As I said as I ended my last post: Tobin was getting sick.
The only reason I wrote our doctor was because he was acting so unlike himself when sick.
He was clutching his head in pain and moaning. He wanted me to stay with him always. He felt nauseous from the pains in his head. He threw up.
I wrote our doctor and said: 'this may be something really serious, or absolutely nothing' and what I learned was, that there is always the in between, depending on your definition.
The cycle of headache, nausea, a little relief was happening every 3 hours or so, though the headache continued throughout. The time he kept the tylenol down he got a little relief.
The doctor actually took it all completely seriously and said: 'this sounds like migraines, but we have to rule everything else out...you need to get on a plane'.
Migraines, in a five year old? Seriously?
Get on a plane. I know that sounds a bit extreme, but from our experience and the doctor we consult with (who has lived in this country longer than we have), an appropriate evaluation and efficient protocol is quite hard to find. We do a ton of self diagnosing and treating often via consult, not by visiting the local docs here.
Our doc wanted Tobin to be seen by a western trained doctor, looking for very specific things.
So, we headed to the provincial capital where the international clinic said they were too busy. When we boarded in our town I thought we were on our way to Bangkok. When we landed, David said we were on our way to ChengDu.
Didn't I just come back from there? Going this alone I thought I would be more comfortable in Bangkok, especially if it was one of the more serious things they were looking for. But with David navigating my flights and my friend G arranging the same driver we had last time, I was gaining confidence. I was so thankful for this driver who knew exactly where we were going, since I had never been there before.
Tobin was lethargic and didn't even feel like playing on the ipad (something we reserve only for trips). He slept most of both flights. He had trouble walking fast through the airport (duh) so I put him in the carts with the big X over the child, and jogged through to make it out until we had to give up the cart. Once I checked us in and got us through security I hired the golf cart to drive us to our gate.
The trip was completely smooth and Tobin's head was still hurting but he wasn't throwing up. The clinic staff was very helpful and we got in quick to see the doctor, who was expecting us. It had been about 36 hours since the symptoms had started.
He did a full neurological exam but also mentioned migraines right away. He said that children this young can have them. Thankfully, Tobin passed the exam, ruling out the more horrible options for his severe head pain. The doc told us that most migraine episodes last 24-48 hours so that if his symptoms did not go away then we would go get an MRI. We talked quite a bit about migraines and what this could mean for Tobin.
We made our way across the street to our hotel and already Tobin seemed better. We rested for a bit and then went across the street for dinner. I let Tobin drink a whole gatorade and he ate a little. But at least he was up for walking a bit.
We returned to our hotel, watched some soccer on TV, and I read a story to him. Tobin's symptoms were definitely diminishing, with some lingering headache, but not as severe.
We (the docs I was consulting) would see how Tobin did in the night and morning before deciding to return home.
Tobin slept great, he did not wake every three hours like the previous night. He slept from before 9 until after 7 and woke up feeling normal but weak.
We decided to find breakfast and I had promised him some tea (cold black tea). Starbucks was down the street. It was a nice little walk. On the way we found 'rou bao' (meat filled bun) and 'dou jiang' soy milk. We did end up at starbucks where we each got a muffin and coffee and his tea. It was here that we ran into the very doctor we had seen the day before. This was a great coincidence because I was supposed to talk with him before the clear to return home. He could see that Tobin had his color back and was clearly a different boy. He said he would not need an MRI now and that if whatever 'it' was was serious it would not have gone away.
Yea! We could go home. I immediately contacted our consulting doctor and our travel agent, who arranged all flights home.
Chengdu has some cool stores in their airport. We played with robots for half an hour.
This robot could understand standard Mandarin and respond.
We arrived home at 5 pm, and caught a taxi to surprise the girls. I was in contact with David and he really needed to work late with our guest and others. The little medical trip was unexpected and only slightly delayed their week-long project.
The next day, David and crew continued on the project while the guys came to install our new shower. Tobin and I settled into the end of the week by resting and playing (him). I re-grouped and tried to finish some homeschool with the girls and plan Bella's birthday party that was also delayed a day because of our trip.
The whole trip could not have gone smoother.
Now we will get to researching childhood migraines.
We are not naive, we do know this is not a good diagnosis. But it is the best of what it could have been, for that we are thankful. We will rest in God's goodness to our family and His faithful care of us no matter what that entails in suffering as well.
