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Seizure:0 Med:1


On Friday, I was procrastinating the whole bedtime thing. You know, when that slightly maniacal feeling comes over you, where you just want to wash a couple more dishes, or finish the laundry, or at least pick up the toys, or BUST? Well I was in the grips of this get-stuff-done fever when I almost tripped over Leo, who just several minutes earlier was playing happily and creating more mess, and who was now, lying in the hallway acting weird.
So far, when he has gotten his seizures previously they were in the middle of the night, or in nap time so by the time I caught them, they were full blown. What alerted me right away to Leo was that this time, it looked like his whole left side had shut off, almost like a stroke victim, so when he was tried to crawl he kept collapsing and screaming in frustration. My heart pretty much burst out of my chest like an alien and hid under the table, shaking. The rest of me grabbed him and recognized the fact that he was beginning to seize. It had already started on his foot.
Pleasepleasepleaseplease work work workworkwork.....was the only thought in my brain as I pulled out his seizure rescue med that we were given five months ago when he had his last seizure. Somehow I managed to draw up the right dose, and attach the nasel spray thingie and squirt it in his nose with him screaming bloody murder the whole time. Nika was dancing around chirping: what's happening, what's happening, over and over. It was her first time seeing her brother go through this. Without waiting to see if the med worked we gathered up the whole kit and kaboodle and rushed to the car. If the med wasn't going to work I wanted to get to the ER, ASAP. Justin drove while I sat in the back with the kids, holding Leo on his side and watching his breathing. Before we cleared the driveway the jerking in his foot had stopped. And by the time we were at the halfway point he was stirring and trying to play with a toy. We pulled over and called the attending neurologist who confirmed our instinct to NOT do the whole ER thing. The new medicine had actually worked and Leo was even coming out of the groggy fog and didn't seem snowed. Wow.
We headed back home and after getting the kiddos to bed, collapsed on the couch. The chores can wait gosh darn it.
The next morning after a full nights rest, for Leo that is, I was up every hour checking him, he just seemed a little weak and shaky on the left, and by the end of the day he was totally back to normal. I managed to, with the help of some phone stalking, get his neuro to adjust his keppra and raise the dosage. We are so so so glad that this seizure happened now, and not on our vacation to the Adirondacks over the fourth. We are so incredibly relieved, knowing that we have a med that can stop his seizure, and that we can avoid the hospital ordeal. Thank God, thank you God for that and all the incredible blessings that Leo has. He is one lucky cat.





Comments

  1. scary; thanking God the med worked... ; May you and family esp Leo be protected this 4th!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you, Lord! Will be praying for a safe journey.

    ReplyDelete
  3. God bless! That must have been so scary.

    ReplyDelete

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