Then Sunday Nov 10th happened. It all started with an hour long status seizure and a trip to the hospital via ambulance. What can I say Jordan likes lights and sirens I guess. After an hour long seizure it finally stopped. Jordan was admitted to hospital because he was having complications from the seizure. On Monday he had another 4 grand mal seizures.Once settled Monday night he was agitated and didn't sleep much. Not sleeping is very rare for Jordan after seizures, usually he sleeps for days because he is exhausted.
Tuesday morning we noticed he seemed to be in pain and uncomfortable. We spoke to the nurses and doctors about it and they started to investigate the possible causes of pain. We all thought it was abdominal pain because of his reactions, pulling his legs to his chest, pulling his own hair and rubbing his belly and chest. He had visitors and everyone saw that he was in pain but we couldn't figure out where it was coming from. The nurses were giving acetaminophen and ibuprofen to try and ease the discomfort but nothing seemed to help. Wednesday morning the doctors said he had been 24hrs seizure free so they were going to send him home since the abdominal scans showed nothing out of the ordinary for Jordan. They thought maybe his muscles were sore from the seizures.
Jay and I decided to give Jordy a sponge bath and get him up out of bed into his wheelchair before they discharged us to see if he was more comfortable sitting up. As Jay transitioned him into the wheelchair we noticed the pain got worse.....much worse. He wouldn't let us touch his legs at all. We called the nurse and doctor in and they sent him for a series of leg x-rays. Later wed afternoon we found out Jordan had a broken femur. After much thought and investigation we all came to the conclusion it must have happened Monday night during the one seizure where we noticed his leg was caught in the bedrail however because he was in seizure we couldn't move him. The break was bad and in the wider part of his femur. He would have needed surgery but because he doesn't weight bare and doesn't walk they didn't want to risk surgery with his other medical issues going on. About 6pm the Ortho surgeons came into Jordan's room gave him 2 shots of IV morphine and began to set his leg and then cast it. I have never seen my son in such pain before followed by silly hallucinations and lots of giggles. Nothing breaks a mother's heart like knowing you have been moving your son around in his hospital bed for 2 days with a broken leg. Jordan is now cast from hip to toes and on 24-7 pain meds. They also increased his seizure meds.
We came home on thursday from the hospital to face a whole list of new challenges. How to change a diaper without hurting him, how to sponge bath him for anywhere from 6 to 16 weeks and not leave him feeling gross and dirty, how to transition him without moving his leg. How to exercise the rest of his body and other leg so he doesn't get stiff. How to keep myself sane with little to no sleep and more stress than I care to talk about.
We are now looking into seizure alarm watches that sound an alarm during the night if he is in seizure and bumper rails for his bed that are also portable and we can take them to the hospital when he is admitted so this doesn't happen again.
As always our friends and family have been very supportive and I don't know how we would do it without them. Coffee from friends while we are at home or in the hospital, friends bringing me dinner to the hospital because I haven't been home in 48 hours, offers to help Jay with the other kids so he can come to the hospital when needed....all things we very much appreciate and would never take for granted. In the last week we have had, rain, snow, hail, sleet, wind and a very sunny warm day. Just goes to show you never know what is coming in weather or life!!
