ER Visit

Since Claire has been at home, we have celebrated many "firsts" - her first bath, her first walk in the neighborhood, and her first play date. Last night, we experienced another "first," although it was no cause for celebration - Claire's first visit to the ER.

It all started 10 days ago, when Claire's fontanels sunk very low. Scarily low. We called our pediatric neurosurgeon, and after discussing the possibility of immediate surgery, he ultimately decided that we should keep an eye on the situation, since sunken fontanels are often completely normal. Still, we were worried, especially since he wouldn't let us send him a photo. After all, how could he tell us her sunken fontanels were "normal," sight unseen?

The following week, we kept an eye on Claire's fontanels. They remained sunken, but would fill up when we laid her flat. We saw saw no other symptoms that would suggest something was wrong, either. No change in her behavior or her eating habits, no fussiness, and no vomiting. Slowly, our worry wore off, as we realized that Claire would in all likelihood let us know if something were truly wrong.

Then, on Sunday morning, we noticed a fluid build-up around her shunt valve. It was smaller than a golf ball, but not much smaller. We called our pediatric neurosurgeon, who once again assured us that everything was "normal." We agreed we would keep an eye on her and bring her "in" in on Monday morning. Over the course of the day on Sunday, we began to see "signs" that something was wrong:

• Claire slept all day. I had to wake her up to eat, and even then, she would suck on her bottle with her eyes closed.


• Claire seemed listless. When Brad would lift her arm, it was as limp as a wet noodle.


• Claire had what we thought was a seizure. Her arms shook on both sides for about a minute.

We finally agreed to go to the ER at around 9:00 p.m. I'm so glad we did! We were taken back right away and had a CT scan and an X-Ray done immediately. Both ruled out the possibility of a shunt malfunction. The CT scan also showed that Claire's brain has already started to fluff out. It is about twice the size that it was at birth.

Although the doctors could not explain her clinical symptoms, they felt Claire would be okay spending the night at home and following up with her neurosurgeon in the morning. Claire has been acting much better today - awake and alert - back to her "old" self. We have not seen her neurosurgeon yet, since he was out with the flu today. However, we are going to be seen by someone in the practice this week, just to make sure everything's okay.

Although the trip to the ER was a "first" I wish we never had to experience, I'm glad we went. At least we now know that the only thing Claire appears to have is "Paranoid Parentitis," which, as it turns out, can be cured by a trip to the ER.