Crazy Night
I'm not sure where to start with this, but many of you already know the issues that IL has had with febrile and non febrile seizures. She has been seizure free since August, and has only had one minor fever since then.
Mike and I have wondered if ML would have similar issues in his life. I wanted to think that this was just something that was an isolated to IL's life, and hoped that none of our other children would face similar problems. Well, two nights ago, ML started running a very mild fever. Monday night, he was up a couple of times in the night, and we gave him ibuprofen and he slept until morning. During the day, he seemed to be fine, a little more cranky than normal, but I thought that he was having a fever as a result of the immunizations he had a week ago. (The doctor said he could have a fever anytime between the shots, and up to 20 days following the shots.)
I really didn't think much of it, in fact, my two cute nieces came over for a while on Tuesday, as well as one of my friends and her little boy. I gave ML some medicine around 8:00p.m. and he went to bed for the night. Then he woke up around 12:30, feeling more fevered than he had the day before. His temperature was 102.3. We gave him some more medicine, and put him back to bed a hour later. He slept for another hour, then woke up again. By this time, it was about 2:30, and 10 minutes after I brought him in our room, he went into a seizure. We started timing it, just like we were used to doing with IL. After 3 minutes, we called 911. (IL seizures would never last longer than 2 or 3 minutes). When it got to be closer to 8 minutes, we told them to send an ambulance. They arrived just after he finished having the seizure. It was 14 minutes in total. I remember thinking that is was never going to end. It was the longest 14 minutes of our lives. He immediately fell asleep. They started poking and prodding him, which woke him up. We told them that we would take him to the hospital on our own, because we remembered how much the ambulance ride was for IL two years ago. But they called the hospital, and said it would be safer if they transported him to the hospital. Mike went with him, and I called my parents to see if they would come out and watch the girls. It was one of those phone calls that you don't ever want to make. My mom was out here in 30 minutes, (thank you mom!) and I went to the hospital, which is only 5 minutes away. The girls slept through the whole ordeal.
When I arrived at the hospital, they had just finished doing a lumbar puncture (to get spinal fluid to check for meningitis). They also did a chest x-ray, checked for RSV, meningitis, and influenza. His tests came back positive for Influenza A. He doesn't really have any signs of a cold though, so this may be the beginning stages of the virus. He slept off and on at the hospital and was so glad to get home and sleep in his own bed. Mike took him to our pediatrician this morning, and he will be in touch with us to let us know where to go from here. We may not have to do anything more unless ML has more of these types of seizures. They were very concerned about the length of the seizure. They said the majority of febrile seizures last only of couple of minutes, just like IL's had.
Having been through this whole thing once before with IL, I feel a lot calmer and more at peace with the situation, knowing that the Lord knows what we are going through and is there for us no matter what. I don't know what I would do without that knowledge. This is hard, but it is something that is our trial in this life. I'm just so grateful that my kids are all alive and healthy. There are so many children out there who struggle for breath every day of their lives. We really saw that a lot when we were at Primary Children's Hospital last year with IL. We don't know what is ahead for ML and our family, but we do know that no matter what, the Lord is always there, and Jesus Christ suffered all things for us, and knows exactly what we are going through during this time. That knowledge is priceless.
Mike and I have wondered if ML would have similar issues in his life. I wanted to think that this was just something that was an isolated to IL's life, and hoped that none of our other children would face similar problems. Well, two nights ago, ML started running a very mild fever. Monday night, he was up a couple of times in the night, and we gave him ibuprofen and he slept until morning. During the day, he seemed to be fine, a little more cranky than normal, but I thought that he was having a fever as a result of the immunizations he had a week ago. (The doctor said he could have a fever anytime between the shots, and up to 20 days following the shots.)
I really didn't think much of it, in fact, my two cute nieces came over for a while on Tuesday, as well as one of my friends and her little boy. I gave ML some medicine around 8:00p.m. and he went to bed for the night. Then he woke up around 12:30, feeling more fevered than he had the day before. His temperature was 102.3. We gave him some more medicine, and put him back to bed a hour later. He slept for another hour, then woke up again. By this time, it was about 2:30, and 10 minutes after I brought him in our room, he went into a seizure. We started timing it, just like we were used to doing with IL. After 3 minutes, we called 911. (IL seizures would never last longer than 2 or 3 minutes). When it got to be closer to 8 minutes, we told them to send an ambulance. They arrived just after he finished having the seizure. It was 14 minutes in total. I remember thinking that is was never going to end. It was the longest 14 minutes of our lives. He immediately fell asleep. They started poking and prodding him, which woke him up. We told them that we would take him to the hospital on our own, because we remembered how much the ambulance ride was for IL two years ago. But they called the hospital, and said it would be safer if they transported him to the hospital. Mike went with him, and I called my parents to see if they would come out and watch the girls. It was one of those phone calls that you don't ever want to make. My mom was out here in 30 minutes, (thank you mom!) and I went to the hospital, which is only 5 minutes away. The girls slept through the whole ordeal.
When I arrived at the hospital, they had just finished doing a lumbar puncture (to get spinal fluid to check for meningitis). They also did a chest x-ray, checked for RSV, meningitis, and influenza. His tests came back positive for Influenza A. He doesn't really have any signs of a cold though, so this may be the beginning stages of the virus. He slept off and on at the hospital and was so glad to get home and sleep in his own bed. Mike took him to our pediatrician this morning, and he will be in touch with us to let us know where to go from here. We may not have to do anything more unless ML has more of these types of seizures. They were very concerned about the length of the seizure. They said the majority of febrile seizures last only of couple of minutes, just like IL's had.
Having been through this whole thing once before with IL, I feel a lot calmer and more at peace with the situation, knowing that the Lord knows what we are going through and is there for us no matter what. I don't know what I would do without that knowledge. This is hard, but it is something that is our trial in this life. I'm just so grateful that my kids are all alive and healthy. There are so many children out there who struggle for breath every day of their lives. We really saw that a lot when we were at Primary Children's Hospital last year with IL. We don't know what is ahead for ML and our family, but we do know that no matter what, the Lord is always there, and Jesus Christ suffered all things for us, and knows exactly what we are going through during this time. That knowledge is priceless.
Comments
Your family is certainly growing up!
Hey...stop with the food pictures...I am now starving!!
I sure do love you guys!!