Seizure # 2

Last Friday, I ended up in the ER again due to a seizure, and this time I KNOW I didn't take 2 of any pill.
I went to bed around 11 and woke up at 1sh not knowing who I was and Keith in front of me getting me ready. I again didn't know who he was, who I was or where I was. Worse this time, I cut my face open on the shelf beside my bed and needed stitches. So off I went to the ER where I was stitched up and released. I meet with the Neurologist again on the 8th and I am praying for some answers. As both have happened at night, how do I know it won't happen tonight?

Keith has been absolutely AMAZING when I know he is just as scared as I am.Emmy tells me daily to not get anymore scratches. I love my family :-)

The EEG

Emmy had her EEG done this past Wednesday. It actually went pretty smoothly overall (compared to last time when it couldn't be done at all LOL). I was told to keep her up longer than normal so she would be tired by her appointment time at 1:30 pm. Since that is Emmy's nap time anyhow, it worked well, and she was asleep about 5 minutes after the sedation was given.

The results should be in this week, so please keep your fingers crossed.

The difference of one week...

One week ago - Emmy was laying in a hospital bed, not talking, or showing any recognition for Keith or I, let alone any reaction to the activity surrounding her in the ER. Not a peep. Not a cry. Not a complaint/grunt/groan when the nurses stuck her with needles. The only reaction she had was her facial expression.

One week ago....I was so scared I was going to lose my baby girl as we drove to the hospital with her seizing on my lap.

I took this video tonight of Keith and Em playing.

I'd say she's feeling better, wouldn't you?


Publish Post

Em's hospital stay - part 3

Emmy had a barrage of tests in the 3 days she was in the hospital. Makes me pretty thankful for our health-care system as when we were discharged, the only paper I got was Emmy's discharge instructions. I think we take our Universal Health Care system for granted at times as many are not as fortunate. I constantly felt every nurse and doctor treated Emmy as if she was their own. She had blood & urine tests x2, tox screens to check for any ingested causes of the seizure, chest xray,the afore-mentioned spinal tap, an ekg, an attempted eeg (wasn't able to be completed as Emmy refused to sleep- but will be attempted again). All tests came back normal. The eeg will tell us if this seizure was, in fact, caused by the fever rather than epilepsy or a brain lesion. Obviously, I am hoping for the cause to be the fever, and that does seem the most likely at this point.

We were originally going to be discharged on Monday, but that was delayed as Emmy would not stand on her own without complaining of pain. She would stand, hunched over, like a 90 year old. As she had the spinal tap, this caused some more concern with the Pediatrician. She showed no further signs of seizure activity, which was great, but now there was the concern about her back. Overall, Emmy's mood was good, a little whinier than normal, and she was far more lethargic than normal.

Tuesday morning, it was like someone flipped a switch with Emmy. She was 110% her old self. She ran from activity to activity in the playroom, ran down the hall to her 'fishies' (a fish tank on the Ped unit) and would comment if she heard a baby cry down the hall, 'baby cry' she would say matter-of-factly) They found that she grew Strep G on her throat swab, which can grow normally in infants, but the Pediatrician felt that was the cause of her fever. Again, it sounds to me like this was a febrile seizure rather than a more serious cause, but we won't be able to officially say that until after the eeg.

We came home Tuesday, and boy it has been nice to be home with Emmy. I was off this week anyhow, so I have had the chance to be over-protective and ensure my daughter was fine. I bought two (yes two) thermometers, and I have taken Em's temp probably 20 times in the past 3 days. Am I a freak? Probably, but I guarantee you would do the same (or at least have the urge to). Emmy has been herself, and is fully taking advantage of my happiness of having her home by asking for 'nummy treats' often.

A little side note. Emmy would say prior to this episode, 'tummy hurts' and would ask for a nummy treat. She would say her tummy hurt in the hospital, but I could not say for sure if her tummy actually hurt or whether she was looking for a treat. lol

Emmy's Hospital Stay -spinal tap

Emmy was given a spinal tap somewhere between 1-2 am on Sunday. I was planning to be in the room as they did the procedure, but Keith was having a breakdown of his own at that point, so I went to support him. Emmy was not conscious for the procedure and it went well by all accounts. It was probably better I wasn't in the room - I know how nervous I get when people watch me, and these people were sticking a needle into my baby's back. Best not to distract them.

Once done, the Pediatrician indicated that she was happy with the spinal fluid - as it was clear. I watched as 4 vials were sent down to the lab. Emmy was still sedated. A nurse came in to ask us 4 pages of questions about Emmy, and our family medical history. The most insane question? Are you staying the night? Where the hell else would I be? My 28 month old child has just had a seizure and is unconscious after a spinal tap...I am not only spending the night, you will be positively sick of me! Of course I just meekly said yes. I sat in the chair beside the crib, and just watched Emmy sleep. Keith crawled into bed (there was a queen sized bed in the room) and tried to get some sleep.

After the 4 am vitals check, I went to try to get some sleep. I couldn't shut off my mind, so no sleep was had by me at that time. I went back to the chair beside the crib and just listened to Keith snore and Emmy breathe.

At 6 am, the nurses returned for a vitals check. Emmy woke up this time and immediately called out for both Keith and I. That was the sweetest thing I have every heard as she had not said a word since the seizure and had not shown recognition for either of us. I quickly sat up so she could see me, and she smiled. Then, she went to work on trying to get out of her crib and pulling the cords off her body. She especially did not enjoy her IV, hence why her hand is so taped up in the picture on the previous post. Anything to keep it in.

Emmy put up such a fuss about the crib, they ended up bringing in a hospital bed for her to sleep in. That appeased her. Satisfied my baby was stable, Keith stayed with her as I got 2 hours sleep. Although she was still running a fever, it was under control, Emmy was talking, and acting somewhat normal. This was the first in a serious of good steps to her recovery.

The one where Emmy went to the hospital

It's not likely I will forget the incidents of July 5th, 2008 anytime soon.

It started as a normal, but busy Saturday morning. I had a dentist appointment at 7 am, and I returned with some breakfast for Keith and Emmy. Emmy ate normally, and all seemed well. Keith went off to work.

Em and I hung out. I was really tired from my early morning appointment and Emmy seemed drained as well. She napped twice, both longer than usual, and was whiny when awake. Very unlike her. I put it down to her coming down with something as she felt warm. I tried dosing her with some Motrin and she refused. I didn't push it as she was drinking well.

Keith came home around 5:30 and I shared my concerns with him. She was still warm, so I asked him to try to give her the Motrin. Again, she refused. I tried again, and she just spit it out. All very unlike her. Emmy laid on the couch, eating freezies and watching Dora. I was telling Keith my concerns and thought we should take her to the walk-in clinic at least as my 'Mommy radar' was telling me something wasn't right. He didn't think it was necessary, which caused a bit of bickering between us. I went to the kitchen to cook some pasta, and Keith sat on the floor beside Em, and interacted with her.

A few moments later, Keith said, "Jan, we need to go, NOW." I came out from the kitchen and Emmy was standing by the sofa with glassy eyes and was not 'there'. She was unresponsive and you could tell something was seriously wrong. I grabbed her, and we went quickly to the car to go to the ER.

Once on the way, Emmy started having a seizure. She was foaming at the mouth, and gasping/choking. It was horrible to watch and I was as scared as I have ever been. I attempted to make sure she didn't choke on her tongue, but other than that, there was nothing at I could do but watch. (We have now learned proper seizure first aid - so if you are yelling at the monitor, we won't be repeating those mistakes again - we were motivated by fear) I was absolutely fearful that I was going to lose my child. We shaved a good 5 minutes off a 10 minute trip, but it still felt like far too long as my child fought to breathe. We got to the hospital, Keith grabbed Emmy, who now was limply laying in my arms, and took her in to the ER. I parked the car, although I still don't know how I managed to plug the meter as my hands were shaking.

I ran into the ER and the nurse asked if I was the mother. I indicated yes, and gave her Em's care card. (They had asked Keith for it and he indicated I was following with it) She asked me to describe the events of the evening, and I just looked at her as all I could think about was my daughter and what was going on. I gave her a brief run down, and they lead me into the room where a team of doctors/nurses were working on my child.

My first thought when I walking into the room was how small was on that big bed. Keith and I stood off to the back, but the nurse told me I could come up and hold her hand if I wanted. Like she needed to ask that. I stood beside Emmy, who had her eyes closed, but she gripped my hand like no tomorrow. The pediatrician on-call was paged, and everyone was asking questions about our day. Did she vomit? What did she eat today? Did she eat/get into anything she should not have? Are there any drugs in the house? Any alcohol? Do either of you smoke? When did you notice something was wrong? When did she start seizing? How long did it take you to drive here?

It was scary and frantic. The doctor stated that her working diagnosis was that Emmy had a febrile seizure and they were timing her recovery time. With febrile seizures, a child should be drowsy but alert 20 minutes from onset. Emmy was not. Once she did open her eyes, she also would not turn her head to the left. She also showed no recognition for either Keith nor I. She would look through you. It was a horrible, horrible feeling.

The Pediatrician arrived and we were moved to the Pediatric ward as there was a trauma coming into the ER. I signed a release to do a spinal tap as they needed to rule out Meningitis and Encephalitis.

Emmy was given sedative (she just fricken woke up, people!) so they could complete the spinal tap and was put into a crib, with all sorts of wires and monitors on her. The nurses came in with every little blip and did vitals every 2 hours. At this point - all we had to go on was that it it was *possibly* a febrile seizure, but they were doing further testing to rule out other diseases. My baby - although under serious supervision - was stable. Although not a perfect scenario, was better than just a few hours prior.

Next post - more about her hospital stay...