After an almost 2 year break, our eldest daughter has had another seizure. We had hoped and prayed that she had perhaps outgrown them as they had seemed like febrile or fever-related seizures when she was younger. The sense of loss, after such a long hiatus, is overwhelming. We are back to hyper-vigilance, worry and being unable to treat her like a typical 13 year old. She is not a typical 13 year old but she yearns to be and not having seizures would have been one step closer to her dream, however unlikely.
Our daughter had her first seizure on Christmas Day when she was a year and a half old. I picked her up to put her in her high chair so we could eat our turkey dinner and she slumped in my arms, lifeless. I put her in the hands of my father and brother-in-law who both had First Aid training and then called 911. The fire truck arrived shortly just as her seizure ended and we rode to the hospital in an ambulance. It was the first of many similar experiences but none of them matched the horror of the first. I had no idea that children could have seizures; I thought that she was dying in my arms. We determined that although atypical, our daughter's seizures usually accompanied illness with a fever, regardless of how slight. We still cling to the hope that this is the cause of all of her seizures and that she will indeed grow out of them.
Meanwhile we start again and we stay close, we watch her and we make sure someone is with her always: no baths or showers or swimming without supervision, no babysitting for now. We keep her close and we keep her well and we start all over again....
Our daughter had her first seizure on Christmas Day when she was a year and a half old. I picked her up to put her in her high chair so we could eat our turkey dinner and she slumped in my arms, lifeless. I put her in the hands of my father and brother-in-law who both had First Aid training and then called 911. The fire truck arrived shortly just as her seizure ended and we rode to the hospital in an ambulance. It was the first of many similar experiences but none of them matched the horror of the first. I had no idea that children could have seizures; I thought that she was dying in my arms. We determined that although atypical, our daughter's seizures usually accompanied illness with a fever, regardless of how slight. We still cling to the hope that this is the cause of all of her seizures and that she will indeed grow out of them.
Meanwhile we start again and we stay close, we watch her and we make sure someone is with her always: no baths or showers or swimming without supervision, no babysitting for now. We keep her close and we keep her well and we start all over again....
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