I was wrong...

There is something that makes a mom feel a hell of a lot more helpless (and scared) than a mom not being able to make her kid feel better. Hearing your child say, "I can't move my legs mom" and "Mommy, I'm scared" makes you feel one hundred million times more helpless and scared to death.

Marty woke up at about 5am with another neck spasm. Twice, he fell down. At first I thought it was kid drama but, after the second fall, I relized the spasms must be so bad they were making his legs give out. I had him take a hot shower to hopefully help ease the muscles. After his shower, he stretched out flat on the couch. After a minute or two, he let out a yelp. I said, "Dude, if its hurting that bad, change positions." He sat up and then I told him to move his legs into a more comfortable position. All of a sudden, he looked at me and said, "Mom, I can't move my legs." I have never heard anything scarier in my life. I did all the little tests that I was taught to do as a paramedic. When I realized he had little sensation below his waist, I woke my hubby up so he could watch the other kids and I called 911. Believe it or not, I managed to remain remarkably calm...or at least maintained the facade of calm...until the paramedics loaded him into the ambulance. I climbed into the car to follow them in and promptly lost it. I cried and prayed and pleaded until we got to the hospital. Then, I dried my face, fixed a calm expression on my face, and joined Marty in the ER. When the doctor examined him, he had good reflexes but was still almost completely lacking in sensation. The doc scheduled him for a full spinal MRI and then the waiting began. The ER was busy today so there was quite a wait. By the time we got to MRI time, Marty was wiggling his big toes but still nothing else. A full spinal MRI takes about an hour and a half and, it turns out that Marty has a touch of claustrophobia (it felt like the MRI tube was closing in on him) so they gave him a dose of ativan to help him relax for the MRI. Well, the ativan relaxed him enough that he went to sleep...and, when he woke up as the MRI was ending, he could move his legs again. As close as we can figure, when he spasmed so badly this am, it pinched/put pressure on something that caused the temporary paralysis. When the ativan relaxed him, it seemed to interrupt the neck and back spasms and the spasms ending removed the pressure/pinching. Evidently, it isn't unusual for kids who grow very quickly to have muscle spasms because the muscle growth just doesn't keep up with bone growth. What is unusual is the extent of Marty's spasms. Since the MRI was clean and doesn't show any problems, I'm picking up a copy or the MRI to take to his chiropractor and he's going in to get adjusted. Hopefully, he will get as much relief from his spasms as my *sister got from her back spasms this summer.

This was, I think, the most terrifying experience of my life. I told Marty he spent all his "scare the crap out of mom and dad tickets" for the next couple of years and he could not do this again. I do not ever want to feel that scared again.


*My sister had back spasms so horrid this summer that she could barely move. Two adjustments and the issues were totally relieved.