In Which We Have A Not So Great Father's Day

So today, as you no doubt all already know, was Father's Day.  Connor got his daddy two presents: a scone pan and a three-minute long seizure. 

One gift was slightly more well-received than the other.

The day started off well enough; after a leisurely brunch we headed down to the Meeker Days Festival, where we sat in a parking lot for a while waiting for the ran to let up and listening to The Vinyl Cafe on the radio.  When it became obvious that the nasty weather wasn't going to change any time soon, we decided that we'd rather spend the day somewhere dry.  So we drove up to a mall we hadn't explored and spent some quality time walking around together and browsing.

We stopped by a gourmet food/kitchen shop, where Connor helped pick out the first of his daddy's presents.  Then we looked at several different shoe stores for a good pair of Chuck Taylors or something similar for Jeremy.  Jer's gotten to the point where his feet are flexible enough that his tennis shoes aren't "challenging" him any more, so he wanted a good pair of fairly low-to-the-ground shoes that would help him continue to stretch out his feet and add to his flexibility.  We found a good pair at the third shoe store, and then decided to go find a late afternoon snack. 

Jeremy decided he wanted "breakfast for, um, snack" and so we drove to a local pancake joint, which is where Connor delivered his second, surprise gift of the day.  When I turned around in the front seat to grab my purse, I saw that Connor had a completely blank expression on his face and his head was down on his chest; a sure sign that he was having a seizure.  A quick hard rub to the bottom of his left foot (the place he is most sensitive to and defensive of) that garnered no reaction confirmed it.  We laid him down on the back seat of the van, started the timer, and hooked him up to oxygen.  His right leg started jerking rhythmically shortly thereafter.

He only stopped breathing for about ten seconds this time, thankfully, so that wasn't so bad.  What was a little more disturbing is that for about two minutes after the seizure was obviously over (he was breathing, making facial expressions, tracking with his eyes, etc) his whole left side from the neck down remained completely non-functional.  He could squeeze my hand with his right hand, and he'd jerk his right foot away from a tickle, but the left hand and foot were dead weight and didn't respond at all, and he showed no indication in facial expressions that he was even feeling me moving or tickling them.  This is new, and was more than a little disturbing at the time, though I've since done my homework and, while I'll wait for a neurologist to confirm it, suspect that what we saw was something called Todd's Paralysis, in which case it's not that worrying.  That's not to say I didn't totally freak out at the time, and we'll make darn sure the doctor knows about it.

Needless to say, we didn't eat any pancakes. 

We spent the rest of the evening quietly at home.  Connor spent most of it either napping or clinging like a limpet to me; I actually let him watch an entire movie as a special treat (Mulan-- his favorite).  We went 22 days without one and I was finally starting to relax a bit again; guess it's back to the drawing board.

Hope everyone else's Father's Day was slightly better!

~Jess