Wednesday, September 30, 2009

passion pit & olive

i did something i've never done before last night -- went to a concert alone. my friend amanda gave me two free tickets to see passion pit, which was sold out, at newport and after passing one on to a friend (who already had a group of friends whom i didn't know to go with) i was like "hmm..." i hemmed and hawed and an hour and a half after the doors opened up david was like "JUST GET DRESSED AND GO!" it was fantastic advice. not only did i find free! rockstar parking! but i found a few guys (nick fancher, nate cate, andy malone, and john rueben) from church were already there. yay! i didn't have to stand alone! i must say i haven't had the best relationship with newport. the place is beautiful and nice but well, maybe i've just had bad luck so i don't have positive associations.

- built to spill 2001 - had one of the worst panic attacks of my life during the show, wound up in the ER
- unwritten law ~ 1999 - had a beer poured on my head from the balcony
- mxpx ~1997 - was pretty much sexually assaulted in the crushing crowd (guy had me pinned against the rail and just had a good time under my clothes while i was powerless to move and too young to know what to do)
- mxpx ~1997 - david broke his tooth

but! despite that negative association i have had some of the most amazing concert experiences there. flaming lips 1999 with looper was phenomenal, i mean pretty much i went to a show there a few times a month in high school it felt like. every band i loved, i saw them live at newport. so anyways last night was a fantastic show. the band is new enough that they were energized by the love of the crowd and young and unpretentious. and then of course their music was amazing. i've been wondering if michael angelakos was really that great of a singer or if he had fallen prey to overworking and auto tuning his vocals. being resounding "heck no" after last night. he might be one of the most talented singers i have ever seen live. what is on the album is exactly like his live vocals if you can believe it. highlight of the night was that someone brought what had to have been a trash bag or more full of glo sticks which were continually being tossed around the room like some ethereal rain. downside of the show - someone thrashing their beer around and splashing me, people smoking weed RIGHT UP NEXT TO ME, and a man using a railing and me (a whole buck 20 maybe) while asking me to help him crowd surf. seriously? do you not see my friends here who are all ~6 ft tall?


this was the highlight of my evening (though i cant deny that i really loved hearing little secrets too. i dont care how popular it is!!) if they are coming to a town near you, RUN GET TICKETS



ill start out this next part by prefacing that olive is just fine, however monday afternoon she might or might not have had a seizure. i came into the front room and she was crying and burying her head in the couch cushions. i picked her up and she started screaming so intensely she stopped making sounds. when i leaned her back in my arms to talk to her face to face she tensed up then went limp, stopped crying and just laid there expressionless but breathing deeply as if she were asleep. she then started urinating on me/the couch but showed no awareness of it even though by now i was jostling her and calling out her name. a few seconds later she sat up and asked me to clean her up and that was it. she seemed fine but for a few seconds she was MIA and it freaked me out.

olive had her first doctors appointment this morning with whole kids prediatrics. amy wakeling (a local midwife) recommended them for being low conventional-intervention though completely able bodied to prescribe anything we might need, though i've heard they rarely give out antibiotics to children, etc. we saw dr. sant who was awesome. olive loved her and let her do (most of) her tests. based on what happened she can't take seizure off the table so we are going for an EEG friday which will give us a definitive answer of yes or no. i actually have a lot of peace that things will be taken care of in the way they are supposed to so im not stressed at all oddly. well the only stress i have is "what the heck IS an EEG?" and wondering how olive will react to the procedure of data collection.

my only real stress about all this is that apparently they need her to fall asleep during the test so they can get a reading of her REM sleep pattern or something. i have very little confidence that olive will tolerate falling asleep in a hospital with electrodes strapped to her head but hey, let's all pray/send happy vibes that way cool? i have two great friends who are going to help me out with augustine, one is picking him up from school and the other is going to babysit him for a few hours while the tests are being done at the hospital. love love love my friends!

13 comments:

Doom For Darlings said...

So glad you went to the show, even alone, and had a great time! Sometimes, going alone is the best! Sounds like it was awesome!

Really hope little Olive is okay. That had to be really scary, but it sounds like you are in good hands and have found a great doctor. I'll be thinking of/praying for you guys!

Anonymous said...

We are going threw the same thing with my 8 month old and possible seizures. Not fun at all. Epilepsy runs in the children in the hubs' family. Specifically a lot of absence seizures, which sounds like what Olive had if she had one. All have grown out of it around puberty with no ill effects, one had to take meds briefly. I hope and will pray that Ms. Olive will be just fine.

Carly said...

Oh my goodness I LOVE Passion Pit. And Sleepy Head?! At 1:20 in that song I just can't stop myself from dancing! Love it!

And I will definitely be sending happy/calming vibes Olive's way.

Olive said...

yeah the crowd was really dancing up a storm at that part in the song.

amy said...

that sounds like a scary episode with olive! i am definitely praying for you and her, and that they are able to get the information they need at the EEG. i know it's little consolation, but i will say that our experiences with children's hospital have been pretty positive. (a couple of tests, ER, and getting ready for an upcoming surgery) i'm not a fan of lots of medical intervention, but they're pretty good at figuring out exactly what is going on...

Anonymous said...

my son, a two-year old, had a similar episode this summer at the public library. his reaction was so traumatic for my husband that they called an ambulance and went to the e.r. however, turns out it was just a "breath holding episode," which is really common in young children and looks frighteningly close to a seizure (a screaming mouth expression but with no noise coming out, limp limbs, etc.) you might look into that as well.
Lenore

Nat G said...

Jenny
Praying for you and Olive. I just wanted to say I've had seizures since I was 4 years old and they are a lot scarier to look at than they are to have. I remember EEg after EEG to try and get a diagnosis (never did) and they're a faff, but not at all uncomfortable. I'm sure Olive will take it all in her stride :-)
Tash

Jamie said...

I'll be praying for you AND Olive!!

Anonymous said...

Best wishes for you and Olive, and p.s. I LOVE PASSION PIT.

Anonymous said...

my 2 and a half year old daughter has been having the same "episodes" every few months since she was about 9 months. They totally scare me every time but we haven't been able to figure out what they are from. We rarely see doctors, but thanks to your post I have called her pediatrician to try and figure this thing out. Thanks again!!

Olive said...

this is the first time that olive has been to a doctor (besides my dad who is a chiropractor) she has been healthy as a horse her whole 2.5 yrs on this earth and im really grateful for that. this situation however, motivated me to see one because as a mom, i really needed that professional opinion.


thanks for all the prayers guys! tomorrow is going to be stressful!!

Jen said...

Glad you decided to go to the show! I've been to so many awesome concerts at the Newport, it's one of the things I miss most about Columbus :) I totally was at the Flaming Lips/Looper show in '99 and it was awesome :)

I'm sorry you are going through this with Olive, but so glad you found a great doctor's office and she did well during the testing! I pray for great test results and that whatever caused that episode to happen, is healed and doesn't happen again! I pray that you and David have a peace about the situation also! I know how scary it is when your children have to go through medical troubles like this.

K said...

hey there, i wish i had noticed this post earlier!!

I've been having whats called 'silent stare' seizures since I was about her age..(Eventually a real one at age 14) at age 16 i finally was diagnosed with P.O.T.S.. (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome.. not sure if its spelled right.)
they were able to diagnose it by what you call a 'turn table test'
Talk to your doctor about it, as it will not show up on the test she just had.
it's nothing serious and mine is easily controlled by a diet of gatorades and powerades to keep my blood pressure up and regular.

Hope this may help.. i can understand its scary... good luck!!!!
Let me know if you have any questions about it.. a simple wiki read can give you some info.