Seizure

Allie had a seizure last night. I keep debating whether I want to re live this story right now on our family blog, but so many who care for our daughter have called, texted, facebooked, and I thought maybe it would be therapeutic for me to just retell it now. The images of what happened are all I have been able to think about all day, maybe it's delirium from being up half the night, who knows?

So last night, Allie seemed perfectly normal. In fact the last time she was sick was a month ago and she just had a cold. She ended up giving it to all of us, but I was the last one to be sick and that was the end of September. About 3:30 AM, I heard her crying in her room. I quickly went to her and she was just sitting there in her bed distraught over being alone in the dark. That is what she kept saying "Oh, no, I'm all alone in the dark!". I walked in and I think I startled her. At the same time, I think she was just super glad to see me. I said "You are not alone any more" and I laid down with her. We both fell asleep for what seemed like a while, but when I went back to my bed it had only been 15 minutes according to the clock. So I laid in my bed with my eyes closed, but my mind wouldn't shut off. I remember thinking about the next days lessons for my class and some prep work I needed to do. Then my next thought was "Why can't I shut my mind off?" I heard Allie get up and use the restroom. I remember smiling to myself that she got up on her own without coming to tell me first. She still, to this day, no matter how many times I tell her that she does not have to ask, asks me to use the restroom. I made a mental note to myself to tell her in the morning that I had heard her and that I was proud of her for going all on her own.  I debated getting up and telling her but I thought that it would discourage this new found independence.

A few minutes later there was a knock on my bedroom wall. The wall that the head of my bed is the same wall as her room. We have used this signal before if she needed us, so I got up and she was standing in her door way. She had her mouth open like it was full of something (throw up maybe?). The front of her night gown was wet, and there was a few drops of drool on the floor. I asked if she threw up but she couldn't answer me. She just kept her mouth like it was and drool was just falling out of it. I rushed her to the toilet, quickly tied her hair back and asked her if she need to still throw up. When she would answer me it was like she was trying to talk with a mouth full of water. I kept telling her to spit out what was in her mouth and she would lean over the toilet but drool would just fall out. She couldn't move her lips to spit at all. I decided that maybe whatever was in her mouth was so gross she couldn't spit, so I filled a cup up with water and told her to spit like she was brushing her teeth. When I handed her the cup, I noticed she was trembling pretty bad. Still nothing. I went on a search for where she had thrown up in her room. I couldn't find anything.  Since the bathroom is right across from her room, I could see her standing there and I just kept asking her questions but she would not answer me in any language I could understand. I started to get frustrated with why she wouldn't spit out what was in her mouth.  I took her to the sink and even gave her tooth brush so that maybe she would feel like it would be easier to spit. Nothing, and more garbled mouth full of water talking. I got out the thermometer and took her temp. It was 101.5, nothing I hadn't seen before, but I needed to get her some motrin. I took of her wet night gown. I called for Jason telling him that Allie had a fever and had thrown up. He got out of bed quickly and when he came into the bathroom, I told him how she had something in her mouth and wouldn't spit it out to talk to me. Right then she started acting like she was chewing something. He told her several times to spit it out. Nothing. Once I saw the chewing motions I started to put it together in my head: excessive drooling, garbled speech, chewing/almost twitching motions with her mouth... I said "Jason, do you think she had a seizure? Or is about to have one?" He said that I should call 911. As soon as he said that I started to cry/freak out. I went into the kitchen to call because that is where I get the best cell service (no home phone here, but that is changing soon after this!). When I was on the phone with 911, Jason yelled "It's getting worse!" I came around the corner to see him holding her in his arms. I looked at her face and screamed what I saw to the dispatcher. The whole right side of her face was twitching. Jason told me later that he picked her up because her right arm was jerking around on it's own and he didn't want her to fall. She had a total glazed over look on her face. They told us to lay her down. As soon as Jason did, she really started to jerk around. Her eyes were open but she was not there. I was crying and trying to tell the dispatcher what I was seeing but it was really hard to stay calm. Then she started to vomit so Jason quickly put her on her side. A few seconds after vomitting, her eyes looked normal and she wanted to get up. It seemed to be normal and she looked confused as to why she was on the floor. I ran and grabbed a pair of jeans because I was only wearing an XL men's T- Shirt and (thank goodness) remembered a bra. I ran to open the door for fire fighters, they got there so quick! Of course we have a fire station across the street from us so that is probably why.
They said that she probably had a febrile seizure. I had heard of that before but I thought they only occurred with high fevers. She was 101.5, she has definitely had worse and NOT had a seizure. They said it wasn't about how high the fever was but how quickly it went up. Allie was able to answer all questions asked by the medics. When I told them the story of how she got up and knocked on the wall to alert me when she couldn't speak, they were very surprised. She was very brave. They strapped her to a gurney and I got in the back of the ambulance with her. She told me she was excited to get to ride in the back of the ambulance. Jason had called his mom and she got there right when they were putting her in the truck. Surprisingly, Ryan slept through the whole thing even though his room is right next to his sisters and his door was wide open. Jason's mom stayed with Ryan and followed us to the hospital. He got there just a few minutes after us. They got us in a room and vital signs taken. The doctor came to see us pretty quickly. He pretty much told us the same thing the medics did and ran a urine test. While we were doing some waiting, I asked Allie lots of questions to see what she remembered. I asked her why she didn't call for me and why she knocked on the wall instead. She said "Because I tried to call you, but my voice wouldn't work". Oh that just breaks my heart. :(

We got home around 10 am, so exhausted. After talking to my mom and rehashing the whole thing with her, I think Allie may have had 2 seizures. I think she had one in her bed alone and vomited then when she came to (kinda) she had enough sense to get me to her somehow, but couldn't speak. Then I think she had another one in front of us. That is just my theory though. That would explain her strange speech and drool. I read a lot about it online and it seems it is probably a one time thing, but we are following up with her pediatrician tomorrow. I still have lots of unanswered questions. Her fever has also been really hard to pull down even with doubling motrin/tylenol and baths. She seems happy and has played with her brother all day and eaten normally. I just can't get her fever below 100. I called the pediatricians office but they say waiting until tomorrows appointment should be fine. I am really nervous to sleep tonight because she still has that fever.

Thank you to everyone who called, texted and posted messages of reassurance and prayers on facebook. It means so much to us! Please keep us in your prayers and that it doesn't happen again. EVER.