Bubba Update

Hello family and friends. As many of you know, Bubba (aka Pierce) has given us quite a scare the last few days.

Two weeks ago we noticed he was very lethargic. He would only stay awake long enough to eat and play, usually about 20 - 30 minutes, before going back to sleep for 10 min to 4 hours. I called his Dr. and was told that this was all normal behavior and probably just a growth spurt. We just watched him closely and after 3 days of sleeping, everything went back to normal.

On Wednesday afternoon I noticed him dosing off again. Now, if you know Bubbs, you know he doesn't like to be held and only sleeps in his crib. As soon as he started falling asleep on the floor, mid-crawl, we started to worry. We monitored him all through the night and everything seemed fine. Thursday morning I was playing with him when I saw his face go blank and pale, and his lips start to turn blue. I blew in his face and shook his arms until he inhaled and immediately went to sleep. The same thing happened three or four times before the Dr. returned my call and told us to head to the ER.

When we arrived at the Bryn Mawr ER, he continued to have episode after episode. The nurses couldn't believe how happy and energetic he'd be one minute, and completely out of it and unresponsive the next. They ran many tests and, although all the tests came back negative, said it could be possible seizures. We were then told Bubba needed to be transfered to the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), where more tests could be run.

At about 10:00 last night and ambulance picked us up and took us to CHOP. He had another episode in the ambulance, so the Dr. gave him some anti seizure medication. It made him very groggy and out of it for a few hours.

About 3:00am they moved him up to a room where they hooked him up to an EEG to monitor his brain activity, and some heart monitors. There is also a camera recording him at all times. Because he was given the medication in the ambulance, we have to wait for it to wear off to see if he'll have any more 'seizures'. He will be here another night, get an MRI tomorrow, and hopefully his neurologist and cardiologist can give us a reason for these strange episodes.

(Some of you have asked if this was in relation to his broken leg and cast, and we've been told there is no correlation. He got his cast off yesterday morning.)

We had a camera with us because we were told to record any episodes he might have. Below are some pictures documenting his eventful (and terrifying) couple days.

Johnny holding oxygen on him after he stopped breathing for the 3rd time in the ER

He'd go from happy-hyper, to zonked on an hourly basis

EMT's getting prepped for the ambulance ride.

He was fine as long as he got to hold the EMT's iPhone

Here he is requesting to be called Ahmed, I still don't know why.

Groggy in the CHOP ER after getting anti seizure meds

One of the best in the nation, a good place for us to be

Happy and alert this morning.

I've been calling him Wizard Bubba

He is now peacefully asleep, after eating a cookie and drinking milk.

Thank you for the many phone calls and emails we've received. Your offers of help and show of concern are humbling and we are so grateful. Johnny and I are comforted in knowing Bubba is in good hands, and we know if we are ever in need of anything we are surrounded by wonderful people we can call on for help.

PS Drake is great and is being watched by the wonderful Linn family, where he plays with his best buddies Maddox, Kennedy, and McKinley. I'm not sure he'll ever want to come home again.