Jacob's 2nd trip to the ER... (Updated)

Jacob likes to make a tradition out of things, if you recall from his January bruise post. So to follow suit, Jacob decided that it's been a year since we last visited the ER, it's time to go back. Shortly after dinner, Aaron told Jacob to get his shoes so that they could go outside and put away the toys and Jacob stumbled the short distance over there and couldn't get back up. Aaron thought he was being silly and tried to help him stand and he just kept tumbling over. Aaron looked at me and said "what is going on?" so I gave Jacob a minute and then asked him to try to skip (something he loves doing and showing off). So Jacob tries to take off and crashes into the bakers rack. We pick him up and give him another minute thinking something just has him dizzy and then tried to get him to walk in between us and he couldn't even stand. I had Aaron take him outside while I put a call into our pediatrician and got a diaper bag ready with p.j.'s. It took about 15 minutes for the ped to call us back and he recommended we go to the ER. I went outside to find that Jacob had improved, but still could only take 4 steps (at best) before losing his balance and falling. So we headed straight to the ER and Jacob fell asleep on the way. We let him continue sleeping until we were checked into a room and the doctor came in and then we tested his motor skills again and by this time (about an hour later), he was completely back to normal. I was so relieved! The doctor ordered blood and urine labs and a cat scan and thankfully everything came back normal. I'm annoyed that we don't have an answer as to why this happened, but I am so thankful that he is himself again. It was so sad and scary to see him like that. The testing at the ER went better than I expected, I think the worst part for him was having his ears looked at! He has great veins for the blood work and I think he was mostly bothered with being held down as opposed to the needle prick. The cat scan was interesting. I thought there would be no way we could get him still, but miraculously, he laid still. Although it really freaked him out when the thing started moving. As for the urine sample? He thought that was awesome. I fully expect to find him peeing into various cups and bowls around the house now.

Interesting night to say the least.

Update: I'm thinking mushrooms. On our way to the hospital Aaron mentioned that Jacob pointed to some mushrooms in the yard and said "marshmallow". Aaron told him that they were not marshmallows, but yucky mushrooms and Jacob walked away and Aaron continued doing his thing. So possibly Jacob went back and checked them out after that when Aaron wasn't paying attention. I blew it off in the car thinking it had been too long since then, but while laying in bed last night, I realized it had only been about 2hrs - so not too long. By the time we got to the hospital, we both completely forgot to mention it. We were too concerned with trying to accurate explain how he was acting before since he was acting normal at that point. My only thought though is if it were mushrooms, wouldn't that have shown up in his blood work? I had Aaron go pick some for me this morning and I searched the net and they certainly resemble a mushroom called "the destroying angel" to me. Because we have so many, Aaron couldn't tell if one had been picked/missing, etc. The 'net also says that one of the symptoms is loss of equilibrium and that "some people describe the effects of eating Amanita muscaria as similar to being intoxicated by alcohol" which are the exact words Aaron used to describe Jacob's behavior in the ER. I guess the only thing that makes me question mushrooms would be his quick recovery, the fact that he didn't have any other symptoms, and shouldn't it have shown up in his blood work?

The mystery continues...


Julie - Lisa is due October 14th! Or maybe it's the 16th. Mid-October, anyway! (Lisa, chime in if you read this in the comments!) But, she would be VERY happy to have a September baby!!!!