We decided to round out our trip to Florida with an impromptu visit to a theme park. Universal Studios did not disappoint! The lines were short, the park mostly empty, and the oldest of our children loved everything about this surprise! We made a few stops before entering the Wizarding World of Harry Potter - but once there, the kids were enthralled with all things HP, and truthfully we spent the majority of our day waving wands and casting spells.

God gave us clear skies and child-like joy for the day.

We had finished a Jurrasic Park water ride, and were starting to walk towards the exit of the park, when Em appeared to start swatting a bug away from her. It is Florida, there are bugs the size of small raptors, so we didn't think much of it. Until she started spinning in a clockwise rotation and was not responsive.

Pause. Rewind.

Em had febrile seizures as a small child, and two suspected seizures around the age of 8. Unable to reproduce the seizures, and without further incident, there was no need for her to continue as a neuro patient.

Unpause.

We recognized her repetitive movements and unresponsiveness - I started the timer and kept her upright, her brother started filming so we had something to show the doctors when they asked, and her daddy went for cold water and to put in the call for a medic. (Side note - Universal Studios was AH-MAZING with this effort!) After pouring cold water on her head, we were able to stop the timer at the 8 minute mark, only to start it again for 3 hours of amnesia.

Quick recap: the hospital in Florida contacted our hospital back home, waited for her to come out of her amnesia, and had us follow up with the neurology team on Monday. Em had no deficit and all of her tests/bloodwork were normal. Met with the neurologist back home, and she put Em in the queue for a week-long study, which would include a battery of tests (MRI/EEG etc).

Did you know that some medicines used for psychiatric needs actually double as anti-seizure medication? God knew.

God prepared our family to function as a team in an emergency, provided cold water, quick responders, and doctors/nurses with eyes to see and ears to hear.

Do you see this face? I love this girl. After completing her MRI, Em was hooked up with EEG leads and wrapped up like a beautiful princess mummy, complete with a floral hair piece from her incredible EEG tech. The hospital staff and accommodations were absolutely amazing, and we settled in for a week of monitoring.

Fast forward to day two.

The sun came up, and as this blond-haired, blue-eyed girl rose from her pillow, her head wrap had slid off of her head in the night and she needed a few leads re-secured.

Her head itched. Her chin itched. She was hot and sweaty. She kept touching her leads when she scratched her head. She tugged at the chin strap.

Don't get me wrong - she smiled and laughed and made the best out of being attached by 40 wires to the wall - but she was miserable.

God blessed us in this place - physically, mentally, emotionally. He truly went before us.

Ya'll. I have crocheted for nearly three decades. The unfortunate part about that is I always pack more yarn than I need. (I also include enough to give away in the event I am presented with an opportunity to teach another worried mama how to focus on something (and someone) other than the wires coming out of their child's itchy head.)

Thought: "Too bad I didn't make her a "messy bun" style hat before we arrived - we could have threaded the wires through the top before applying them to her head."

The thought in my head became more of an out-loud statement while the EEG tech was in the room adjusting one of Em's leads.

Response: "Well, if the hole in the top were big enough to fit around the box, we can just unplug her from the wall for a second and put that through the hole in the top."

Pause. Rewind to 4AM on Day 1.

Standing in my bathroom, running through the mental checklist of everything a mother and her teenage daughter could need for a week-long stay in a hospital, and a fresh pack of elastic hair ties catches my eyes. I think to myself, "you don't need those, Gin." And God puts it on my heart that I do, in fact, need that stash of hair ties, so I shrug my un-caffeinated shoulders and put them in my purse.

Unpause. Fast forward to 7PM on Day 2.

Those elastic hair ties from my bathroom stretched to exactly the size needed to go around the electrode box! Now to essentially make a messy bun hat. It was a fad a few years ago and I never jumped on the bandwagon - so I looked to Etsy to find a quick pattern so my sweet girl could get some solid sleep that night. Luckily, she was having a sleep deprived study and could not close her eyes until midnight - aka plenty of time to whip up a crochet hat with my stash of supplies. (Let's be real here, God's stash of supplies.) A few tweaks to make the hat pattern longer, the invention of a chin strap, and the addition of a few buttons, and voilah!

A happy girl, no longer a mummy, and minus one itchy, sweaty, miserable mess!

The best part? She woke up the next morning, hat still on, leads still in position. As a matter of fact, the hat (and leads) stayed in position until the morning of Day 4 - at which point, only one lead needed to be reapplied. ONE.

Increased level of comfort for the patient + reduced costs for the hospital.