The Most Scary Thing in the Whole World...

So here is what happened:

Saturday morning Alex woke up sick. He had a fever. When I changed him it seemed like he was in a lot of pain. He just kinda sat there. This kid doesn't know what the meaning of the word 'still' is, except for when we read books, so this was so sad. Daniel watched movies with him all morning while I fetched some forgotten groceries. In the afternoon Daniel left to go study for boards at school (like he has done for a few months). We gave Alex Ibuprofen at around 12 and put him to bed at like 12:30. He was exhausted, so I was expecting a long nap.

Around 2:40 I heard the strangest noise coming from his room. Usually when he wakes up he either talks or cries, this was neither. So I sat there and listened and made sure it was actually Alex (we have neighbors and all sorts of noises that often confuses me for Alex). It was just a consistent, rhythmic, pulsing noise that he was blurting out. So strange. When I finally figured out it was in fact Alex I raced into the room and found him convulsing and twitching. He was obviously having a seizure.

I scooped him up and ran to my room where my phone was. My first instinct was to call Daniel. However, when he gets into study mode he'll sometimes not look at his phone for an hour. Plus the service at RVU is horrible and I wasn't sure he'd even get my call.

So calling Daniel was out.

Then I thought I'd take him to the hospital myself. The image of me safely getting my seizing child into his car seat and driving without killing us was simply impossible.

Me driving was out.

There was no question- I had to call 911. All of these thoughts happened in about 0.935 seconds between Alex's room and my room (about 3 steps). I grab my phone and try about 4x to dial 911. Have you ever tried holding your seizing child and actually tried to dial anything?! ITS REALLY HARD! So finally I get through and the man on the other line wanted me to speak. Really? This was asking for a lot. I tried to tell him the address and only gasps were coming out. He kept saying 'ma'am I can't understand you. What is your emergency?' I took a huge breath and managed to give him the address and emergency.

This is when I really loose it. Alex's eyes were fixed off in the corner. His mouth was twitching. His shoulder, arms, legs- just everything was twitching and there was nothing I could do. And I was FREAKING out- to say the least. The dispatch guy told me to lay him down and not to try and stop him from doing anything.

• Lay him down- check.
• Open the door for the ambulance- check.
• Whisper that I love him and that I am right there with him- check.
• Wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait- check.

He was seizing for about 3-4 minutes.

Finally the EMT people showed up. He was still twitching so they stripped off his PJ's and grabbed him and ran out the door. I, with great difficulty, had to give another EMT general information. I had to remember and recite things like my address and phone number. It was surprisingly difficult. But I heard Alex screaming and I tell you what it was the most wonderful sound in the whole world. I grabbed my purse, his favorite blanket and his pacifier and ran to the ambulance.

That poor kid. He was screaming. He had oxygen on his face. They were trying to get a line in. He had wires all over the place. He was so scared. This is a boy who has to know everything that is going on. He observes his surroundings and is very cautious. So to wake up to a stranger racing him into a metal box and start poking and doing all this stuff to him must have been nothing short of sheer terror.

When we were in the ambulance is when I got a hold of Daniel. He was going to meet us at the hospital. En route I regained a little composure. I stopped crying. I was able to think more clear. I knew I was going to see Daniel soon. Whew!

After we got to the hospital everything was kind of a blur. He didn't stop screaming for over an hour. He was stiff and extremely difficult to hold. His lip was limp so I am thinking brain damage. They couldn't get an IV in to draw blood. They tried both hands and elbows :-( So what do they do? Put it in his HEAD. I had to leave the room for this one! Could not watch that. SO SO SO grateful for a husband who is strong enough to handle the really hard stuff!

When at last they got their blood samples he still hadn't calmed down (can you blame him?) so they gave him a sedative. He just laid there. All of the commotion had died down and at last we had some peace.

They ordered a CT scan AND a lumbar puncture to see if he had brain damage and/or meningitis. He did great at his CT scan and thankfully we got to hold his hands for that one. I once again had to leave for the lumbar puncture (apparently they never allow parents to stay for that one because it is just too difficult to watch. Daniel was able though because he's going to be a doctor). By this point my parents had gotten there which I was very grateful for. I couldn't make any decisions so they just came up and it was really nice to have them there.

Anyway- blood came back normal (only a slight elevation in white blood cells). CT was normal. Lumbar puncture was negative. We breathed a sigh of relief.

DIAGNOSIS: An A typical febrile seizure. It means his fever rose too quickly. His temp was only 101. But because of how quickly it shot up his body just had a seizure. There is absolutely nothing we can do to prevent these and apparently they just happen. (ARG!!!) And apparently once you have one you are more likely to have one again. (Are you kidding me?! ) They are pretty sure he has a virus of some sort- though they don't know what it is. And it's an 'a typical' because it wasn't a normal febrile seizure. Normal kids have these and simply snap out of it. No residual anything. But because Alex was unconsolable and his lip was weird they were worried something else was wrong.

So I think thats the story. It was the scariest thing I have ever ever ever experienced in my entire life and pray that it NEVER happens again.

This is a picture of him after they gave him the sedative :-( The bulge in the upper left part of the hat is where the IV is. They gave him this little hat to keep it safe and out of harms way :-(