A Scary Time...

My parents came to visit for a day before they headed to Boise to visit my sister. We had a yummy breakfast and had planned to go to Ritter Island after running a few errands. Ty headed to bed after a long night of work. We went to Shopko to exchange a few Easter Dresses. Kate was really crabby, but it was 10:30 and nap time was looming. We got her settled into the car seat with a blanket and decided to stop at Winco to pick up a picnic lunch before we headed to the Island. 

Everyone else waited in the car while I got the groceries. Even though it was my mom's car, I told her that I knew how to get there and that I needed to drive. She wasn't going to give in. After about 5 mins of this silly back and forth, she finally conceded. 

We headed up on the highway and were about 5 mins out of town, when my dad calmly said from the back seat, "I think Kate's having a seizure." I pulled over and we quickly ran around to see what was happening. Her eyes were rolled up into her head and both arms and legs were moving violently and she was unconscious. I told everyone to get back in and I was driving to the hospital.  I was so scared, but acted very calmly. I was saying a prayer the whole way there.  My dad watched her to make sure she wouldn't hurt herself, but she was strapped into her car seat, so she was fairly secure. She continued to seize the rest of the way.

I pulled right in front of the ER, hopped out and ran inside with Kate. Once I got inside there was another man in front of me at the registration desk, but I announced, "My daughter is having a seizure." She continued to seize for just a few more seconds and then went limp in my arms. Her whole forehead was red and turning blue and the veins were bulging through her skin.  The triage nurse was there so quickly and escorted me back, while my Mom gave them Kate's information. My dad and Josie stayed outside and played on the grass for a little bit so Josie wouldn't get too scared. Once we were in the room, the nurses and doctor all rushed in. Kaycee, a friend of ours was one of the RNs on that day and it was nice to see a familiar face in a time of stress. At this point I was not nearly so scared and felt very reassured that the nurses and doctors knew what they were doing.

She was groaning/crying while I held her. They hooked her up to get her vital signs and asked a bunch of questions as to what was going on. It seemed like an eternity, but I knew they were working quickly. They didn't tell me at the time and just had me hold an oxygen mask to her face, but I later found out her O2 sats were in the 70s. Her BP was really high as well as her heart rate.   They took her clothes off and took a rectal temperature, which was ~103-104 degrees,  if I remember right. She was still groaning and crying, but she was still passed out. The doctor said it was a febrile seizure, where her temperature rose so quickly her body couldn't respond quick enough, and is common in infants, but that they would like to run some labs, and x-rays and swabs to see what was causing her fever. 

They wanted to start an IV to get some fluids going, but it was nearly impossible to find a good vein. She is quite chubby, so that didn't help. After looking for veins for a very long time, they tried twice with 2 different nurses and after using a vein light found a good one in the back of her left hand. However she was not happy about this and made that clear, even though I think she was still passed out. They had the Respiratory Therapist, a gal I also knew, come in and send a swab down her nose. At one point they needed her mouth open, for a strep test and I had to pry her jaw open. She finally came to at this point and started really screaming. Another good friend of ours, Dan, came by from x-ray. He was working that day and saw her name come through for a chest x-ray and came to see how we were doing. 

After a while Josie and my dad came in and Kate was calmed down quite a bit by then...in fact she was exhausted. The RT came back with the cutest little sheep to help comfort her. She just lay on my lap snuggled into me. My dad and Kaycee were able to give her a blessing.

Dan came back to get the x-rays and she didn't want to be moved. I carried her down the hall and held her arms while they fastened her into the "pigostat". Thankfully I knew what all of this was with Ty's job, so it wasn't a shock. I've heard of this referred to as the blender!

This isn't Kate, :) but is basically what she looked like! Except that she was screaming her head off! Poor little thing!

Just for the nerdiness of Ty here's the chest x-rays they took. 

We hung out a little and watched some cartoons for Josie while they ran the tests. The doctor came in again and explained everything in much greater detail. Nothing came back positive so they figured it must just be some kind of virus. And even though she had a Grand Mal seizure lasting about 5-6 mins, she doesn't have any greater chance of a developing a seizure disorder later in life.

We left and drove home to eat our picnic lunch and told Ty what had happened after he woke up and decided to go to Ritter Island another day. But Kate was back to her old self just in time for a late lunch. Go figure!