Happy Halloween! Tonight we will have one house, two sorceresses, and one intersection walk sign that changes color and flashes. Carl’s costume, that he made, is the walk sign and Sarah absolutely loves it. When she first saw it she held it against herself, said she was a walk-sign robot, and said, “beep boop beep boop” as she walked around the house.
Last Sunday we carved pumpkins. The kids needed very little help. We cut the tops to make lids and helped with the innards. Amy can’t stand the feeling of the seeds and other wet entrails. Sarah needed a little help with the carving, but that was it. Amy made a cat silhouette, Sarah made a Peppa The Pig head, I carved around a tracing of my hand, and Carl created a bat.
There have been a couple of moments in the past months when Sarah spontaneously felt sick and then seemingly as quickly felt well again. I have no idea if these are related to her nighttime startle wakings which would relate them in some way to seizures. I do know that on Tuesday morning Sarah’s teacher called to say Sarah wasn’t feeling well. It didn’t seem to be a passing thing so I went to get her, leaving one of my teacher trainees in charge of my class. Sarah said her head, throat, and ears hurt. When we got home I gave her a Gatorade and she rested. She didn’t nap. She had more to drink. She drank quite a notable amount before needing to pee at all, which made me think she had been dehydrated. She also seemed perky and well after having the fluids. Wednesday and Thursday she went to school because she really seemed to be totally herself.
Thursday when Sarah got off the bus she clearly wasn’t feeling well at all. She listed the same complaints as before but also seemed sick to her stomach. I made an appointment to see her doctor within the hour. About 15 minutes after making that appointment, Sarah was covered in extremely itchy hives! I freaked out, wondering if I should take her to the emergency room. Since she was still breathing normally and her lips and tongue weren’t swollen we decided to stay with the original plan of going to her regular doctor. Sarah kept asking me for medicine to help her feel better but I didn’t know what to give her. It had been less than 24 hours since she last had Claritin so I didn’t think I could do that. The nurse and the doctor both asked about/suggested Benadryl. I had to remind them that Sarah can’t have Benadryl because it lowers the seizure threshold. Her doctor then said she could have more Claritin because it was close enough to 24 hours. That started helping within about 10 minutes. We have no idea at all what caused the hives. As far as we can tell she didn’t have anything that she is allergic to. While we were at the doctor’s, I asked Sarah how her head, throat, and ears felt. She said they were fine! She tested negative to strep and covid and her ears looked clear. And yet she had a fever. I assume that may have been related to the hives since her skin was flushed and she didn’t have a fever before the hives erupted. She didn’t have school on Friday anyway, but also seemed totally well again by that morning. This all felt like one big mystery.
The difficult thing with Sarah and sickness is how to evaluate what she says. We know from the past that sometimes she says things hurt because she knows that is how to get out of school or to sleep in our bed. She also sometimes says “no, no thank you” when asked if something hurts because it actually does hurt but she wishes it didn’t. At least, this is my best guess as to how to interpret what she says. Ever since Tuesday Sarah has continued to occasionally say that her head hurts. This is often reported at bedtime, so I think it may be her way of saying she wants to sleep in my bed. But when pushed on the details she maintains that her head really does hurt. Yet she acts totally well! So either she actually is totally well or she has had a headache possibly since Tuesday in which case I freak out a bit. We see her neurologist on Wednesday. I don’t know if he will have any ideas, but I’m glad to have the appointment.
I may have jinxed my hip with my last update in which I said I had found a yoga routine that was really helping. I don’t know if I did the yoga routine too many times or what, but this past week my hip has been extremely unhappy and painful. I’ve been limping and walking as if I had a wooden leg, especially on stairs. I’ve had times when it is slightly better, but it’s still not back to normal. So this is frustrating and not at all what I ever envisioned for my 44 year old self.
I hope you are all well and solve all of your mysteries.
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