Dan Gould

Tag: Parenting

  • Back Again!!

    Well today marked our 5th ER visit with Jackson since early September.  We really thought that we were moving past this, but it just goes to show that at anytime things can change so much.  Jackson was completing a follow-up sleep study from his surgery that removed his tonsils and adenoids.  While there he had about a 3-5 minute seizure.  He was taken to Plano Presby for follow-up evaluation.  The only bad thing is he still has the electrodes on his head from the sleep study.  We have tried to get them off but those things are like super glued on his head and the Baby Shampoo Presby said would take it out didn’t work, nor did peanut-butter, and Vitamin E oil hasn’t worked to well either.

    Other than that Jackson is doing fine now, and the family is sleeping.  All of us have been up since 1:30am this morning.  The only reason I am able to stay awake right now is I had coffee this morning.  Don’t ask, I am not a coffee drinker, but I saw some old guys drinking it and was inspired to have a cup.  That’s all it took since I have not had caffeine since early October.

    We have had the unfortunate opportunity now of seeing every Hospital in Plano, Allen, and Frisco.  If I had to rate them on our experience, Stephanie and I would have to say that Children’s Medical Center in Plano has been by far the best with Centennial Medical Center in Frisco being a close second.  Both of these places have provided excellent care to Jackson and given us quick info and results.  Here is what our list would look like from best to worst care and experience.  Please keep in mind we have never had to wait in any ER waiting room at any of these hospitals.  This is based strictly on the care we felt was provided

    1. Children’s Medical Center Plano – great ER, great Nurses, great overnight staff, ok food (2 ER visits, 2 nights stay)
    2. Centennial Medical Center Frisco – great ER, great Nurses, great overnight staff, ok food (1 ER visit, 1 night stay)
    3. Medical Center Plano – old facility, decent care, not good food (2 days and 1 night stay)
    4. Plano Presby – Less than desired ER, Higher expectations than what was reality based on peoples references, Jackson became a pin cushion when getting blood-work done,  took extra long to get results.  (1 ER visit which was an all night deal)
    5. Allen Presby – Less than desired ER, Jackson became a pin cushion when getting blood, not kid friendly, great Labor and Delivery unit, awesome food.  (Labor and Delivery, 10 Night stay in NICU, 3 ER visits, 2 nights stay)

    If you were to look at Jackson right now, beside seeing a lubed head with electrodes stuck to it you would see a normal boy.  In fact, today on the way home from the hospital he was dancing and singing to the music on the radio.  I am so thankful that he is ok, and God has taught me a ton through this process, but I sure would like to not have to experience this anymore!  To see Jackson in minutes go from one extreme to the other is painful, and exhausting as a Dad.

    Lord Jesus, will you meet us where we are, comfort our fears, provide for our greatest needs, strengthen our family, and help us raise two boys to bring glory to your Name!

  • Guys Night

    Last night Josiah and I camped out!!!  Yeah, we set a two man tent up in the living room and watched TV and slept in the tent.  He was so excited about it all day.  This is an easy way to create lasting memories. To see his excitement made it all worth it, even if I didn’t sleep good and my back hurts today!  Here are some pics of our Guys Night!

  • Thanksgiving Rewind!!!!

    We had a great Thanksgiving with our family.  As we drove from place to place it gave me some time to think about all the things I am thankful for.  So here is a short list of the things I am thankful for:

    1. Jesus – I am not trying to sound super spiritual here but I would not be where I am today if it wasn’t for Jesus. At a young age giving my life to Christ was something I did because I wanted to go to Heaven.  At 18, when I learned more about what it truly meant to be a Christian changed my life forever.  Today, I am so thankful for His grace, mercy, and blessings.  Every time I look at the things in my life I am reminded of how good God is!
    2. My Family – I can’t imagine life without my family of 4.  It has been a challenging year with Jackson being in and out of the hospital with really non-related things, but to be honest, we are so blessed and it really could be much worse.  Seeing Stephanie smile and hearing her laugh still lights me up on the inside like it did the first day we met.  Josiah is growing so fast!  Watching him look and experience new things in life helps me remember what it was like to be a kid and experience things all over again!  Jackson has a way just to brighten any situation.  From his laugh to his babble, when I look at him i see the miracle of God and am reminded just how precious life is and how faithful God is!
    3. My Extended Family – Stephanie and I come from very different families.  Our families have played such a huge role in developing us, caring for us, and helping us succeed in life.  It’s always good to come home, and sad to leave because the time goes by so fast.  The boys have had a blast with the family over the past couple of days.  We are so blessed and the boys are so spoiled because of them.
    4. Our Church Family – We have been humbled and blessed by the generosity of our church family.  Words can’t even explain the feelings of gratitude we have.  To be loved on in such a big way spoke to the depths of our hearts.  All we can say is thank you!
    5. Our Friends – We have great friends around the nation.  Your prayers, time,  and words of encouragement have been a blessing to us.

    What about you, did you take time to think or talk about the things you are thankful for?  What would your list include?

  • Tractor Rides, The Farm, Christmas Gifts, B-Day Cake

    One of the things that has become a tradition for Josiah when we visit Nana and Papa’s house is to go on a tractor ride with Papa.  Today, he got to do that; and boy was he excited.  Also one of the things that has become a tradition for all of us now has been going to the farm and having Great Papa give us a ride behind his big tractor.

    Today we did things a little different!  Instead of being pulled behind a tractor, we just piled in the back of Great Papa’s pickup and went for a ride through the farm.  Both boys had so much fun and Stephanie’s Grandfather loves to do it.  We saw cows, drove through the creek, went past the old barn, and saw more cows. Doesn’t sound like much, but the fact that the family was all together and the boys loved it, made it so worth it!!!  To top it off, the weather wasn’t to bad either, it has been colder!!!

    Afterward, we all came back to the house for some good ole BBQ Pork Steak!!!!  It was so good!  The night was capped off with Christmas Gifts for the boys.  Nana and Papa said, since this is the only time we will all be together lets do it tonight.  However, Nana said something about coming to Texas over Christmas.  After the opening of gifts, we celebrated Rachel’s Birthday with an Ice Cream B-Day Cake.  It was sooooo good, and I don’t even like ice cream that much!

    Today was a lot of fun. Here are some pics of our adventure.

  • Nana and Papa’s

    We made it!!!  After eating a ton of food, playing with, better yet, being worked over by kids, and getting my rear kicked by my nephew in Madden 09 football, we packed up, left Nixa and headed for Salem MO.  We got in at about 8:15 last night.  Some exciting news . . . we bought gas last night for $1.57 and saw it for $1.41 on our way here!  We are excited to be here and will celebrate another Thanksgiving feast on Saturday.

    Here are some pics from yesterday:

  • The Gould Invasion has begun!!!

    Well after getting a later start than we wanted too we left McKinney last night at 7:15 and arrived at my moms house (AKA – Grandma Sheila) at 2:30 am. The boys slept most of the way, and of coarse when we got here, they both woke up and didn’t want to go back to sleep.  I think everyone finally fell asleep around 3:30am.

    So today, we tried to sleep as long as Jackson would let us, but both boys decided that both Steph and I needed to be up a 7 this morning.  So needless to say, neither of us got much sleep.  However, today was a good day with the family.  This morning I hooked the router up to my mothers cpu so we could have Internet, a process that took much longer than it should have.  But we have connection now, thanks to the AT@T service guy.

    When we come to Springfield there are always three places we want to eat,

    1. Mexican Villa – my favorite Mexican Restaurant
    2. Lamberts – Just plain good food and family fun, if you can catch a roll being hurled your way!
    3. Chinese Food – Springfield style – It’s much different in Springfield than anywhere else in the Nation, I promise!!!!  I miss it so much!

    Today for lunch we ate at Mexican Villa.  This place is like no other Mexican restaurant I have been too.  If you know me, you know I don’t like Mexican food; but this is one place that is to good to pass up.  Grandma Shelia joined us for chips and salsa and my favorite dish a Sancho enchilada!  It’s so good.

    Tonight my sister and her 5 kids are coming over for dinner.  Stephanie is making her famous Chicken Noodle Soup.  My favorite.  I am sure its going to be a fun evening, especially since there will be 3 kids under 2.  I’ll let you know tomorrow if we survived!

    Here are three pictures so far.  The room all of us are staying in while at my mothers house, my plate at lunch and Stephanie posing with her plate at lunch.

  • Soccer, Parade, Carpets, and Blessings

    This morning was Josiah’s last soccer game for the season.  The boys had a great season winning more games than they lost, but no-one keeps score, yeah right!  Anyhow, today they lost in a big way.  I don’t even think the Hawks scored.  But all the boys seemed to have fun.  After the game the team met at McDonald’s to eat, play, and receive their trophy.  They don’t make trophies like they used to!!!  Joes trophy is awesome.

    From there we headed over to the Frisco Homecoming Parade.  This was Jackson’s first parade and the first one that Josiah remembers.  Both boys were wide-eyed as the parade started.  We had fun as a family just being able to relax and the weather was awesome!!!

    I finished all the carpets today also!  But the real surprise and blessing came at 3:45 today.  Words can’t really express our gratitude to the people of Grace and how God used them to bless us.  Today we were given a gift that will help cover some of the expenses we have accumulated because of all of Jackson’s medical needs.  We have been praying for these things here for a while now. God has been so faithful to us and He used people we know and people we don’t know to show us how big He is, and to remind us that we are not alone in this journey!  Thank you Jesus!!!

  • Friday Fun

    Sleeping in, and hanging-out as a family was all that was on the agenda!  With no real agenda we got off to a late start planning on going to Peter-Piper-Pizza and letting the boys play, especially Jackson!  That soon changed to Chick-Fil-A when Josiah decided that’s where he wanted to eat.  From there we went to see Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa for the matinee.  It was a great movie and I recommend it to people with or without Kids.  It was a great fun filled day, until we rented the carpet cleaner.  Yes that’s right, a Honey do.  My Friday evening was filled with cleaning carpet.  Just one more spot of carpet left then to the couches.  I personally don’t think the machine we rented is any different than the hoover carpet cleaner we have borrowed in the past.  They both seem to do the same type of job.

    Here are some pictures of the boys playing at Chick-fil-A, driving the shopping race car at Lowe’s, and the new way Jackson like to watch TV.

  • 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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