So, as a mother, I promise you NEVER want to hear the words...."Myranda, I just got a call from daycare, and Karsyn had a seizure."
I went to work Wednesday at 1:00 to get in 3 hours of overtime before my shift started. I dropped Karsyn off at daycare at noon, and she was perfectly fine. She has had a runny nose for about a week, but nothing abnormal other than her pink eye on Saturday that was completely cleared up. I was about to start my normal shift, when my phone rang. I normally wouldn't answer it, but I had just a few minutes before 4:00, so I thought I could take that time to talk to my husband that I hardly ever get to see anymore!! Little did I know what was going to come out of his mouth. My heart dropped, and all would come out was, "I'm on my way." I hurried into my manager's office, and I think all I told him through the tears was that I had to go cause my daughter just had a seizure. He has a little one of his own, so of course, he told me to go. I gathered all my stuff up and got out of there as fast as I could. I didn't even know where I was going. Was I going to daycare?? Was I going to a hospital?? I had no idea, I just knew I had to go! Once I got to my car, it was mass hysteria trying to figure out where the hospital was that the ambulance was taking her. I don't know the city that well, but I knew the general direction to go. Of course, 4:00 in Kansas City is the worst time to try to get somewhere in a hurry. Rush hour traffic is horrible!! I was crying uncontrollably trying to get to a hospital I didn't know where it was in rush hour traffic in downtown Kansas City. I didn't care....I just knew I had to get there. I called my mom so they could meet us there too, cause all I could think of was that Karsyn was alone in the ambulance with all these strangers and nobody would be at the hospital with her. Somebody had to be there for her when they arrived!! I called Mark to ask if he knew if she was alone, and he told me that Kristy (her daycare provider) was able to go with her because her husband was home from work. Thank God!!! I am so thankful that she wasn't alone!! I finally figured out where the hospital was, thanks to the help of my step-dad. Mark was coming from the opposite direction and was about 10 minutes behind me. I rushed into the ER not knowing what exactly was going on, and my mom was already there talking to the lady at the desk who said....."She's not here".....EXCUSE ME?? What do you mean she's not here?? This is where they told us she was coming. Then, all of a sudden, she got word that they had arrived and they were in a room. Talk about panic....not only was I not with Karsyn when she was going through this, I was being told that I was at the wrong hospital. I am so glad it was a miscommunication or whatever it was because I don't think my brain could have handled that!! They gave me permission to go back there to be with her. When I went through the doors, I could hear her screaming. In once sense, it was relief because I absolutely knew she was alive (kinda like when she was first-born) and in another sense, it was complete terror because I knew she was scared to death and most-likely in a lot of pain. I got in the room, and there were people everywhere. They were trying to get a heartbeat monitor on her toe and they needed to take her temp, so they were trying to take her pants off. Once she saw me, she wanted me to pick her up, but I didn't know if I could....that is a horrible feeling by the way! They finally told me I could pick her up. She was screaming hysterically. Everybody had a million questions, and people were trying to talk over people...it was chaos. Finally, they got her temp, which was 104.5, gave her Tylenol and Motrin together, and left the room. At some point, Mark came in, but I don't even remember when that happened. All they said was that they were almost certain she had a febrile seizure, but she sounded kinda croupy too, so they want to do a chest x-ray and do a urine test to make sure it's not a UTI causing the fever. I had never even heard of a febrile seizure, so I had to have them explain to me what it was. Apparently, it's not caused by how high the temp gets, but by how fast the temp comes on. In little ones, their brains can't handle a temp that comes on fast, so it causes them to seize.
Here is what happened at daycare:
I dropped her off at noon, and she was fine. Kristy tried to feed her lunch, to which she wasn't very interested. Kristy noted it, and was going to tell Mark when he picked her up because that is very unusual for Karsyn. She went down for a nap, and slept like normal, got up and kinda picked at her snack too. Kristy had her in a highchair at the table and all the kids were doing crafts. Her husband got home, and was in the kitchen, when Karsyn's shoulders started shaking and jerking. Kristy said she just looked at her and asked if she was ok, then noticed her eyes were trying to roll back. She told her husband that something was really wrong. She said this is when she realized what was really happening. So, they checked to make sure she wasn't choking, grabbed her out of the highchair, and took her to the living room floor. She said she wanted to make sure she wasn't choking again just to be on the safe-side, and couldn't find anything in her mouth or throat. So, she laid her down on her tummy. She patted Karsyn's back pretty hard to make sure nothing was in there, and said Karsyn's breathing became very shallow and rapid. They called the ambulance, and she said she thought she was going to lose her. Her breathing was getting lighter and her mouth was starting to turn blue. She said that Karsyn started coming out of it shortly after the ambulance was called, but that the seizure had lasted for about 5 minutes. When Karsyn came to, she just laid there really still, probably in shock. The paramedics came in and took blood from her heel, which made her start crying, but at least she was reacting to something now! They also started an IV in her arm to get some fluids in her. They took her temp there and it was 100.8, then took it again on the way to the hospital, and it was 102. The highest it got was 104.5 which is what it was when they took it after I got in the room. I feel so horrible for Kristy to have to go through this. She did everything that she was supposed to not even knowing it!! I can only imagine what is going through her mind......was it my fault, how did I not know she was running a fever??? The thing about it is that she wasn't running a fever....it came on fast, which is what caused the seizure. We couldn't ask for a better reaction from a daycare provider and are very thankful for what she did!!
Ok, back to the hospital:
So, we finally got Karsyn calmed down, and asleep after about an hour or so. Her temp was slowly coming down, and they needed to get a urine sample. They put a bag on her to catch it when she went, which I'm sure was very uncomfortable. So, the child that pees every 10 minutes it seems every other day, didn't go for like 3 hours!! LOL We waited and waited....gave her popsicles, water, sprite, and apple juice! You would think she would be drowning as much fluids as we were giving her!! They were about to give up and put a catheter in when, SHE WENT!!! They tested it, and it was normal. They took her temp again, it was down to 98.1, so we were good to go. Just needed to do a follow-up visit with her pediatrician in the morning. Wait....what?? That's it?? My daughter just had a seizure out of nowhere, and you are going to release her just like that?? I had a million questions racing through my brain....first one was what caused the fever?? Nobody could tell me for sure since she didn't have an infection, but they guessed it was caused by a virus since she had a runny nose. UGH!! I hate viruses!! I want to be able to tell from a blood test what exactly is wrong...none of this guessing stuff! So, we headed home. She immediately fell asleep in the car, and I thought we would be able to just watch her temp through-out the night, and she would probably sleep since she had such a traumatic day. WRONG!! I pulled in the drive-way, stopped the car, and she started puking. It was all over her and the car seat. Thank goodness Mark was right behind me. He grabbed her up, took her inside to get her in the bathtub, and I was going to get the car seat out of the car. Why when you need something to work it never does?? I could not get the button to push in that releases the latch!! So, I came inside, finished her bath, and Mark took the seat out. Of course, the cover can't just be washed in the machine, it has to be hand-washed. Oh my, how gross!! We all had it all over us by the time we got done! Karsyn's fever had spiked back up to 102.9, so I gave her another dose of Tylenol and tried to comfort her as much as we could. We put her in bed, she fell asleep, but it didn't last for long. She was up and down all night, we couldn't get her fever below 101 and she puked again around midnight. What a long night!! We were alternating between Tylenol and Motrin every 3 hours, but it just wasn't breaking this fever. We have never let Karsyn sleep with us because for one, I was always afraid I would smother her, and two, I didn't want it to become a habit. Well, that night, she slept with us!! I just couldn't bring myself to make her be alone that night. We didn't get much sleep at all, and we had to be up to call her pediatrician at 8:00. We got an appointment for 9:30, so I got in the shower, got ready, and off we went. At 8:15, she was still running a fever, so I gave her another dose of Tylenol. By the time we got to the Dr, the fever broke!!! While we were talking to the Dr., she started eating cheerios, and ate the entire snack container full of them!! She started acting more like herself, laughing, and talking!!! It was such relief!! The Dr. explained to us the risks of these seizures, which are very minimal, but if they last longer than 15 minutes, it can be deadly. Since Karsyn has had one now, she has a 3% chance of having another one. Of that 3% of children, 3% have seizure disorders such as epilepsy later in life. So, we are very thankful for that 97% chance that this will never happen again, but if it does, at least we know what to look for. She told us that we wouldn't need to take her to the hospital unless it lasted more than 15 minutes.....I say she will be going no matter how long it lasts to make sure everything is ok.
The only way I knew how to get word out to get prayers going was to post on Facebook what was going on, and email and text a few people. I am very grateful for the people in our lives that took a little time out to say a quick prayer for her safety and well-being, and love each of you more than you know!! We are very happy that she is ok, and has been fever-free since yesterday morning on the way to her pediatrician. She went back to daycare this morning, and it was very emotional. Mark took her on his way to work so I could get some sleep before I go to work this afternoon (As you can tell, I can't go back to sleep). I was crying from home, Karsyn was crying (she was having a rough morning.....she didn't want to wake up yet), and poor Kristy was crying. I feel for Kristy and what she had to go through, and I hope she never has to go through it again!!
I hope all new moms out there can learn from our experience, and at least get educated on these febrile seizures because the hospital said they are pretty common in kids under 2. I hope you NEVER have to go through this because it is so scary, but if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I am by no means an expert on the subject, but I know more than I did 2 days ago!!
We love our little girl to pieces and hope she never has to go through this again. We can't thank everybody enough for all the thoughts, prayers, comments, and overall love you have given us!!
