In Which Connor Is Ornery But That's Perfectly Fine

Today was a much better day than yesterday.

When I checked Connor's temperature this morning, he wasn't running a fever at all; if anything his temperature was a bit low.  Last night they took his temperature using a forehead thermometer because we'd just used suppository Diastat on the kid that would screw up a rectal temperature.  Taking Connor's temperature in an auxiliary place (like the forehead) is highly unreliable with this kid because of his autonomic nervous system issues, and the "fever" they'd registered was less than a degree above a normal temperature.  I highly suspect he wasn't running a fever at all, and that this seizure was actually a response to us taking that last step down and finally stopping his Trileptal this week.  If the Trileptal-- however ineffective and bad for his health it might be-- was still doing something for his seizures, coming off of it could easily trigger what we saw last night.

I called the nurse line at our hospital this morning and they were extremely prompt in getting back to me; it was one of the fastest response times I've ever received and they took the situation very seriously.  The nurse talked with the epileptologist who had discovered the issue with the Trileptal and recommended we come down off of it, and he upped Connor's Lamictal.  So hopefully this will prevent Connor from having any more disturbing seizures like yesterday's; we'll just have to see what happens.

Connor had no idea that he was supposed to be feeling under the weather and recovering from yesterday's ordeal.  Connor woke up convinced today was a completely ordinary day despite the fact that the Diastat was still in his system and his muscles were down right rubbery they were so fatigued, and when I told him that he would not be going to school this morning he got very angry.  "No Mommy!  Want go!  Want go!" he signed over and over again.  When that didn't work he stopped signing and instead resorted to shrieking at a volume and pitch that if maintained for long enough would easily shatter fine crystal and also possibly my ear drums. 

Clearly my child would not be winning any special awards for manners today.

Under ordinary circumstances I would be a little less tolerant of this kind of thing; Connor knows better than that.  I think the behavior I was seeing was probably caused by a combination of him still feeling under the weather from the seizure, his normal routine being interrupted and him still feeling a little traumatized from how much the seizure yesterday scared him.  So his behavior was pretty understandable under those circumstances and I figured he'd probably need some extra love and patience from me today. 

In an effort to keep him engaged while sticking close to home and keeping his level of physical exertion to a minimum, I took him outside into our new backyard space.  We have a small lawn chair that he sat in outside all last year, and I thought it would still fit him easily.  Unfortunately I forgot to take into account his far greater torso strength.  I placed the chair on the grass about three and a half feet away from the bottom of the ramp, sat him down, turned around to get a chair of my own and had taken exactly one step when I heard a big thump.  Connor had launched himself sideways out of the chair and was catapulted through the air, landing on his elbow and shoulder right at the edge of the cement.  I rushed over and scooped him up while he still had that shocked and utterly betrayed look on his face kids get right before they burst into tears.

"Mommy hurt Connor," he signed, and began to wail. 

Yes, my child has at the tender age of five years old already mastered the delicate art of the guilt trip.  I am so proud.

Connor's elbow was a little scraped up, but there was no swelling or discoloration and his shoulder and head were fine.  I took him inside and, after I cleaned him up and snuggled with him for a while, filled the bathtub up halfway with warm water.  I changed into my swimsuit and put Connor in his, and then we spent some time relaxing in the tub, which finally calmed him down completely.  It also calmed me down: perhaps a little too much.  I had to get out because I was afraid I'd fall asleep!  I think the events of yesterday were catching up with me.

Anyway, the rest of the day went really well; Connor quit acting so upset and scared, slowly began regaining muscle strength as the effects of the seizure and the Diastat began to fade, and by the end of the day he was pretty close to being back to his normal, happy self.  I'm really glad that it looks like the seizure probably didn't cause any permanent neurological damage: always an alarming possibility with seizures that last over about ten minutes. 

Hopefully by tomorrow the little guy will be back to his completely normal self!

~Jess