Rowe Bug

We did not have the strep test run this week, because I decided to wait until we go to Jackson to do it. The tests will be more detailed and accurate there, so I felt this was best. Plus, (big praise here) Rowe has not had any symptoms this week except a few outbursts at night. No blinking episodes in the last few days!!! If strep is the cause of all of this, then he would only experience symptoms when the strep is present. Therefore, the strep test will come back positive only when he is having his blinking episodes. I am praying that everything will show in the tests that needs to in order to get a proper diagnosis. Strep may not be the cause of any of this, but I don't want him checked. There was a condensed version of the article that I previously posted from the Clarion Ledger in the Commercial Dispatch on Wednesday of this week.

Rowe's appointment in Columbus for tests is Tuesday, and in Jackson on Wednesday for our first consultation with the neurologist. We are planning to take Rowe to the zoo after his appointment Wednesday morning. He loves animals and has never been to a zoo before, so I think he will absolutely be in awe of it all!!! The only thing that may disappoint him is that there will not be any dinosaur exhibits. Poor kid doesn't know they are extinct, and I don't have the heart to tell him or the patience to explain the word extinct to a two year old.

Potty Training

We are about to start the joyous fun of potty training. He likes to sit on his potty, but that is about it thus far. I had planned on waiting until we had moved into our new house to start the training, but I decided to do it now since I finished school today, and he has been asking about the potty a lot lately.

Any and all suggestions are welcome. I know a lot about the potty training in three days strategy, but I'm not sure if that is what we'll try yet or not.

No Diabetes

Rowe's diabetes test came back negative. Getting him to cooperate with the test was quite the experience. They needed a urine sample, and he was determined not to give one. 12 hours later, success. Praise the Lord the test was negative!!! Thank you again for your prayers.

Please continue to pray that we get some answers very soon. I am going to have him tested for Strep tomorrow. He has had Strep three times in the last year, and after reading a recent article, I think we need to test him again. You should be able to go to http://www.clarionledger.com/ and search for the article "Strep Children" by Shanderia K. Posey to read it. It was very interesting. I'll post Rowe's Strep test results tomorrow.

Latest Update

I took Rowe today to his pediatrician's office for a Diabetes test, but Rowe didn't cooperate very well with the test, so we won't know the results until tomorrow. On a much more positive note, a different doctor in the same office watched one of Rowe's videos and said that he felt that it was a tic and not seizures. Once again, I know that the more people I show his videos to, the more differing opinions I will receive, but hearing him say it was reassuring. I will update tomorrow with the results of the Diabetes test. The only reason I asked to have this test done is because he is thirsty so often, and is waking up much more wet than ever before. Diabetes can be a cause of seizures, so we wanted to go ahead and rule this out if possible. Check back tomorrow for hopefully good news.

Keep up the praying. It is definitely helping. Rowe was back to normal with his sleeping habits this weekend. Praise the Lord!!! Rowe had a blast at a birthday party and then shoe shopping. When he was trying on a pair of shoes, he looked at me and said "Happy!" Too sweet. He loves to go shopping, just like his mommy and daddy.

God bless all. I'll post pics soon.

Mother's Day Weekend

Here are a few pictures from Mother's Day. Lee and Rowe gave me a homemade card and a stylish apron for when I am baking my breads. I will post pics from Market Street Festival later.

We Now Have an Appointment

HOORAY!!! We now have an appointment with the pediatric neurologist in less than two weeks. Praise God! He will have his initial tests run here in Columbus, then take the results with us as a starting point for the neurologist.

Here are a few random pics for you to enjoy.

No Appointment Yet

I have a couple of loaves of bread cooking in the oven, so I have a few minutes to kill before they are ready. I wanted to fill you all in on what has been happening the last couple of days with Rowe.

Rowe went a few days this week without any blinking episodes followed by good nights. Yesterday afternoon around 3:00, he began blinking off and on throughout the night. He started getting really uncomfortable and hard to console around 8:30 last night, so Lee rocked him until about 1:00 a.m. Lee brought him into our room, and put him in the bed with me, then he went and got into the bed in Rowe's room. At 2:15 a.m. it started all over again. Rowe was confused, fussing, and kicking. He would ask for something, and then get mad when I tried to give it to him. I tried rocking him, walking him, singing to him, everything with no luck. Lee woke up and Rowe immediately tried to get to him. Lee began rocking him again for another hour or longer. He brought him back to bed with me, and he slept until about 4:30. I was able to calm him down within 30 minutes this time without waking Lee. Rowe slept then until almost 8:00 this morning. What scares me is that the blinking episodes and his bad nights coexist. They must be related like the doctor believes, but honestly I don't want to believe he is right about these being seizures.

The nurse called me today and said that the specialist in Birmingham can not see him until OCTOBER! Those all caps are me yelling in my head. This is ridiculous. The Jackson specialist can't see him until August. I just hurt for the families who have children waiting to see these doctors with much worse health problems than Rowe. I can't imagine how much harder it is for them. As of right now, we are still keeping our June 1 appointment here in Columbus for his tests to be run. I just hate to have to do them again when we get to the specialist. That means Rowe will have to be sedated twice. Please pray that when the nurse calls me tomorrow about our appointment in Memphis, that it will be very soon. I am learning that the less control I have over all of this, means the more time I will be spending relying on God and prayer.

We both were so tired at work today, but I worry about Lee. He has such a physical job that can be dangerous at times. After work, he went to do a side job. He was running on adrenaline all day. Thankfully, I am giving exams this week and not trying to lecture or teach a new skill. Rowe was napping when I came home from school which meant NAP TIME FOR ME!!! When I woke up, Rowe was with Nana and Pops in the backyard, naked running round and jumping into his little pool. Only Rowe was naked, not Nana or Pops. Our backyard is not fenced in.

Rowe had a good day today, with less blinking. I spent most of the night baking for the week. I baked homemade biscuits, cinnamon rolls, banana nut muffins, and a couple loaves of bread. At this moment, Lee is sound asleep in Rowe's bed while Rowe is lying next to him playing.

The bread is ready now, and it is far past my preferred bed time, so I am about to go to bed relying on the Lord for rest. Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement!

Still Waiting

Rowe had the best night's sleep last night in as long as I can remember. Of course, I am still sleeping with him in case he has anymore episodes. We are all so grateful for the rest. Rowe is doing so much better. He only "blinked" twice last night and it did not last long at all. I still have not given him the medicine his pediatrician prescribed for seizures to take at night. I did not like what all I learned when I researched it. I think we need a diagnosis before I start medicating him. I have spoken with another doctor and nurse about this before making this decision.

The sweet nurse called yesterday to tell us that the specialist in Jackson can not see him until August! Not good news!!!!!!!!!! However, she is trying to get him into Le Bonheur ASAP for his tests. I will post any more updates as they happen.

It was a really stressful day on Thursday while trying to get his appointments set up, and I kept allowing it all overwhelm me. It took me a while that morning to pull myself together and get to work, but I made it through just fine. We have been working everyday, and carrying on with our lives as normal, except depending even more heavily on the Lord and the prayers for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Please continue the prayers! Have a good day! We are about to go eat a huge breakfast and watch Rowe stuff his face! YUMMO. I should post pictures soon. He is as cute as ever!

Rowe Update

I had just begun typing my post when I received a call that another doctor would take a look at Rowe's videos.

We called and bugged the nurse yesterday until we had an appointment set up for Rowe's CT Scan and EEG tests here in Columbus. Unfortunately, they could not run the tests until June 1st. Three weeks is a long time to wait!!! The doctor also prescribed Rowe a seizure medicine to start tonight, but the more research I have done, I am afraid to give it to him. I am going to wait until we have a diagnosis before I medicate him with anything that strong. I know some may disagree, but this is the decision we believe is best for our Rowe Bug.

I nervously loaded Rowe Bug into the car and headed to the doctor's house who agreed to see him tonight. He thought that Rowe was having tics and a sleep disorder. He also said that he could get us in to see the specialist in Memphis pretty quickly to have Rowe's tests run sooner than June 1st.

Of course, I loved hearing him say it didn't look like Rowe was having seizures, and that it looked like a tic, but I knew that each person I probably saw would have a different opinion. So far Rowe's pediatrician and our favorite, most trusted nurse in the world also feels it is a strong possibility that he is having petit mal seizures, and then there is one doctor who thinks it is a tic. There is no way for us to know for sure until the tests are run. I am so thankful for the possibility of Rowe being tested at a sooner date.

I can not dwell on the "what ifs" or I will go nutso(er). I choose to trust that God knows His plans for Rowe, and I will take this time to pray for Rowe and his doctors. I also choose to be thankful that we caught this very early, our favorite nurse gave us the push we needed to take him to see the doctor in the first place, that all his possible problems are manageable, and that we have such supportive and wonderful family and friends. God has given me a peace that passes all understanding, which is not normal for me. I typically worry and am anxious more than I would like to admit, but I am trusting in His sovereign plan. Don't get me wrong, I am not happy go lucky about this. I had my meltdown today in the arms of a precious hug of a friend that has walked through most all of my struggles with me. I am sure there will be more, especially with very little rest.

Please continue to pray for our baby and our family. Many of you helped pray our little dude here, and I know you will continue to pray for him. Thank you again for your prayers.

Prayers for Rowe Please

Normally, I would not post what I am about to share until after we had all of our test results in and we knew exactly what we are dealing with, but I am learning that transparency and prayers are better than living a private life.

Quick Synopsis: We took Rowe to the pediatrician yesterday because he has been having blinking episodes very often, and it effects his whole body. We showed the doctor the videos that Lee had taken of him during some of these episodes, and his first response to us was, "He's having seizures." Well, we feared hearing those words, but I didn't realize how it deep it would hurt to hear them. His nurse is setting up a CT Scan and EEG for Rowe this week. We should have the results within a few days if all goes as planned. We will wait until the results come back to know what we will do next. If he is right, and it is seizures, then we will go to a specialist either in Birmingham, Jackson, or Memphis.
We are so grateful that every possible scenario that the doctor gave us is manageable with medication. We are also glad that Rowe is completely oblivious to these episodes when they happen. He does not even notice them, so that is such a relief to us. The only part of all this that has affected him is he no longer sleeps well. He has screaming, jerking, and crying fits every night that are anywhere from off and on all night to hours at a time straight.

We are praying for specifically for three things, and we ask you to do the same:
1. We pray that these are not seizures, and that it is only a tic. Children usually grow out of tics within months. We are praying for clear test results and wisdom for the doctors. Hopefully the nurse will call us today with his appointments.
2. We are also praying that he will be able to sleep comfortably again. It is tough watching him scream and kick while we try to wake and console him.
3. Please also pray for Lee and I plus the rest of our family as we try to climb our way over this hill. Pray we have the strength, grace, and wisdom to give God the glory no matter what we face.

I will continue to update our blog as we learn more. Just keep checking back here instead of calling us right now with questions. We are still trying to process all of this, and really are not quite up to talking yet. We are broken hearted, but hopeful that our Rowe Bug is perfectly healthy. Thank you for your much needed prayers!