Call it mother’s intuition, or just careful observation, I always know when my poor daughter is about to get sick.
She has a very telling look in her eyes when something is coming. Usually, it’s a fever. When I walked in to pick her up from preschool today, I saw it, and my heart sank. “Can I just take a nap when we get home?” She asked. That’s not typical. My stomach still turns when she gets a fever, thinking back to when she was just over 1, the day before thanksgiving, and she had her first seizure. We could tell, by that look in her eyes, she wasn’t feeling well. She was just… droopy. She wasn’t yet walking but crawled out into the living room and I was half paying attention to her, half doing about a million other things. She laid down on the rug with her face toward the shag carpeting and I kind of laughed thinking how silly she was. Until I realized she hadn’t chosen to lay down, she had lost consciousness. I quickly lifted her, arms and legs hanging limp, and handed her to my husband. We kept trying to talk to her and rub her face as I called 911. That day was my first ambulance ride. By the time the paramedics arrived she was breathing again and was in and out of consciousness. They assessed her and we decided it was best to take her by ambulance to the hospital. Mind you, this was 2020. Covid was rampant, and hospitals were full. My anxiety was through the roof and I wondered if we would be exposed as we sat on a portable gurney in the hallway- no rooms or beds available. There were sick people all around us, in other portable beds, and being wheeled past us, too. This entire situation was the most scared I’ve ever been, from the moment she slumped over, to a few days later, when we followed up with the pediatrician. All we deduced was that she had had a febrile seizure, and we were told that this “just happens” and can likely happen again. We’ve been so lucky that she hasn’t had more seizures. But that has been from no lack of effort. Any time I would see that look in her eyes, my stomach would turn, and I’d reach for the Tylenol. Every 4 hours. And Motrin every 6. All day. And all night. My poor girl. Now that she’s 3, she seems to have outgrown it, which the doctors told us would probably happen. But that doesn’t stop me from flashing back to that panic, and being extra cautious, just in case.
4 Comments
Teri
3/9/2023 06:37:06 pm
That is so scary! Glad to hear that she seems to have outgrown it.
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trina
3/9/2023 06:54:54 pm
oh my gosh! How scary!! I am so glad that your little one has not had any other seizures, but the fear will always be there. I hope it will fade a little bit each day though!
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Kim Ryan
3/9/2023 07:19:48 pm
Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry that you, your daughter and family had to deal with that. So very scary!
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Sara T.
3/13/2023 06:21:49 am
Fibrile seizures are scary all the time, but throw a packed Covid 2020 hospital into the situation and I can see why this memory will forever haunt you.
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Author5th grade teacher, wife, mama to my 3 magical babies, ally, advocate, doggy foster mom... just stumbling on. Archives
March 2022
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