An 8 year old can get migraines?!?!?!

FRIDAY:

Here we are at 1:22am. Yes you see that correctly. It says AM! So backstory: Every afternoon since Tuesday, Madison has been having severe eye, head, and ear pain. We had been treating her with ibuprofen thinking she may be sick. On Friday we figured there is probably something bigger going on, so we decided to take her to the IWK children's hospital. I left work an hour early, 5:00pm, and we grabbed some fast food(because we all know this is going to be a long visit). After getting through Halifax's rush hour traffic, it was 6:15 when we arrived at the hospital. 

The Triage nurse checked her vitals, then gave her some ibuprofen. It took about 45 minutes to get put in a room, which is record time for the children's ER. It was pretty busy that night too. The girls ate some of their dinner while we waited to be seen. I know it's not the healthiest option...Haha. The nurse came in after about 15 minutes, took her vitals and asked some questions. Madison was great at answering most of them herself. 

About 2 hours later(the nurses had checked on her twice by now), a doctor came in. She was checked again and some tests were ordered. First came the EKG. Madison thought this was the absolute best test in the world :) They stuck stickers all over her and then used little alligator clamps to bite onto the stickers and the machine was able to record her heart beat(they ordered this test because she has an irregular heartbeat, which I have to explain to every Dr, and every one of them wants to order the EKG anyways....Haha. This one she is old enough to remember though). When she was done she wanted to pull the stickers off herself, so she could keep them. As you can see she made them into a bracelet. She wore it the next day. 

Ayla asked for a couple so she could make something too. This is her heart crown. Next Madison was sent for bloodwork. This made me mad at all the other blood tests Madison and Ayla have had. Did you know that they don't actually need to take it from their arm. They gave Madison the option(because she was scared of the needle) to get a finger prick instead. It took two seconds and we didn't hear a peep out of her!! Not suitable for babies obviously, because they wouldn't sit still for it. After a few other tests, she went upstairs to the ophthalmologist. The poor guy got called in at Midnight for us :( On the plus side we got a free eye exam and ophthalmologist exam, and her eyes are absolutely perfect. Thank goodness, because she already has hearing loss, she doesn't need poor eyesight as well. We ended up leaving the hospital at about 1:45am, with no answers. We were asked to come back in on Monday morning to do a few more tests and for a second opinion from ophthalmology. Thank goodness we could sleep in after all this. 

MONDAY:

Here we are on Monday. We came in as soon as I got off work in the morning. Today was a lot easier on Madison. The minute we got a room, a Dr. came in and asked Madison if she would like to help a medical student learn how to use an ultrasound machine to look at her heart :) She didn't really understand what they meant, so I said sure. I knew she would think it was cool(and I think they picked her because they knew she would be waiting for a bit). They put the gel on her and she thought that was pretty silly, but also "The best part EVER". She kept trying to play with it. She would not sit still while they checked her armpits either. Lol. She was a very good patient though. 

Afterwards, the Dr. asked if she would like a Thank You letter. She asked "what for" and I told her, "for volunteering to do the test when you didn't actually need it". She was like "WHAT?!?! I DIDN'T EVEN NEED IT?? NOW THAT WAS THE BEST PART EVER!!" She is so easily entertained...Haha. 

After they left we just hung out in the room for a bit. Madison spent a while spinning around on this chair. Clearly she was still feeling ill....Haha. 

Her room was pretty cool. It's like the only room in the ER with it's own bathroom. It was awesome, because being the only parent there with her, I couldn't leave her to go to the other end of the ER when I had to go. Super helpful! A little while later, the Dr. came to check her. She asked a bunch of questions, took her vitals, asked more questions. I'm not really sure where she came up with her diagnosis. She says that Madison is suffering from chronic migraines. She will have to minimize her screen time, eat less cheese, chocolate, and salt, and get more sleep. The only thing is, I told her that Madison doesn't get screen time(she only gets to use her tablet on trips really), she gets the most sleep out of anyone in this house(besides teenagers), and she eats really healthy(not a lot of salt or chocolate). The thing that bugs me is that I don't think the Dr. believed me, especially about the screen time(because what kids these days don't get unlimited screen time....oh wait....mine). I want to go back to the Dr. from Friday that thought tests were needed because its not something as silly or simple as migraines, or why have we spent 11 hours in the ER this weekend???? 

Since the ophthalmologist also wanted to see us again on Monday, the ER sent us upstairs. They had a much more entertaining waiting room :) Madison got to bring her Popsicle upstairs and she got to keep her little "Johnny shirt" on. She loved it and she wanted to take it home. Lol.

Doesn't this look so kid friendly!! I love having a children's hospital. I'm so thankful that kids in the area get to come to a kid friendly environment when they are sick, rather than a regular dreary looking hospital.

We went in to see the Dr. and she played some vision games. She loved that. Then she got some eye drops put in to dilate her pupils. Man does she HATE eye drops! They sent us back into the waiting room to wait for them to work.

WOW, did they ever get huge!! She almost had no colour left in the one eye. It was pretty much all black. After they checked them out, they ruled out her eyes as the cause of her headaches. The Ophthalmologist agreed with the ER Dr, that it must be migraines, and they said that was "pretty much what we are going to go with"(in those words). So they sent us on our way. :( They said if anything else happens or if they persist or get worse, to come back right away. I guess that is that. My baby apparently suffers from migraines, just like me :( I love this hospital, but I feel like this is something my family Dr. could've told us in a 15 minute appointment. Although I guess I may not have believed her and would've ended up wanting a second opinion. Hmmm. We will never know now. So I drove her home to Daddy to rest(her eyes were too blurry now to go to school), and I went to work again. I feel like I was just there? :(