I didn't actually think that "Seizure Watch" was going to include a seizure. At this point, anytime Ethan has a fever, a seizure should be somewhat expected. Even though I know this, it still really catches me off guard, and is very difficult for me to go through.
What happened?
I had some recent confusion about Ethan's Tylenol dosage. I thought he could only have it every 6 hours. Which was the case when he was on infant suppositories. Now that he's older he can have it every 4 hours (which I was unaware of yesterday). So, around 3:00 (4 1/2 hours after the initial Tylenol) his fever started coming back. I called in to the advice nurse to see what I could do. She let me know he could have more Tylenol, so by 3:30 it was back in him. By this point, it was clear he wasn't feeling very good. He seemed sleepy, but wasn't going to sleep. He was very snuggly, so I just held him and sat in bed, relishing in the extra baby snuggles. Usually the Tylenol starts to kick in within a few minutes. This time, that was not the case..... By 4:00 his fever was still around 100.3. This isn't very high, but for Ethan it doesn't have to be very high to be problematic. At 4:09, the seizure started. Ethan's eyes suddenly popped wide open, and he let out a very scared scream, and then started seizing. The phone was next to me, so I called 911, and tried my very best to stay calm and patient. Ethan became a tad alert about 7 minutes after it started. One of the EMT's remembered us, from back in August. This time, we had a lot more information for him. They read over the letters from the metabolic doctor, and our pediatrician, and lovingly held Ethan as I got a few things together, and made a quick call to Daddy to let him know he needed to meet us at the ER. We quickly got in the ambulance and were off to the ER. I started feeling silly for taking an ambulance to the ER, but the EMT was very quick to make sure that I knew it was the right thing to do, and that I should never feel embarrassed about it.
We got to the ER, and quickly had a team of nurses preparing to get an IV started. Three different people looked at him, and one finally decided she was up for the task. She was able to get the IV in, but for some reason was not able to draw blood from it. So, they asked someone from the lab to come down. In came a loud, slightly obnoxious, tech who took about 30 minutes to poke Ethan in his arm, and ankle before she decided she wasn't going to be able to draw blood..... Ethan was not happy about this..... She finally decided to do a heal prick, and draw blood from there. It worked, but was excruciatingly slow. Eventually, the blood was drawn, and we were finally left alone. During the ins and outs of the blood draw, the ER doctor came in to evaluate Ethan, he quickly found a double ear infection. Ethan's pediatrician Dr. Pelinka came down to visit us, and came up with a plan, which she relayed to the ER doc. They were going to give him a few hours of his special IV fluids, add some antibiotics, and then we should be on our way. By 8:00 I realized that he was getting hot again, and that he was supposed to have Tylenol at 7:30. I asked the nurse to bring some, it was there around 8:15. Before they gave the Tylenol, they checked his temp. It was up to 102.9!! I was really shocked. I knew he was warm, but he had for the first time since his seizure, started perking up and seeming like he was feeling better. So, apparently at 100.3, he has a seizure, but at 102.9, he feels great.... Only Ethan! I was SO relieved that he didnt have another seizure. His seizures are so inconsistent, which is quite confusing. The Tylenol slowly started kicking in, and within the hour the fever started coming down. Finally by 10:00 they were ready to start the antibiotics. The IV was causing some issues, which Ethan was not happy about, but they finally got it started. About 45 minutes later, we were finally ready to come home. We got home, bathed Ethan, and were ready for bed. Eric stayed up with him while I got a little sleep. The fever was coming back again, and at 12:15 we were able to give him some more Tylenol. Again, the fever was very slow to go away. Eric ended up laying on the couch while Ethan slept. He kept a close eye on the pesky fever, and was up until 4:30 with him, at which time he brought him upstairs, we re-dosed him, nursed him, and all fell asleep on our bed. Ethan woke up around 8:30, and seemed to be in a pretty good mood. The fever has still been around a little today, but nothing like yesterday. Eric and I have taken turns getting caught up on sleep. This afternoon, we go back for a recheck of his ears, and an antibiotic shot.
It's still so crazy to me, that an ear infection can turn into such an ordeal. It's not easy, but we're getting better at handling it.
No comments:
Post a Comment