In Which Connor Gets Sick

I was planning on writing about what a lovely day this was; it included a trip to the playground, a picnic out in the park and Connor having a grand old time.  But then the little guy threw a major wrench in the works.

He had a sixteen minute seizure today-- by far the longest seizure he's ever had.  Jeremy had just gotten back from work and picked him up to say hello when it started.  Luckily it was not an apneic seizure or I might be writing a very different blog today.  Instead this one was a simple partial seizure; his mouth, left arm and leg all jerked in rhythm but he retained control over his right arm and though he got a little pale he kept breathing.  We had the oxygen on him after the first thirty seconds or so, which seemed to help.  Also he was conscious the whole time during the seizure-- he was looking at us, blinking and could squeeze my finger with his right hand.  Basically the seizure succeeded in scaring the bejeezus out of him.  Understandably; it scared the bejeezus out of me and I was just watching it.

We administered Diastat at five minutes and called 911 when we hit ten minutes with no sign of the seizure ending.  Normally our response time is about thirty seconds, but this time they probably had to call someone from another station so it took them a little longer to get here; Connor stopped seizing just as they pulled up.  They took his vitals, gave him some blow-by oxygen when they found his stats in the 80's, checked his blood sugar (they usually do this-- I guess seizures are one sign of a diabetic being hypoglycemic) and took his temperature.  Turns out he was running a low-grade fever; it looks like he's starting to get sick again and that's why his brain went haywire.  We deliberated for a little bit about whether or not to go ahead and take him to the hospital, but ended up deciding that we'd rather not transport.  At this point besides testing him for bacterial infection (which we'll have our pediatrician do when I bring him in tomorrow) the plan at the hospital would be to dose him with Tylenol and keep him under close observation: both of which we can do at home, where we don't risk infecting him with somebody else's bug.  Since we live just down the street from a hospital we feel comfortable keeping him at home for now.  If he has another major seizure we'll be bringing him in so they can give him more powerful antiepileptic drugs until he's over whatever bug he's caught.  Please keep your fingers crossed for us that we'll be able to stay out; he's much more comfortable at home.

He's asleep now in his bed; I was finally able to move him off my chest without him starting to cry again.  He was pretty traumatized and just wanted to be held and rocked for a few hours.  I stayed home from derby practice and sat on the couch with him while he alternated between dozing and sobbing like his little heart was breaking.  So this was not a good day. 

Let's hope this is a 48 hour bug!

~Jess