Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Scariest Minutes of My Life

I have aged.....10 years at least in the last 2 days. Following a wonderful weekend of playing outside and having great fun, E developed a very low fever Sunday evening. He is cutting 2 year molars and was acting normal in every other way, so I did what I'd like to think most mom's would do - I gave him some Motrin and put him to bed.
At 3 a.m. we were awakened by one, strange cry - Moms, you know the one - it's not scared, hurt, angry or sad - it's that weird sound that you can't identify. We both got out of bed and found our little guy having a seizure in his crib. I consider myself pretty medically intelligent and quite level headed in the face of an emergency and I will tell you that I crumbled and completely lost my head. There is nothing that can describe the fear and the helplessness that goes through you at a time like that. I stood, sobbing and hysterical in the middle of my living room holding my baby and I had no clue what to do. His seizure lasted all of 2-3 minutes, but it was the next 30 that were even harder. He was totally limp and unresponsive, his pupils were dialated and fixed, he wouldn't look at anything or anyone or turn to sound or light, he wouldn't pull back when pinched. I still hear the loud moan he kept doing and it sends chills down my spine.

By the time we arrived via EMS at the hospital he was beginning to show some signs of life and within about 5 hours he was inching closer to normal; exhausted, but normal. We were admitted and it turns out he has influenza. Not "the flu" like everyone thinks with the stomach problems, real influenza - the one you get vaccinated for. He, like thousands of others, has the strain that was not in the vaccine this year. Really, there is nothing you can do, but treat the fevers and keep hydrated and ride it out, so that's what we are doing. The doctor expects a complete recovery in about 7-10 days and has given us about a 33% chance that we will see another seizure in the future if he has a strange infection or high fever.

I was, once again, amazed by the bravery and resilience of my little child. He put up with all the poking and prodding like a champ. He spent nearly 39 hours in that bed in my arms and didn't fuss a whole lot. In the very early morning hours today he was saying "done, done" as soon as a nurse walked in before she even started messing with him.

We are home now, showered, bathed, fed and E is resting comfortably. I'm not sure if I will be able to put him to bed tonight as if nothing ever happend - we'll see.

People may think I'm nuts, but yes, I took pictures of him - I figure moments are moments whether they're good, bad or otherwise and this was definitely a major occurrance in all of our lives. Here's my brave, little soldier:

I was trying to get his thumb out - after 5 trys, the only place they could get his IV was in his thumb-sucking hand - very upsetting for him!

(Don't mind scary-looking mommy)


Gettin a little daddy-love

6 comments:

Cindy LaJoy said...

I am so glad he is ok Shannon, that picture where they were trying to put the IV in was a tough one...they are resilient, aren't they? If only we mommies weren't as soft :-) Hang in there, Cindy

Lisa Brotherton said...

Shannon,
How very frightening! I have an 11 and 13yo and (knock on wood) I have never been to the hospital with either...
However, my great-nephew, 18 months in MO, was life-flighted Sat to St louis Children's Hosp. for the exact symptoms your son showed. He had been ill for almost 3 weeks (just wasn't quite over the flu) and NO fever.
We are still waiting for definative answers. He had two seizures, one at home, the second at their local, rural hospital after a CAT scan. Then he slept for over 10 hours.
You will be an even better mom after making it through this trauma. "that which doesn't kill you, makes you stronger"
I hope he feels better each day.

janiece said...

We have to talk--I'm in Madison!
My email is wildnene@yahoo.com
Janiece

Hilary Marquis said...

How scary for all of you. I am so glad that he is alright. You did good, Mom! Just holding our son down for an IV when he got dehydrated was a nightmare, I can't imagine what you went through. Hang in there.

Praying,
Hilary

Julie and John Wright said...

Been there done that and have the T-shirts....I have one daughter that would have seasurs and loose all vital signs every time she was sick.. she spent a year on an apnia monitor 24 7.... and it came to pass... praise God it did not come to stay... all is well now... We will pray that yours will come to pass.
Blessings John

Maria said...

Scary moments and it took me right back there. When Josh was around 2, the same thing happened. Fever spiked, seizure, hospital and then ok. We were told it might possibly happen again, but thank goodness it never has (he's 10 now). I'm so glad he's going to be ok!