Chelsea

Chelsea is being seen at Primary Children's Hospital (PCH) for dizziness. When we were home at Christmas she started complaining about feeling dizzy, and having ear pain. In January she went to the Dr. who couldn't see anything wrong with her ears so he referred her to an ENT. The ENT gave her some antibiotics and Flonase which is a steroid nose spray to see if she might have an infection in her eustacion (sp?) tubes. He also referred her to an audiologist to see if the dizziness was due to an inner ear problem. The antibiotics and nose spray cleared up the ear pain and the audiologist, after running extensive tests, determined that her ears were fine. We were sent back to our family doctor to see if there was some other medical reason for the dizziness. He did a complete blood work up and had an MRI done to rule out a brain tumor or MS. Both came out fine, so he referred us to Primary Children's, which is one of the top 10 children's hospitals in the country. She saw a very nice neurologist who did a thorough exam. She couldn't find any obvious reason for the dizziness but pointed out that Chelsea had been seen at our family doc on Dec. 11th for neck pain following a bad collision with another soccer player while playing indoor soccer. She said that Chelsea could have had a mini-stroke then without our knowing it. She said that sometimes when radiologists look at MRI's for children they don't look for mini-strokes because they are so rare. I guess they are difficult to see on the MRI so you really have to be looking for it to find it. So I am sending off the CD of Chelsea's MRI today to the neurologist to have the radiologist at PCH give it a closer look. Chelsea also had an EKG based on Dad and my brother Randy's heart issues. She has to see a pediatric cardiologist as well, but can't get in until May. Unfortunately this means no soccer or any other type of exerting activity until we figure out what is wrong with her. We should know the results of the EKG by next week. Chelsea gets dizzy about 5 times a day, starts to get tunnel vision and feels like she is passing out. It really scares me but she has no concept of how serious this could be. She just thinks its cool that she has had an MRI and an EKG, but thinks it sucks and is stupid that she can't play sports. It almost broke my heart yesterday when she asked me if she could be the team manager for the High School soccer team if she wasn't allowed to play. Of course I said she could but I'm praying for a quick resolution and solution to this problem. Chelsea is so active that it is difficult to tell her she can't do anything, especially with the weather getting so nice.

If you can find it in your heart to pray for a quick diagnosis and treatment plan I would really appreciate it. I have to say that I'm scared of all the things this could be. In between packing and doing school work this is all I really have on my mind right now.