As Paul Harvey used to say, "Now, the rest of the story."
Jason had two seizures this weekend. I kept hoping we were out of line of fire on his health but this weekend showed we are not. The worst of it for us was Sunday night/Monday morning. We went to sleep in the hotel room around 11PM on Sunday night. Somewhere around 12:30AM or 1:00AM on Monday morning, Jason had another attack. It was the first time Karen and I have witnessed the seizure from the beginning to the end. The actual seizure lasted around 10 minutes (it just seemed like a long time to Karen and me). There's not much to do but keep Jason safe from himself. I put my arms around him and try to keep him from dropping off the bed or falling into something that could hurt him. According to the doctors, its important to not restrain someone having seizures like this. You just have to keep the safe. You are not supposed to put your fingers in their mouth. There is no risk of him swallowing his tongue. There is also little to no chance that he will stop breathing.
I think seeing this phase of the seizure scared Karen and me so we called 9-1-1. They responded to the hotel and recommended Jason be taken to the emergency room. Karen stayed in the hotel room with Joshua and Jonathan and I went with the EMT and Jason to the hospital. He was very sick to his stomach so it took awhile to get that settled down. The Emergency nurses and doctor worked with Jason for two or more hours. From 3:00AM until 4:00AM I gave him sips of Gatorade to get him re-hydrated.
We got back to the hotel sometime before 5:00AM. Both of us were completely exhausted. Karen was glad to see us again.
It was decided that we would take Jason to a pediatric neurologist associated with the hospital there in Austin. After a lengthy discussion with her, it was decided to put Jason on medication for his seizures. The doctor felt that his fatigue and some other factors pointed to the possibility that he was having seizures more often than we thought but they were just not as severe so he didn't always scream out loud. In other words, he was having milder seizures some nights that did not cause him as much pain so we never knew it.
Tonight's plan is for one of us to sleep in his room with him to see how well the medication helps with the seizures. If it works as planned, it should stop them completely after one or two doses.
Needless to say, after two nights of seizures in a row, we are all very tired and are praying the medicine with help. Jason needs sleep and mom needs some peace of mind. Being so close to this kind of issue makes you realize how fragile things are. How easily it can all slip away.
I'm really proud of the way Jason is dealing with all of this, the maturity he shows at the hospital and the nurses. I know Karen is too.
Next steps are to have another EEG done to check that dad-gummed rolandic area of the brain to make sure we are diagnosing the seizures correctly as Benign Rolandic Epilepsy. We have an appointment with his pediatrician tomorrow for the EEG. Then we will need to visit with the neurologist in Austin or switch to one in Fort Worth for a checkup in four to six weeks.
We'll keep you posted via this blog, email and phone calls.
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