And Up We Go

 Before you read this post, you should back up and read this post. If you already about what happened, then read on:

I fully expected Allie's follow up appointment from the pediatrician to go like this:

"Febrile seizures are fairly common in young children. It probably won't happen again, so no need to stress. Have a good day."

Or maybe I hoped and prayed with all my being that it would turn out that way.

As it turns out, there are 2 kinds of febrile seizures: simple febrile seizures and complex febrile seizures.  Simple febrile seizures are just that: simple. They usually occur just one time as the result in a high spike in temperature when a child is sick. A complex febrile seizure is a little more...well... complex. These seizures tend to start on one side of the body (like Allie's), happen more than once  (we are pretty sure Allie had 2), and occur in children who are a little too old to have febrile seizures.

Allie had a complex febrile seizure.

Last night, I asked Allie a few more questions about that night. Her story confirms for me that she did in fact have a seizure before I got to her.  She talked about how she used the restroom and then came back to her bed.

"I went to the potty and then I climbed up on my bed. I was just sitting here when I started wiggling. Then I went to sleep and when I woke up, I saw that I had thrown up on myself. So I tried to talk but I couldn't so I went to the wall and knocked like this (she shows me), then I ran to the door."

I said, "You ran??"

She said, "Yeah, like this." Then she shows me just where she ran and where she stopped. It was the exact place I found her when I came out of my room after the knock. So there it is, she felt the seizure coming on (the wiggling) and then she thought she went to sleep (the actual onset of the seizure).

So after sharing our story with the pediatrician and how the twitching started with the right side of her face and right arm before it moved to her whole body, he concluded that this was a left brain issue. Also, for about 15 minutes after the seizure I noticed the right side of her face wasn't moving when she talked or smiled. The movement was fully restored by the time we arrived in the emergency room.  To further explore this, they are going to set up an appointment to run an electroencephalogram (EEG). She has to be sleep deprived so as to induce seizure like symptoms in the brain. Sounds fun, huh? This will also mean I will have to be sleep deprived to be able to keep her up. Anyone out there ever have to go through this with young children? Any advice?

I also learned that Allie is just a little too old to have a febrile seizure. Generally, these kinds of seizures can happen from age 6 months-5 years, but are much less common after age 3. So this is a bit concerning.

She tested a very faint positive for strep throat too. Maybe it caused the fever? Who knows, but I sure hope so. She is on antibiotics just in case.

Since her episode, she has been like nothing has happened. The doctor kept her our of school for the remainder of this week so she has been happily playing with her brother all day. I am glad she is happy and carefree. When, besides childhood, are we ever this carefree? Never. And I intend to let her enjoy it. I will be the one doing the worrying for her, because that's my job :)