Temporary Global Amnesia

I had the opportunity to meet the acquaintance of TGA (Temporary Global Amnesia) last night and if we ever meet again it will be too soon.

Here's the story.

Last night around 5:30 I was downstairs doing some peer training for my new email support job.  As my trainer and I were working we heard a very large thud upstairs.  I kind of stopped and listened to see if it was something I needed to check out but my older son Jona, who was upstairs at the time, didn't say anything and we were almost done with training so I didn't go and investigate.

As we were walking up the stairs Jillian was coming down crying and very scared.  She said "It's George. There's something wrong with George."  As I came to the top of the stairs I saw my son, crouched on the floor, in the corner by the kitchen cabinets.  He had his arms wrapped around tight around him and he was shaking.  He looked at me and said "Where am I?"  When I moved towards him he said "Don't touch me!  I don't know you!!"

As calmly as I could I explained who I was and I asked him if he remembered what happened. He said "I don't know. I just woke up over there." pointing to the area of the floor a few feet away in front of our kitchen hutch.  I went to go into the front room to get Jona's attention and saw that a wooden rolling pin that is usually on top of the hutch was the ground.

After getting Jona's attention he came into the kitchen and tried talking to George, but George didn't know who he was either.  Jillian had fled into her bedroom and my trainer was asking if there was anything that she could do to help.  I thanked her and told her no that I was probably going to have to take him to the hospital.  She left and I crouched down by my son and told him that I was his mom.  He asked "Why should I believe you? I don't even know you!"  I told him he would just have to trust me, that I was going to take him to the hospital where there were people there who could help him feel better.

He asked me "Do you promise?  Do you promise me 100% that they can make me feel better??"  And even though wasn't 100% sure this would be the case because I had no idea what had happened, I told him with a little trepidation "Yes. I promise you 100%."  I got on the phone with Tyran and told him to meet me at the ER.  Telling him something was wrong with George and that he couldn't remember anything.

And, literally, he couldn't remember anything. As we were walking out of the house he came out after me and I told him to close the door behind him and he just looked at me and then turned around and looked at the door.  He did not know what I was asking him to do.  We went to get in the Durango and I told him to go around the other side and get in.  As I was getting in he was standing on the passenger side.  I kept saying "Open the door and get in." and he just said "How do you do that?"  That's when I started to get a little panicky.

I went around and opened the door for him and he got in the vehicle.  Then as we were driving to the hospital he kept saying "I don't feel good."  And he asked me again where we were going and again made me promise 100% that the people would help him feel better.  He did say as we going along 1100 North that he felt like he should know where he was but he didn't.  I asked him if he could remember anything at all from the day.  And he said I remember being in front of a big group of people and doing something where they were all watching me. He had performed in a choir concert earlier that day.  Then he started talking about a being in a blue room with a bunch of people running around.  I was really confused by this but it turns out he was talking about the wrestling room which has blue mats on the floor.  He also was saying that his head hurt and his teeth hurt and his butt hurt.  Because he said his teeth hurt I was wondering if he might have had a seizure and I got a little more panicky.

When we got to the hospital we had to park WAY away from the ER because of construction.  I was not very happy about that.  We parked and I went around to his side and asked him if it would be okay if he held on to me so that he wouldn't fall if he got dizzy.  He looked at me and said "What do you mean?"  He didn't know what it meant for him to hold on to my arm.  I had to take his arm and thread it through mine.  As we were walking in he kept saying "I'm so uncomfortable!  Why am I so uncomfortable??"  It was the cold.  He didn't know what cold was.

As walked to the ER they took us right back but we were just sitting in some chairs while I was filling out his health history.   Then he started passing out.  His chin would roll down to his chest and they immediately put him in a wheelchair and wheeled him back to a bed.  As we got him on the bed he was crying.  He then said "My face is all wet.  Why is my face all wet?"  He didn't know what crying was.

About this time Tyran and my brother Brad came into the room.  He recoiled from both of them and said "I don't know you!" and then he looked at me and said "Are they okay?" I assured him that, yes, they were okay.  I told him that was his Dad and his Uncle Brad and that they were here to give him a blessing that would help him.  Again he asked me "Do you promise?  Do you promise 100%?" I told him absolutely, "YES. 100% Yes this will help you."  And I knew without a doubt that it would.

 I told him that everyone in the hospital was there to help him feel better and that he needed to let them touch him so that they could help him.  The doctor came in to talk to George.  He asked him if he had been holding his breath for a long period of time when this happened.  Basically he was wondering if George had been doing something called "The Choking Game" that has been prevalent here in Utah.  George told him no, he hadn't been doing anything like that.  I told the doctor had to run back out to my car because I had left my phone out there and I wanted to call his friends who he had been hanging out with to see if they had noticed anything weird with George at all earlier that day.  As I was running out Ty's mom and dad were coming in.  I briefly told them what had happened and said don't be surprised if he is scared of you at first.

I came back into the ER and Ty stayed with George as they took blood, hooked him up for an EEG and ran other tests on him.  The doctor told me to get a old of his friends and to ask if they noticed anything at all unusual with George earlier that day and to also ask them if they had taken anything.  I'll be honest.  I wasn't surprised that he asked that because the thought had crossed my mind as well mostly because of the paranoia that George was experiencing. I thought that was just really strange.

I went just outside the room and was pacing the hallway and in the next room, which was empty, trying in vain to get a hold of his friends.  It was then that I was able to post onto FB asking for prayers for George.  I didn't have time to put much more than that.  I also realized at that time that McKenna had not been home when all this happened and I hadn't had the chance to get a hold of her.  I also realized just how scared Jillian must be and I had not had the chance to say anything at all to her.

I called my friend Alene, because McKenna had been at her house and she said that they had just dropped her off at home.  I gave the them the scoop on what was going on and their sweet daughter, Lorina, sent out a text asking for prayers for George.  When I got off the phone with Alene I called McKenna to let her know what was going on, gave her some instructions.  A little bit after I got off of the phone with her I realized just how scared the girls and Jona might be so I asked Ty's mom and dad who were in the waiting area if they would go home and be with the kids there.  They were more than happy to do that and I am so grateful to them for being there for Jona, Kenna and Jilli.  I guess when they walked in the door McKenna and Jillian came up the stairs just crying and crying.  So thankful that they were there to help them out and ease their fears.

When I went back into be with George he had been talking earlier about the short person with the red legs, which it turned out was Jillian. She had been wearing red pants.  He did not know what pants were.  In fact when they asked him to take off his pants he thought they meant to take off his legs.  Tyran had to explain that his pants came off and his legs were inside his pants.  As I came back into the room I heard him talking to Tyran about drinking and orange drink earlier that day.  This was a positive thing because he had taken an orange Mexican soda into his Spanish class that day for their fiesta.  As I was going in and out of the room trying to get a hold of George's friends I could hear Tyran gently asking him about what he could remember.

I sent a text off to my supervisor at CTMH letting her know that there was a possibility that I might not be in to work today and let her know what was happening.  As I was typing that text the reality of what was going on hit me and I started to cry and had a mini breakdown.  I had my back turned to George as I sent the text off and when I turned around he looked at me and asked me why my face was so red.  Ty explained to him that I had been crying. I just smiled and winked at George because I couldn't talk.

When they had finished with all the tests and we were waiting for the results there was finally time for Brad to come back in and help Tyran give George a blessing.  I cried the whole way through it. He was blessed that he would be able to regain his memory quickly and that this had happened to him for a purpose.  What purpose I don't know but I believe that to be true.  After the blessing we were talking with him and that's when things really started coming back.  Ty began showing him pictures of people on his phone to see if he recognized them.  He looked at me and said "You're my mom."  I asked him if he knew what my name was.  He didn't but he knew that it started with an S. And he said that he knew Tyran was his dad and that his name started with a T.

Then asked about the tall guy at home that looked sad when we left. He meant Jona. He wanted to call and talk to him and Jillian and McKenna so I called home. First he talked to Jillian and then he wanted to talk to McKenna but Jilli told him that Kenna had gone with her grandparents to get dinner from the Purple Turtle.  He looked at me with big eyes and said "I know that place. We go and eat there!"  He asked Jillian if she would call them and see if they would buy him dinner too.  I told him that I would get him some dinner from there if the doctor said that it was okay.  He talked to Jona and at the end of the conversation he told him that he loved him.  And I cried again.

About this time Dillon Peterson our Elders Quorum President came in to check on us.  We asked George if he knew who he was and he said that he was Holden.  Which considering everything was pretty good.  Holden is his son who is the same age as George.  And then he said "And your last name is Peters"  again pretty good.  My brother Roger called to check on him and George talked to him. He said "I know you.  You have a mustache!"

 He talked about remembering the funny voices.  George can do a mean "Golem" and has a talent for doing voices.  He said his tooth hurt and then he said I remember sitting in a chair and they had their hands in my mouth.  And it was a specific tooth that was hurting and it was the one that the dentist had filled a cavity in the previous week.  After hearing that I wasn't worried as much about it being a seizure.

Then he said "I remember.  I remember what happened."  He then told us that he had tripped over something in the kitchen.  We are thinking that it was probably Vishnu, the cat. He had fallen backwards and as he was falling he was flailing trying to catch himself and he knocked a wooden rolling pin that was on the top of the kitchen hutch off and it fell and hit him in the head.

Isn't that crazy?

Then doctor came in and told us that all of his test had come back completely normal except for the one dealing with hyperventilation.  (Don't ask me what it is right now.  I don't know)  He had hyperventilated so much that his oxygen was VERY low.  This is what George does when he is scared or hurt, he starts breathing really shallow and starts to hyperventilate.  It's how his body tends to react.  He said that we need to remember this and to have him breathe into a paper bag and that should help.  He also said that because of his previous concussion he will be more prone to having concussions.  They ruled this incident a concussion and told us we could go home.

George has to get 8 to 10 hours of sleep every night for the next week.  No running, sports or activity of any kind.  He has to let his brain recover. Then he has to be 10 days free of any symptoms before he can get back into any type of sports again.  So it looks like this season of wrestling might be over again.

It was a very scary evening.  Not gonna lie one of the scariest nights of my life. Tyran is home with George now and they are going to see the doctor and check things out this morning.

I want to thank everyone who prayed or sent good vibes and thoughts our way.  And continue to do so.

Each and every prayer and good thought was felt.  Understand this.  We were buoyed up through this power last night.  I really believe that things would have been much darker and scarier without all of the goodness and the power of your prayers flowing to us from all of you.

I do not know what I would do without such amazing friends and family. Friends that step in and offer comfort and support and love.  Who stop by just with hugs and a smile.  Who happily step up to do whatever it is that they can to help out. Who send messages over the interwebs of comfort and support and love.  You are always there for us.

Thank you.
Thank you.

I cannot begin to express my gratitude for the power of the Priesthood.  For a husband, who holds that Priesthood and honors it.  Who is worthy to give our son a blessing in time of need. For my brother, Brad, who is not only my brother but my bishop as well. For the comfort that came from that Priesthood blessing and the love and the peace that flowed into that room as it was given.  Not only to George but to me as those words of prayer were said with hands placed upon his head.

My heart is full.
I am truly, truly blessed.