Scariest Day Ever!
So it’s closing in on the end of the day. Suebee is fast asleep in bed and so is Ian. I’m in the family room downstairs with the Flyers/Devils game on TV that I DVR’d earlier. All I can think of is how differently this day could have turned out and how thankful and grateful I am to be sitting here with my two loved-ones asleep upstairs.
We were supposed to be in the Poconos right now, snug in our hotel room after a fun day of snow tubing! We were supposed to be going to Crystal Cave tomorrow.
Today was St.Paddy’s with Daddy’s Day at Ian’s preschool. Such a cute event. I took off from work today to attend this event with my son, and to have a family fun outing afterward.
Ian wasn’t himself this morning. He was whiny and temperamental. He gets nervous singing in front of people and was not excited to be doing so today.
We went to the event. He didn’t leave my side the entire time.
“Its OK, BooBoo” I told him. “You don’t have to sing if you don’t want to.” He got a chocolate donut. Didn’t have a bite. Wanted to go home.
As soon as we arrived home he climbed atop me in the chair and snuggled in. He still had his coat on, said he was chilly. I checked his forehead and he felt a little warm. Hmmm. Maybe he was coming down with something. Sue and I began to rethink our planned outing.
Ian got into his jammies and lay down on the couch with a blanket. He was asleep in an instant. Poor guy, we thought. Let him sleep for a few and we will check his temp.
That’s when it all began to unravel.
Twenty minutes later, while he was fast asleep on the couch, he began to vomit. He was not awake.
That’s when the seizure started.
His body began to shake, his eyes opened and went really wide but he was totally unresponsive. Sue was on the phone to 911 in an instant. He was vomiting and shaking uncontrollably. His breathing became erratic. I shoved two fingers into his mouth to keep him from swallowing his tongue (I’ve since been told by the doctors never to do that) and he clamped down like a vise. A minute felt like thirty!
After what felt like an eternity, his shaking began to slow and he was more spasmodic than shaking and as the shaking slowed, the clamping of his jaw increased. I was struggling to open his mouth to make sure he could breathe and suddenly wasn’t sure I was getting my fingers out of there. I had to do something! Fast! I pulled my fingers free and tried to use both hands to open his jaw when he suddenly went limp. His eyes rolled back into his head, his head lolled to the side, his body became limp and his chest was no longer rising and falling.
My wife and I saw the same thing. Our eyes met. We were both terrified!
“This cant be happening,” I thought to myself.
I picked him up as though I were going to make a mad dash for the door while realizing in a split second the futility of that. I threw him back on the couch and began pumping his chest praying I remembered my CPR.
But he suddenly gagged and began vomiting again. I rolled him on his side and slide him to the floor. It felt like hours but help would be there in seconds.
I saw the rise and fall of his chest. He was breathing. His heart was pounding and he was unresponsive, but he was taking in oxygen!
His tremors had ended.
He still was not conscious. His eyes were wide open, pupils dilated, but he wasn’t conscious.
My poor Ian. My pride and joy. My mini me. How can this be happening!
Police arrived and were soon followed by the ambulance. Vitals were checked and the professionals did what they were trained to do. They stabilized him and we were off to the hospital.
Febrile Seizure. It happens to children 6 and under when a fever spikes really high, really fast. He went from a “little warm” to probably 106 inside of a half hour. His fever was 104 when we got to Abington Hospital.
But he was awake and alert. He was fine.
Later that afternoon when we arrived home, it was surreal. He was sitting up watching Spongebob and saying he was hungry. I couldn’t believe what had happened just hours before. There were a few very tense minutes where my wife and I both were terrified we were losing him.
The doctor told us while its very scary to witness, the child usually isn’t in any real critical danger. I told the doctor that Ian had stopped breathing. The doctor said it was not uncommon for a child to stop breathing for a few seconds and, as he put it, reboot.
Febrile seizures happen to 1 out of every 25 children. That’s one every classroom! And they have no lasting effects, no memory of the incident and are very unlikely to ever have a recurrence.
Scariest day ever! Beware the Ides of March!
Parents, I pray you never experience this with your children. But there are a few things to keep in mind: Keep them on their side so they don’t choke on their vomit; do NOT put your fingers or anything else in their mouth – they are not likely to suffocate from swallowing their tongue; and keep them safe and ride it out. If it’s their first seizure, call 911 immediately!
So while Suebee and Ian are sleeping peacefully upstairs, I will get his next round of Advil ready.
I tell my son every day “Daddy loves you and is grateful for you.”
That was never more true than it was today.