Thank God for the talent at Childrens Memorial Hospital
Strictly Sail – Chicago
Gregg II and I visited Chicago this past weekend to check-out the offerings at Strictly Sail Chicago. We were here for fun. Gregg II has watched as his sisters, his mother, and I, have traveled the globe this past year, and he has not gone anywhere. Taking in the show allowed him and me to do something fun for and with him.
So here we were, traipsing around the sailboat show, and talking to just about anybody who’d listen. A highlight of the day was having our picture taken with Tricia, the 2011 Loop Rock Girl, in a conversation poorly disguised as us just visiting the booth set up by the The Loop 97.9 Radio Station. “By the way, you’re into promoting stuff, and I suck at self-promotion, so I want to give you a copy of my book if…” Once they heard our story of sailing around the world, and of Gregg II having been on the boat with us, all three of the young women at the booth agreed–either to help promote my book, or that I really do suck at self-promotion. I didn’t ask. (Tricia blogged about our visit here!)
We later ran through an equally pathetic round of self-promotion with Dave Fogel, who came to represent 94.7 WLS.
The boat show was great, but we tired of walking back and forth and by 3:30, we were checking into the hotel. Once there, Gregg II longed for a pair of shorts or something to wear in the swimming pool. Apparently, his mother had helped him pack for the weekend, and suggested that winter clothes were stylish for this time of year.
After he informed me of how cool it was just to be in a hotel, and that he didn’t want to go anywhere, I told him we should go for a walk. I asked if he knew what the Magnificent Mile was. He didn’t.
Greggii with a woman too tall for him
We went down to look at the pool and he drooled as he watched all the fun things that fun people were doing there. Then we walked to the Magnificent Mile. We stopped long enough for some photographs of Gregg II standing as tall as the right calf of a magnificent statue of Marilyn Monroe. Welcome to Chicago!
Then we explored some of the shoppes along this major trade route: Starbucks, Eddie Bauer, Niketown, and the Gap. We went into Nordstrom where he purchased a pair of shorts, and returned to the hotel for an afternoon of me reading my book on the pool’s beach while he batted a beach ball around with a couple of families from Sarnia, Ontario–also in Chicago for the Strictly Sail Show.
Then, we went to dinner.
A Change of Plans:
On Sunday morning, we planned on a repeat performance of yesterday’s fun, but while I was dressing and encouraging Gregg II to start doing the same, he kind-of rolled over to the port-side of the bed, and began to rise using one side of the hotel’s easy chair for support. Then he slumped to his knees on the floor supported by one arm on the bed and one arm on the easy chair.
Thoughts of maybe he’s still asleep, or maybe his leg fell asleep, or maybe there’s a good explanation for all of this rang through me as I tried to help him up. A good dose of what the hell? was coursing through my veins.
I sat him on the bed and he looked at me. I was scared when he smiled at me when I saw only the right side of his face smiling. Gregg II was waving his left arm around, saying he felt funny, and he couldn’t feel it and he was becoming increasing anxious. “What’s wrong with me?” he asked, as fear replaced the anxiety.
“I don’t know.”
I called hotel security to summon an ambulance, and the EMTs arrived at our room within five minutes to package Gregg for transport to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. The trip took all of another five minutes.
Gregg II’s symptoms trumped all, and the waiting room was not on the agenda this morning. We were taken immediately to a room where two doctors and one nurse awaited. Gregg II needed an IV installed, and following his IV episodes over the past year during his appendicitis, this was probably the scariest part of the morning for him. Jeff, the nurse, was good at this, and proved it with success on his first attempt. A CT Scan was ordered and administered, and very early in our moments at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, our fears of any of the scariest of outcomes–a stroke–were allayed. Once that fear was removed, they arranged transport in another ambulance to take us to Children’s Memorial Hospital, where we were once again whisked into emergency care.
In the ambulance, I was in the front seat looking at a developing mayhem, Gregg II looked out the back window to see the results. On arrival at Children’s Memorial, we agreed that riding a speeding ambulance in full emergency mode through the busy streets of Chicago was a cool thing to do.
Wired with an electrode ponytail for the EEG
Once a stroke had been ruled out, the doctors began to suggest that a migraine could also have resulted in Gregg II’s symptoms. The doctors hemmed and hawed and Gregg II and I were escorted to a refrigerated room where an MRI was performed. The MRI indicated that a tiny vein on the surface of Gregg II’s brain had clotted. Gregg II was admitted to a room on the third floor, three west I believe, where neurology practiced their arts and sciences on young patients. I indicated my preference to take Gregg II to Helen Devos Childrens Hospital in Grand Rapids, but Dr. Epstein cautioned against it, suggesting instead the overnight observation remain here in the event of another occurrence.Throughout this process, we were kept well informed of what was going on. Apparently, it is quite rare for this tiny-vein thing to occur, and Gregg II was wired for an EEG to be performed overnight, with the results to be scanned in the morning by a team of neurologists.
Gregg II looking like a deer in the headlights during his 'video EEG'
On Monday morning, a barrage of young scientific minds came in teams of two or three to assess Gregg II’s neurological functions. Chicago Children’s Memorial Hospital is under the umbrella of the Northwestern University Medical system, and as such, is a teaching hospital. Gregg II’s condition must have thoroughly intrigued all these young wizards judging from the attention he was receiving.
A hematologist, Dr. Liam, was summoned early in the afternoon to address and assess the clotting that had occurred on that tiny vein. A round of blood work was ordered for this purpose.
Then, late in the afternoon of Gregg II’s second day in the care of Childrens Memorial, both Dr. Liam and Dr. Epstein paid us a visit. Dr. Liam referred Gregg II to a hematologist he had studied with or otherwise knew well, and Dr. Epstein referred Gregg II to a pediatric neurologist that had been trained at Childrens Memorial, both of whom practice now with Helen Devos Childrens Hospital.
The staff at Childrens Memorial Hospital is eager to move into their new building downtown when it is completed.
The outcome: Gregg II is a healthy thirteen-year-old boy in need of some follow-up work in Grand Rapids to continue to rule out possibilities. We have no reason to believe anything scary is on the horizon.
The whole purpose of this post is to thank every individual we encountered at both Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Children’s Memorial Hospital for their care and treatment of Gregg II these past couple of days. And here I am, writing a book about medical tourism in Thailand, and once again being shown how happy I am for the services available to my children here in the United States.
A world of gratitude is also in order for all of the people praying for Gregg II, for me, and for Gregg II’s doctors, nurses, and other professionals, while he was in the hospital. Thank you all…and above all, Thank you God for your presence and for surrounding us with such great talent and great family and friends!
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