Well, I guess I should blog since there are many who have asked about Tayla and her current health situation. First off, I just want to say Thank You to all who care so much about our family. We feel your prayers!
In the middle of July of 2009, Tayla had a little cold. She muscled through it and we carried on. In August, she started training for Cross Country. She was getting up in the early mornings, running, doing yoga, strength training, and more running. She continued to do that until one day she just quit getting up. Her training slowed down and she just did the bare minimum which was going for a run. As time went on, she slept more, had lots of headaches, lots of nausea, dizziness, & zero energy. I needed to get the girls their physicals for school, so we saw the Dr. and at that visit I expressed to her Tayla's symptoms and she ordered a blood test. The blood test came back negative for mono, but the Dr. said that she had the Epstein Barr Virus in her system so it was likely that she had had mono. We didn't think much of it. Tayla tried to rest and stay hydrated and we figured that she was on the road to recovery. School started, cross country started and life just pushed forward. Tayla mentioned here and there that she was still having dizziness and headaches and how she is frustrated because she doesn't feel the same. After one of her cross country meets, she had a side cramp and she came over to me crying. Her times weren't getting any better and she was super super frustrated! So, we made an appointment with another Dr. and this is where we begin!
This Dr. described Tayla's body as being completely fatigued. He diagnosed her with POTS. Her heart rate continues to rise when she stands. He also mentioned that her parasympathetic system in her body was not responding to help her recover. He then did and ECG and diagnosed her with Wolf-Parkinson-White syndrome. He put her on some pills and told her that she had to stop cross country and that she would not be playing basketball. The goal was to get her body healthy so that she could participate in track in the Spring. We left his office feeling peace, but sadness. We knew Tayla was going to struggle with not running or playing basketball or snowboarding. We also felt relief that we were on the road to recovery. This appointment was on October 9th, a Friday. So, Saturday night Tayla started to complain that her chest hurt. I figured that it was probably anxiety from not being able to do what she loves. We made it through the weekend. Let me add a little background info here: Trever & I read scriptures with the girls in the morning before school. Tayla is very self disciplined & self driven. Even though she doesn't need to be up that early, she gets up without complaining. On Tuesday morning, the 13th, Elli came into our room and said that Tayla can't get up because her chest hurts too bad. This was a red flag. She always gets up. We finished reading with the other girls and informed them that we would be taking Tayla to the ER. In the ER, they ran every test possible to figure out why her chest hurt. They decided to do a CAT scan and the result of that test came back that she has multiple calcifications on her brain. They did a MRI and that test came back 'clear'. The ER Dr. sent us back to our family Dr. and had her refer us to a pediatric neurologist. We see the neurologist on Wednesday. Most of the time, I feel like everything will be ok. I have tried to research as much online as I can, but there are too many 'things' it could be. I will admit that I feel scared at certain moments just because of the unknown. So, here we sit. Just waiting for Wednesday to come. I wish I had more definitive information, but there you have it!
