Dan Gould

Tag: Family

  • We are HOME!!!

    The last 24 hours have been hectic.  Seeing anyone have a seizure is never fun, let alone a young child and at that your own.  Jackson seems to be coming back to his normal self after having two seizures and meds trying to stop/stabilize him.  Yesterday he slept most of the day do to the fatigue a seizure brings to the body.  Today, we felt like we were trying to tame a wild animal.  Jackson wanted to walk but he was so topsy he couldn’t.  This made it very difficult to keep him happy.

    The good news, the doctor said it seems that Jackson’s metabolism is fast causing the seizure medicine he is on to go through his body faster.  So we were sent home with a high dosage 3 times a day.  The doctor also gave us some rectum Valium in-case Jackson did go into a seizure again that lasted longer than five minutes.  That kinda scares me, but I am sure in the moment adrenaline will kick in and allow us to do it!

    I have learned a lot about seizures over the last year, most of the learning’s happening in the last 48 hours.  Yesterday, one of the links under my post was another blog on seizures with some very helpful insight to what to do for someone seizing.  Here is a link to the blog, below is the article,

    Consider this a public service announcement. Seizures are something most people know very little about. And I’m finding that most people don’t have any interest to learn. The thing is, anyone can have a first unexpected seizure, and if it’s you, hope that someone around knows what to do.

    Not everyone having a seizure will froth at the mouth, or even shake or tremble. Some seizures involve just ‘zoning out’ for a short period (those ‘absence seizures’ don’t usually require any immediate medical attention). But most other seizures will involve either going limp and falling to the ground, or going rigid, or both. The body may also shake – either gently or more violently. So what do you do?

    • Calm down. Most seizures are not medical emergencies, and your calmness is the best thing for the situation.
    • Make sure there’s nothing sharp or hard near the person seizing. They should be in a rather comfortable place where they can’t fall (i.e., not the edge of the Grand Canyon, not a concrete sidewalk, no scissors or knifes nearby)
    • DO NOT put anything in their mouth. It is a myth that they could bite their tongue, swallow it, or anything like that. Do not attempt to rescue them from a myth.
    • If possible, it’s best for them to be on their side, especially if there are any indications that they might vomit.
    • Look for a clock and make a mental note of what time the seizure started. Also note what time it ends.
    • When the person stops seizing, they will be completely out of it for anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes, depending on a lot of variables. Do talk to them to judge their level of consciousness. Also note what time they ‘come back’ to themselves.
    • If it was a first seizure, the person will need immediate medical attention to rule out potential causes like chemical ingestion and the like. But if the person has had seizures before, they probably don’t need medical attention unless the seizure itself lasted more than 10 minutes, or they don’t ‘come back’ to themselves after 15-20 minutes.

    There you have it, folks. It’s really not that hard. The basics are – nothing in the mouth, stay calm. I hope that if my son should have another seizure, and it happens when he’s not with me, that someone around will know what to do. You could be that person – if not to my son, then to someone else.

    We are thankful for the prayers and visits.  It really allowed us to see how loved we are and how the power of prayer provides strength. One of our small group leaders came by and brought gifts for Jackson and Josiah.  Joe loves the nerf dart gun and Jackson slept with his singing sea horse all the way home.  Here are some pics from our 4th Hospital visit in 2 1/2 months!  Just got a call today that we have a sleep study in two weeks.  I am hoping that will be the end of a very long medical nightmare and Jackson can return to the healthy boy he was before all this came upon us.

  • Seizures, Prayer, and Questions

    “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” 1 Peter 5:7

    I need this verse to be real in my life today.  Today has been a roller coaster of emotion.  Just yesterday in one of my meetings I thanked some of our staff for their prayers, patients, and grace that they have shown our family over the last two months.  If you are a reader of the blog you know that the last two months have been filled with ER visits and stress.  Over the last two months Jackson has visited the the ER 4 different times and today, he was taken by ambulance.

    As I was spending time with God this morning Stephanie yells from me from our room.  I run in there and Jackson is having a full blown seizure.  I call 911 thinking it would be the fastest way to get care.  In the back of my head I am thinking he will stop seizing at anytime, but he doesn’t.  When the EMT’s arrive Jackson is still seizing, they tried to stabilize him but couldn’t get him stabilized.  They take him to the closest hospital to get the medical attention he needs.

    Once there he stabilizes for a little while but then has another seizure.  This caused the doctor and vurse to rule out a febrile seizure.  The type of seizure that comes on when you temperature goes from point a to point b really fast.  Jackson has had this type of seizure before.  It is really scary for those watching but they say it doesn’t do any damage to the child.  So, we don’t know exactly what we are facing now.  Jackson seizure today had to last at least 15-20 minutes, unless time stood still, I don’t think that is an exaggeration.  The good news is that the CT Scan and Chest X-Ray came back good.  They say he has a red ear so that is a sign of an ear infection (I hope that isn’t an indication or start of a new problem).  Our neurologist wanted us to be transferred to a hospital he has jurisdiction over so they moved us to Medical Center of Plano, where we have been all afternoon as Jackson sleeps off the meds and the affects of the seizure.  We still haven’t talked to our neurologist so we are taking that to mean maybe it’s not that bad.

    So we sit and wait for answers.  Thanks to all that have prayed with us and for us today.  We do believe God is still in control.  Please continue to pray for us.

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  • 2 down more to go

    Josiah is two weeks into memorizing verses.  He now knows these two verses,

    “Jesus Christ is the same the other day, today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8

    “Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the Life, No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

    This weeks verse,

    Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit with in me.” Psalm 51:10

    Life Lesson – Kids have a great memory!  As i work with him on this it is creating an opportunity for him to learn and for me to develope a habit of memorizing scripture also.  It has been so fun!  If you have kids, give it a try.  It will bless you and prepare them!

  • Halloween 08

    What a day!!  Josiah has been dressed as Spider-man all day.  He even wore it to the mall.  We had a great day today.  Played at the play area at Willow Bend Mall, played soccer in Old Navy and didn’t get kicked out, ate at Steak-n-Shake, and then went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. The boys have enough candy to last throughout the year.  Here are some pics, enjoy!

  • Halloween Party at Josiah school

    This Afternoon I joined Josiah’s class for their Halloween Party (I don’t think they called it that) The party was filled with a really cool craft, a fun relay game, a glow in the dark bracelet, and of coarse food.  It was fun and I am glad that I went.  I was the only dad amongst the other moms!  Here are some pics from the party!

  • Soccer What?

    Well today at Josiah’s soccer game Stephanie and I both learned that we are very competitive.  Josiah has been playing soccer this year and has come a long way.  From the first game of crying on the sideline and not wanting to go in to the kid that typically scores 4 goals a game.

    Well today, was way different.  Josiah set out the first quarter and then played the rest of the game . . . well he was on the field.  It’s almost as if he was in another world.  He was more interested in playing airplanes and superheroes than soccer.  I know there is a lot going on in our lives and the last thing is for Josiah to feel he messed up, but as a dad, I tried to get him to focus on the game without being one of THOSE parents.  You know what I mean, yelling at every thing they did or didn’t do.

    It was hard to see him play the way he did today, but I think I learned more about myself than he did about soccer! So he had an off day . . . everyone has them!

  • Family Update

    Several People have been praying and asking about us so I thought i would let everyone know our status.

    We think we have made it out of the tuff days of Jackson’s recovery.  Days 4-7 were really hard, especially at night.  Jackson who normally takes meds very easily and drinks like you wouldn’t believe, started to refuse everything because his throat hurt so bad.  Thankfully, Nana has been here for the duration of Jackson’s surgery and recovery.  It is so helpful having an experienced Mother (not to take away from my wife at all, but Nana thought of stuff that just showed her experience of raising 3 kids).  It will be sad to see her leave tomorrow, maybe she will stay through Sunday, who knows!

    Josiah has been a great big brother.  He prays everyday for our house to sell and for Jackson’s throat to heal.  This week he has memorized Hebrews 13:8 and just today we started working on John 14:6.  So when you see him ask him what his memory verse is.  He is very excited about doing this and also asks every morning if we can have our early time.  That’s what Josiah calls my quiet time.  Today he joined me.  It was so awesome!  I think God is going to use Josiah in a big way!

    I have been developing new habits when it comes to my health.  I have totally cut out cafine.  Which is huge for a guy that would drink coke for breakfast, at every meal, and late into the night.  With this and adding a walking regiment to my week i feel better and have lost about 10 pounds.  While I walk I have been listening to  some podcast of Steven Furtick, Perry Noble, Ed Young Jr, Erwin McManus, Matt Chandler, and Andy Stanley.  It is still knew but I am loving it and being challenged and inspired.

    Stephanie will celebrate her B-day on Tuesday.  She deserve way more than I can give her, but maybe we can celebrate with a date night.  It would be good just for us to be able to get away without the kids and be able to focus on each other for a couple of hours.  Lord knows all of our attention has been on other things over the last couple of weeks.  We had such a great time in Cali to come home to such a intensly stressfull and scary time with Jackson.

    We continue to pray that God would be our provider.  He has been so good to us so far and as I listened to Perry Nobles talk during the one prayer series I want to live dangerously for Jesus.  I want to be a person that focus on what God is going to do next with great excitement and expectation.

  • Got one down!

    Josiah is starting to memorize scripture with me.  We have been in a series called HABITS on the weekend with our students.  One of the HABITS that has been weak for me is memorizing scripture.  So, I asked Josiah if he wants to do memorize some verses with me, of coarse he said yes.  He is so good he already has our first verse down.  Here is his translation of Hebrews 13:8

    “Jesus Christ is the same the other day, and today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8

    He is doing so good and it is cute that he says the other day instead of yesterday.  I am excited to see how far this goes for both of us!

  • Dip N Dot’s and Nana to the Rescue

    Jackson has been doing pretty well with his sore throat, however he is running a fever and doesn’t want to drink or eat anything.  This poses a huge challenge since he had oral meds that have to be taken.  His fever got to about 100 degrees and we had to cool him off in the bath tub.  Pretty scary for parents of a kid who has febrile seizures when his fever gets high.  After we got the fever down we had to figure out how to get the meds in him for the night.  This is when Nana came to the rescue!!!

    Jackson will eat Dip N Dots, so we put the meds in a spoon with a couple of Dip N Dots and walla, Jackson took all of his meds! Tricky I know, but we were able to out smart a 16 month old!!!

    Praise Jesus for Dip N Dot’s and Nana!!

  • Soccer and Chuck E Cheese

    We are starting to get back to normal after 2 weeks of high stress.  Jackson is recovering well and Josiah is being a good big brother.

    Today was a great day for Joe.  He had a soccer game in the morning then a Birthday Party this afternoon. He was so excited.  You have to understand, this wasn’t just an ordinary Birthday Party, this was Josiah’s girlfriends b-day party and to top it off, it was at Chuck E Cheese.  The place was packed and we had a blast!!!  Here are some pictures from this afternoon