Sparkling Eyed One had her last appointment at the children's hospital for the research study we volunteered for on Wednesday.
We had a busy morning, playing for a couple of hours in the hot sun at the playground across the street from the abortion clinic - i will tell you more about that another day. She had a nice big breakfast, but wasn't too fond of the rice wraps i brought to the park for their lunch, so didn't eat much more than a few nibbles. After that, we headed straight for the hospital where she was to have her last assessment. She played lots of memory games and did puzzles, and was thrilled when they gave her a $10 gift card to Chapters as thanks for participating in their research.
The 2 biggest girls were playing with Ephraim (basically riding the elevators for an hour), while the other 3 were making crafts and playing games at the special play place that the coordinator had reserved for "sibling care". i was supposed to pick them up at 3.
Since she finished a few minutes early, we decided to get our blood draws at the lab in the hospital. The research assistant walked us down, telling us that they'll get in touch with us soon regarding the date for the mri. Sparkling Eyed One was chatty - she told me she wanted tacos for supper. She slipped her skinny little hand in mine and smiled up at me with her extraordinary chameleon eyes as she talked.
When it was our turn, she went first and didn't peep when the needle went in. Afterwards, i joked that she would need to hold *my* hand. She smiled at me and went and stood by the door to wait for me. The lab tech, checked my information and was about to tie the blue piece of rubber around my arm when suddenly we heard a "thunk". i turned, and there was my lovely, lying on the floor having what looked all the world to me like a seizure. Her arms were curling again and again. Her mouth was open, with her eyes rolling back in her head. Her legs were curled to the side and as her body writhed, she was smashing her face into the metal door frame.
i screamed.
i leaped from the chair and grabbed her sweet face to stop it from smashing- her lip was already bloody.
Nurses came running and three of them witnessed her "seizing". It lasted maybe 15 seconds or so... When she started to come 'round, she was kinda spacey, but then she looked at me and said over and over, "i don't know what happened - i don't know what happened..." and licked the blood from her lip.
They called a "code" and help came running. When they checked her out, they felt something worrisome in her neck and called for a neck brace and the board to take her to emergency because they didn't want to take any risks since she fell so hard. After a little monitoring and some x-rays (which were perfect)- we were free to go home... By then, Neil had arrived - (driving in the thick traffic from the south, it took awhile... The social worker at the hospital didn't want to leave the other children in Cai's care though, since she's only 14 - and they won't release them to anyone under the age of 18). The play place graciously kept the kids for the extra hour it took for Neil to get there.
The doctor in emergency seemed to doubt that it was a seizure - but 3 nurses told the emergency doctors that came running that they had seen her having a seizure... so i'm not sure what to think.
We had take out for supper.
Tacos.
She's ok, (proud of her celebrity - gage greeted her with, "PEYTON, i thought you DIED!!")
i feel sick... but i'm gonna be ok too.
15 comments:
(((Hugs))) Aw mama, what an ordeal for lil' Sparkling Eyed One to have to go through. Prayers for wisdom for all Dr.'s and RN's that were involved. Your family is near and dear to my heart and I will be lifting you up in prayer.
Glad she seems to be okay... scary for a few moments though... probably due to hot sun, lack of food, "stress" performing at tests, etc. I'm sure you'll keep an eye on her! So good Neil was home and not out of town for this one! I assume they put her to sleep for the MRI? I'm sure if there was anything to worry about, it would show up with that test. Alisdair had one of those a few years ago, in Saskatoon, and ended up vomiting after coming around from being put under. Hope she takes that part better!
Saskatchewan Cousin
What a scary few moments for you! Praying nothing else is going on and you can rest from worry.
You just described me as a child EXACTLY. I passed out for different reasons (my sister broke her leg, I watched rescue 911, I watched my sister get her vaccination) a lot as a child and it always looked like I was having a seizure. Eyes rolled in the back of my head, thrashing around... I eventually got very good at knowing when it would happen and then sitting and putting my head between my legs. I had a lot of tests done which never showed anything other than an extreme distaste for other people's medical issues :) And I still can't watch rescue 911. :) Come to find out, my aunt Nancy had the same issue. It was always set off by low blood sugar and then some sort of injury or medical issue. I'm sorry you had to watch her do that. It's a really scary and alarming thing to see.
i'm sure this was triggered by low blood sugar, hot sun & the mental gymnastics.
Poor mouse.
Denise - we don't have the details about the mri yet, but they're not planning on putting her out as far as i know. i'll let you know ;)
Please give my Peyts a big hug from me - brings tears to my eyes that you had to go through that but I am so glad that so far all testing is clear. Love you.
Wow, I totally did this as a child. It was completely predictable. It gave me a huge fear of needles, lol I remember one of the first times it happened was almost the same. My blood work was done and my mom was getting hers done. She was laying down, cause she gets queezy. I was standing next to her and dropped, hit my head on the wall, then on the floor. They weren't sure if I passed out because of the blood work, then had the seizure because of the hit to the head... it happened a couple more times though, so my mom just refused blood work for me, lol My dr told me that in a few people it can stress them out so much that it causes that. Hmmm, who knows. Sorry to hear about your little one... she's not alone! I always felt super shaky afterwards and had a good cry. Thankfully, I out grew it. We prayed a lot about it too... (I had a lot of tests done, that showed everything was normal, it was just my crazy response to blood work) I do lay down now for blood work and I don't get up for a little while though.
Funny - she has never reacted to blood work before - & has no fear of needles! They didn't even have the needle out for me yet!!
But good to know that it's not that unheard of to have the convulsions! i still in my gut feel like i saw a seizure (maybe it *was* from hitting her head) - the doctor felt like that's just too uncommon... but he didn't see it. i did.
colleen - i will tell her. She loves you & will be so pleased that you sent her some hugs :)
Hugs, how scary! I agree mostly likely a combination of heat and low blood sugar but probably a good thing an MRI is going to happen too.
I am thankful for the comments of lola and Sara...because I had no idea this was possible. (to have a seizure for reasons like that) My first two thoughts were. 1. The Dr's are saying it's not a seizure because they fear law suits (I think capricious law suits are undermining good medical treatment and causing a lot of unneccessary, expensive and even harmful procedures to be done... but enough of my opinions on Paige's blog...haha) and 2. Maybe it was providential that this happened in hospital with witnesses if it was going to happen sometime and was an indicator of a serious problem. But Lola and Sara's comments have lessened my alarm.
Anyhow....I love that dear girl and it pains me to think of her experiencing this. (and you too Paige)
Oh how terrifying! Hugs!!! Glad she is alright now! I know my SIL would get a really high fever and convulse if she simply got overtired! Our bodies react so differently to different issues, eh? I bet you're spot on though Paige, about the low blood sugars/hot sun exposure/mental gymnastics...causing it. How absolutely scary that would have been in the moment! big Hugs to you both!
My brother once smacked his knee really, really hard on a doorframe, fell to the floor, and did exactly what you described. Scary, but never happened again.
I'm glad she's OK!!!
Oh my goodness, Paige! How scary. Praying for you guys.
Praying for Peyts. I am thankful it happened at the hospital though and the nurses etc. saw. You guys will be in my prayers. I pray it never happens again. Amen.
Carlee
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