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I'm asking for prayers for my youngest granddaughter, McKenna. She's been having fainting spells and is unresponsive for a time. Daughter and son-in-law drove her the two hours to Flagstaff hospital and it was getting slammed. They waited 6 hours and were told it would be more than 2 hours until the doctor could see her. They decided to drive the 2 hours back home. Now my daughter thinks it was a "God thing" that they did. They came upon a single car wreck in a remote area. The man had a small car and hit a big bull Elk The roof and windshield were badly damaged, but he was trapped. John's a fire chief in a different district but immediately started tending to the man while daughter called it in to the proper district. The man was not bleeding anymore and alert and oriented when the ambulance took him.

This morning, McKenna fainted again and hit the floor hard enough my daughter heard it downstairs. Again, unresponsive for about 8 minutes. They had an emergency visit to her pediatrition who immediately sent her to the hospital. Just talked to my daughter. They've done the EEG, ct and are talking about sending her to Children's Hospital in Phoenix. She was there for a 3 day test a couple weeks ago. It was a 3 day EEG and she could only get up to go to the bathroom. They observed a spiking in the left lobe and of course she has seizures, too. They wanted to do an MRI but she has braces. They're due to come off in a week, so they decided to wait till the orthodontist gets them off. They NEED to get those off and get the MRI. They need every bit of data they can get.

I have an emergecy dental appointment early tomorrow morning but may fly to Phoenix if I'm needed.
Since my dentist is going in an hour early to see what's going on....I need to make that appointment! Nice to have a friend who is also your dentist.

Prayers for McKenna and all those who love her.

Done

I'm so sorry to hear about your granddaughter's mysterious condition. I'll add all of you to my prayer list.

Prayers sent.

Sending prayers.

Thanks all! I've not heard if they've transferred her, yet.

My daughter called and after a 2.5 hours bumpy ride to Phoenix Children's they arrived. They are exhausted. Up for two nights straight plus the stress and anxiety...it makes you a bit loopy. Carrin went in the ambulance and John followed in their vehicle so I'm glad he made it safely.

Prayers sent for all.

From Carrin Jusko Banning:


Update on McKenna: We are being moved from the neurology floor down to the cardiac floor. They want to monitor her heart for at least 24 hrs. We have a disagreement between doctors. Neuro thinks its migraines but the hospitalists are leaning toward cardiac.

Done Ann.

Please keep us updated as you can.

Ann, thanks for keeping us updated.

Well, I started to say it must be upsetting to have the doctors in disagreement but it may not be so bad after all. I think it shows that they are working hard to figure out just what is going on and are wanting to be sure all necessary things are being done.

I'm so sorry your family is having to go through this. Hope you got your dental issue resolved. I think you have enough on your mind right now.

I've told Carrin that McKenna is where she needs to be. She agreed....just knowing is better than not knowing. It's a teaching hospital so there are dozens of doctors around all the time. John is on his way (but it's 3 hours to the hospital). Carrin will feel much better with a shower and clean clothes and hopefully some sleep. McKenna is pretty groggy from all the medications..benedryl, toradol, etc.

BTW, dentist visit was very good. I had an implant 8 years ago and they were worried about the implant. I had chipped some of the crown over it. All he needed to do was polish it until it was smooth. x-rays showed all was well with the implant.

Yesterday McKenna was going to have a picc line put in. She was very anxious about it. AND THEN some visitors came in to cheer her up. Garth Brooks and Tricia Yearwood, Paul Goldschmidt ( a Arizona Diamond Back player) and his wife. What a smile on her face. It's on my facebook. Paul Goldschmidt and his wife both went to Texas State as did my daughter and her husband.

They did get the staff orthodontist try to get that palete extender off BUT it's a very new way to do it....it's screwed into the bone. The staff orthodontist had never done that procedure so she didn't want to try to get it out. No MRI with that in there. She was so excited with the visitors that the picc insertion went very well and she was still smiling. That big smile was wonderful to see by both sets of grandparents. The heart valves were checked yesterday and they are fine. Today she has the 24 hr. monitor on. Hopefully, her regular orthodontist can get there and get that extender out so she can have the MRI and check blood flow to her brain.

Well, Carrin had hopes that McKenna would be able to go home today. They have decided the problem is migraine complex. She's been on migraine meds and was feeling better. I was talking to Carrin on the phone, when she started throwing up again. She'd had a good day and I think it had something to do with her visitor yesterday. An English mastiff. She was in heaven. McKenna loves big dogs (we have Great Pyrennes) Gus, the mastiff is 250 lbs. She was in heaven. I was looking at the picture for drool but didn't see any. Hmmmm..unusual. Carrin told me the man had a towel with him. He let McKenna feed Gus a hot dog. The dog ate it and flopped down on the floor and went to sleep, snoring loudly. I laughed so hard...

I hadn't ever thought about all the people who visit the hospitalized kids and it really does cheer them up. But a few hours later, the migraine came back with a vengence. Medication changed and she finally went to sleep about 8 their time. So, we just don't know when they'll be able to release her. Having the picc line in her left arm (which is her good arm) is a problem but the doctor couldn't do it in her right arm because there was too much movement of the veins. So the darn monitor goes off when she tries to eat or read or moves. They can't use a board to immobilize it so every time she moves the monitor goes off. All her meds go through the picc line.

Can't go to church this morning...it's a sanctioned triathalon this morning. They're swimming at the harbor now (brrr!) and will be getting on their bikes or running (don't know which is first) all around Heath. Our son usually does it but he's running Palo Dura Canyon today. Just went our to check and the bikes are coming nnow. They will change to running and make the big loop again. It's supposed to be over at noon, but so is church.

Thanks for the updates. I can't begin to imagine how tough it is to have migraines. I didn't know migraines could cause one to pass out. Poor kid.

My home church is in downtown Austin. There seems to be some "event" almost every weekend that makes driving to church a nightmare for my family because of the runners and/or cyclers. Then there is the major irritation of SXSW every spring. The church can't hold services at all because of the traffic, vehicular and humanoid, all around the church.

Continued prayers

She did pretty well yesterday and they thought they were on their way towards going home. Her favorite uncle called her as soon as he got cell signal out of Palo Dura Canyon. She loves him so much she carried a framed picture of him in her backpack. But a few hours later, the headache and vomiting started again as bad as ever. Her ankles were cold and swelling. It's 2 hours difference so it's 6:08 there. I won't call till about 9 am their time.

Golly how bizarre. I had no idea migraines could cause complications in the ankles and feet.