It was our son’s outpatient appointment on Friday following
up from everything that went on 6 weeks ago. Off we sent him to nursery, as
per, on the basis we’d be picking him up at lunchtime to take him to the hospital.
He’d been a bit snotty that morning so we gave him some Calpol – as you do –
but didn’t think too much of it because he was fine? I got a call an hour later
from the nursery to say that they’d taken his temperature and it was up past 39
now (considering he’d had medicine less than an hour prior, this didn’t sit too
well). My husband went to collect him and I said how I’d meet them at the
hospital as planned, later on that afternoon.
But then I got another call from the nursery, from my
husband’s mobile. Not to panic, but he’s with our little boy and the ambulance
is on its way as he’s having a seizure. My heart sank. I cried a bit.
I left work and drove straight to the nursery to find my two
boys in the back of the ambulance, critical care on its way and prepping to do
blue lights into town to the hospital. From what I could gather, there was only
one seizure this time… but it lasted twenty minutes. So, it’s still atypical. We
still don’t know why it’s happening. The only constant we have so far between
these two occasions, is that his temperature had spiked. Except this time there
were no obvious leads into the fitting, as in he wasn’t visibly ill on Thursday.
Whereas last time he’d been a bit clingy and feeling sorry for himself that
week and you could have said he was under the weather, somewhat. But off we went with the sirens to A&E at the children's hospital.
However this time I felt a strange sense of calm. He’d only had one fit. He’d
stopped on his own. He didn’t need additional intervention for anything. Just some
oxygen, I mean sure, his little bod was stressed. But he was talking, and he
wanted to eat and he wanted to drink. As long as there were no more fits, we
were just going to be observed by the doctors: the usual obs plus prepping his
arms with ‘magic cream’ in case we needed bloods and (somehow?!) we needed to
get a urine sample off of a toddler who is still learning how to wee in a
toilet. Help.
Long story short, his obs were fine and remained stable the
whole time we were there. The only bit of drama was when we tried to do his
urine sample; he ended up doing a weewee all over his Daddy’s leg like a scene
out of Dumb & Dumber. Little bit of a dribble to start with which we knew
wouldn’t be enough for them to test. But then the wee just kept coming! The pot
was filling up and then the power of the weeing meant it was now going in and
essentially straight back out onto my other half. Oh how we laughed. The delirium/relief/tiredness
from the morning’s events had kicked in. And there we were, in A&E, sick and
injured children around us. And we were laughing. One of us covered in piss and
the other one holding said piss, in a pot. And our boy, naked from the waist
down looking at us like we’re mental. But the wee was fine. He was fine. We were
allowed to go home.
So until he fits without a temperature, we’re assuming febrile
convulsions, as before. If he fits otherwise then we most likely have an underlying issue
that needs to be found. We’re due an EEG in the coming weeks to check his
little head and then the rearranged outpatient appointment to follow.
It’s obviously just going to be one of those things and we
simply have to hope that each time it happens, the seizures are few and far
between and that we’ll get to the bottom of it sooner rather than later. Because
it just makes you realise how fragile your little person is. But equally, how
tough they are too.
X