Seizures to the ER

Brayden's seizure adventure began on Monday night. Shortly after putting everyone to bed, Jeremy went in to check on Brayden. I went in a few minutes later. We both thought he may be having a seizure. We went back into his room. I was standing on one side of Brayden's bed and Jeremy on the other. We pulled Brayden's blanket back and watched. Brayden legs were pulled up tight and leaning to his right. His right arm fully extended and left hand in a tight fist. However Brayden's face appeared to be normal. Then he started to cry but not a full cry. A cry that sound like he was trying to get out and not able to fully cry.

We quickly decided to give him Diastat (extra seizure med). Then we watched him and watched the clock. The Diastat seemed to take affect. Brayden's body relaxed and he fell asleep. Over the next couple of hours I checked him several times and he seemed fine.

The following morning, I went into his dark room to check on him. His nurse came in about the same time. I started describing Brayden's seizure during the night. The room was still dark but we pulled down the covers and realized that he was back in the same position. Legs tight and to the right, arm extended and hand in a fist. He was back in the seizure. We turned on the lights and gave him the Diastat. Time ticked and the Diastat did not help.

I quickly dropped Carter off for the bus. Came back to the house and called 911. The EMTs arrived. We did not know a single one of them nor the medic that arrived (we usually know of couple of them and most of the time the medic). We loaded into the ambulance, Luke came along too since he is afternoon kindergarten. Brayden's nurse followed behind in the my car.

Since we did not know the EMTs or medic, I had to go over Brayden's medical history (thankfully I have a sheet that lists everything). I had to continually say that he was NOT postictal, he was still in a seizure, despite the fact that he was not shaking or twitching. They reported to the hospital that he was coming in postictal.

We arrived at the hospital. Greeted once again with those familiar faces...except the doctor. She was new, from another hospital. I was a little concerned about a new doctor since we are familiar with the others and I do not have to explain much. The new doctor was fine. The nurses and tech that we had know us pretty well and helped out.

Once I explained that Brayden was still in a seizure, they decided to give him Ativan. However, they could not get a line. 1, 2, 3, 4 tries and still no line. Brayden barely flinched when they were trying, confirming he was in a deep seizure, not to mention his heart rate was really high. Since they could not get a line quickly, he was given a shot in his thigh (some type of Ativan), a half dose.

We sat and watched, waiting for the shot to take affect. He was still in a seizure. But in the meantime, the nurse got his IV going. He was put on fluids and a dose of IV Keppra (a seizure med). Labs and tests were done to check Brayden's health, looking for an illness that could be the cause of a major seizure episode. Everything checked out fine.

However, hours after the medication was given Brayden was unresponsive but seemed as though the seizure faded away. The ER doctor was back and forth with a neurologist at Childrens (new neuro at Children's that we have never seen). They decided Brayden needed to be transported to Childrens.

About 2:30 in the afternoon, Brayden was transported to Childrens. He was in the ambulance with the driver and tech. While I followed behind in my car. Jeremy was getting Carter and Luke situated then came down to Childrens. As the transport was getting Brayden situated he started to wake up and doing better and better. By the time Brayden was in the Childrens ER, he was back to his baseline. In fact he seemed refreshed, as if he just needed that long nap.

The Childrens ER doctor came to assess Brayden and we quickly stated that he was doing great and were fine with going home. The doctor looked him over, the charts from the other ER and spoke to the neurologist. All fine and we were sent home, just a tweak to his meds and need to check in with his doctors.

We all arrived home just in time for bedtime. Brayden sporting his bands as record of his busy day.

Today Brayden is looking good, just a little tired.

(On a side note, while I love taking pictures, I do not carrying around my huge camera and snap pictures in the hospital. I take pictures on my phone...there is A LOT of down time in the hospital.)