your prayers for Aidan's wellbeing,
Aidan's Nanni
Cath
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I will keep Aidan and family in my prayers.
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We will lift your family up in prayer.
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praying for Aidan today
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Praying for Aidan today as always. May our loving Father lay his healing hand upon Aidan and grant him the healing miracle we are all praying for.
Still believing along with you,
Tammy
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