Seizures Suck

"Seizures suck!!" - Jill Soldatke

I have always known that. But yesterday, from a first hand experience we learned how bad it feels to watch your child seize!

Cayman had three seizures. It was as horrible of an experience as we always imagined it would be. Her body became limp, she twitched, her eyes rolled to the side, and her personality disappeared. She was awake but it's like she wasn't there.

It felt like the most agonizing minutes of my life and it is a difficult for me to write about it. Even now, in the afternoon of the next day after the seizures happened, I can still cry every time I think about it.

When the first two seizures occurred, we were out shopping. It was nearly 2 hours past Cayman's bed time so we were trying to quickly get done. Mike and I split up in the store to gather our needed items. I took Cayman along with me. That's when I saw the first seizure. That one was mild and brief, maybe lasting about 15 seconds. I wasn't even totally certain it was a seizure, I just knew something wasn't right. Cayman wasn't quite herself. I kissed her forehead and she felt warm. I slipped my finger down her shirt, just under the collar, and she was burning up! I frantically grabbed my cell phone to get a hold of Mike in the store to come meet me. We took Cayman's sweater off, stripping her down to her onesie. She seemed to be a little better after that. So we calmly headed to check-out. Then Cayman started to seize again. This one much stronger. We apologized to the startled cashier and quickly exited the store, leaving in the middle of the check out process.

Cayman came out of that seizure about 8 minutes later and was sleeping peacefully. At that point we had driven to the nearest hospital and was outside of the E.R. doors when she had just fallen asleep. I was afraid that if we took her into the hospital she would wake up again and seize, when at that point I thought the lack of sleep was maybe bringing on the seizures. Cayman did have a big, long day in Ann Arbor the day prior and it was past her bedtime.

We decided to just drive home which was only a 15 minute drive from where we were. Our hometown has an E.R. just 3 minutes from our house so we felt assured that help would still be close if we needed it.

When we arrived at home, Cayman was still asleep and we laid her down in her bed. I took her temperature and in that process she woke up. The thermometer reported a 103 degree temperature. We grabbed the Tylenol but Cayman started to seize again.

Mike tried to call 911 from both of our cell phones but the call would not go through. Even now, trying to dial 911 does not work on our phones. This is a situation that our cell phone service is trying to get worked out for us. It is frightening not being able to call for help.

We grabbed our coats and not even stopping to take the time to put them on, rushed out the door with seizing Cayman in my arms. We drove to the E.R. and that is where she was until a little after 4 a.m.

They did lots of tests. Everything checked out fine. We're not really sure what caused the fever. It is possible she's fighting a little viral bug, along with teething, and a couple of busy days, all that in combination together brought on a fever, which is what caused the seizures (febrile seizure).

{It was so lovely to see Cayman's bubbly personality return.}

I rest a little easier knowing that a febrile seizure doesn't mean that this is the beginning journey of a trip down the epilepsy road. But my heart feels heavy as my mind is flooded with the thoughts of all the families I know that do travel that road. We hurt for them today more than ever as we can identify to this nightmare.