I had a nap on the couch last night and woke up at around 11:00 p.m., a pretty stupid thing to do because I still had to pack lunches and do other getting-ready-for-daycare-and-work things. I ended up in bed at 1:00 a.m., and I was back up at 4:45. I’d heard Jade moan a few times, and these days, I can’t just ignore moaning as normal “complaining that I’ve woken up for a few seconds” kinds of moans.
I went into her room and sure enough, she was lying on her tummy, soother in her mouth, in the midst of a little facial-twitching ragged-breathing type seizure. It was over in about 15 seconds, and she moaned a bit more, then turned her face the other way, then started another seizure. After a few of these, I plucked her out of her crib and brought her to my room to watch her more closely. I could feel her burning hot through her PJs, and the seizures kept coming.
I realized it was time to give her some of the Valium we’d been supplied with as an emergency measure to stop prolonged seizures. I’d just been talking to the epilepsy nurse in Vancouver yesterday afternoon to confirm exactly when we should use the Valium, hoping, of course, that we’d never have to use it.
I also took her temperature (with a brand-new thermometer I bought just yesterday afternoon, I might add, because I’d searched high and low for our other two and couldn’t find either; doubly handy because I’d tested it on her before she went to bed and I knew that she’d had a normal temperature then). The thermometer read a whopping 38.5°C (~101°F). I figured between the Valium and the temperature and the fact that she was shaking non-stop (hard to tell if from seizures or from the fever) I had better call the ambulance.
The dispatcher agreed with me and an ambulance arrived shortly thereafter, for the fourth time in a month. By the time they got there, the Valium had done its job and the seizures had stopped, for which I was thankful. I think I heard her first moan around 4:30 a.m., and by the time I’d administered the Valium it was getting close to 5:00, so it’s possible her seizures had been going on for up to 30 minutes. I just kept hoping they would stop and I’d never administered the Valium before and was a bit worried about doing it. (It’s given rectally, by the way, so you can imagine how much Jade enjoyed that.)
Anyway, at the hospital, they gave her a big dose of Tylenol to bring the fever down, but 45 minutes later, she was reading just over 40°C (~104°F), so they gave her some Motrin. I’ve only given her Motrin once, when she was around a year old. I’d given it to her around bedtime because she’d needed it, but I’d also hoped that it might also help her sleep. instead, she played like a wind-up toy for three hours! As you can imagine, I’ve never tried it again. But at this point, it was clear she needed to take something.
The Motrin did seem to wind her up a bit this time, too, but at least it did the trick. Her fever was pretty close to normal within the hour.
The other thing they did while we were at the hospital was to attach a little bag to her nether regions to get a urine sample. It turns out that she probably has a urinary tract infection, so she’s now on Amoxicillan (which is what she was on last month for her ear infection) to clear that up.
Have I mentioned how much I dislike excessive amounts of drugs? *sigh*
However, the important thing is that Jade seems to be back to normal again. Tim came to pick us up and I went to retrieve the carseat from Norris’s car while Tim walked Jade from the hospital over to where Norris had parked downtown. Once again I am grateful to live in such a small town, where everything’s just a few minutes away. Also I am grateful that Tim is here; I had remembered to bring food for Jade, clothes, her medications, but as soon as we’d gotten settled in the ambulance I realized that I’d forgotten my purse. So getting home would have been very difficult without him. (Having said that, I’m starting to cave to Michael’s idea that we ought to have a second vehicle… ugh!)
Jade’s down for a nap now, and I really ought to be sleeping, too. The three hours or so last night just doesn’t quite do it for me.
