MarloElaine

As many of you know, our son Sammy had a febrile seizure when he was two years old. Ever since that frightening ordeal, Marlo and I have been vigilant in monitoring both Sammy and Sophie’s temperatures and aggressively treating them whenever they have fevers.

Since Saturday of last week, both kids had been suffering from fevers, diarrhea, and vomiting. They also suffered from decreased appetite, less energy, and general crankiness. Five days later, just when I thought they were getting better, Sophie took a turn for the worse.

Wednesday afternoon just after 5 pm, I heard Sammy call out to me, “Mom! Sophie is throwing up!” I ran over to the kids, expecting to find Sophie standing up with her shirt and feet covered in slime. Instead, I saw her lying on the carpet with a pool of vomit next to her. Both of her arms and legs were shaking, kind of quivering.

I scooped her up and took her to the kitchen sink. She threw up some more, stopped breathing, and turned an awful shade of blue. I yelled to Sammy to bring me the phone, which luckily was somewhere he could reach. I dialed 911 and eventually requested an ambulance (that’s another story - Vonage customers beware!). Thankfully, before I finished the phone call, Sophie started breathing again on her own and her color returned to normal. She was very sleepy, but she was responsive.

I took Sophie outside to wait for the ambulance, which arrived within minutes. A fire engine and a police car accompanied the ambulance. The paramedics saw that Sophie had already recovered. I told them what happened and we agreed to take Sophie to the emergency room to try to find out what caused the seizure.

Since I was home alone with both kids, we had to bring Sammy with us to the hospital. Though he was very concerned about his sister, he thoroughly enjoyed the ambulance ride. The paramedics checked Sophie’s vital signs, including her temperature, and all were normal. Sophie did not have a fever!

Once we got to the hospital, the ER staff re-checked her vitals and tested her blood sugar, again all were normal. Next was the ordeal with the needles. Sophie did not like this part at all. She kept crying, screaming, twisting, kicking, and squirming. The doctors and nurses said that Sophie was the strongest, feistiest child they had ever seen. After 5 painful attempts, they finally collected blood samples, inserted an IV, and gave IV fluids. They also collected urine with a catheter. By then, Sophie was too tired to protest. She immediately fell asleep while we waited for all the results.

During this time, we were very lucky to have the paramedics, Marlo, Marlo’s uncle and brother, and our friends come to the hospital to distract Sammy so he didn’t have to witness his baby sister suffer. Our friends and family also retrieved our car from our house and took Sammy to dinner.

The ER staff was very sympathetic, knowledgeable, and helpful. They told us what to do if Sophie had another seizure (call the ER or pediatrician right away, call an ambulance if the seizure lasted more than 5 minutes or if she stopped breathing). They explained Sophie’s lab tests and results (blood and urine showed mild dehydration, but nothing alarming). We were instructed to collect a stool sample to test for shigella, a bacteria that can cause fever, diarrhea, vomiting, and seizures in children under two years old. We were also told to see our pediatrician the next day. We were discharged after four hours in the ER.

The only thing I had an issue with at the hospital was that they kept referring to Sophie’s seizure as a febrile seizure. Their diagnosis was “febrile seizure with history of gastroenteritis.” I explained that her last fever was 36 hours before she had her seizure, but they said that since she did have a fever in the last few days, it still counts. They also said that a recent fever combined with dehydration can lower a child’s seizure threshold. I was very frustrated, because Marlo and I were going out of our way to try to avoid another febrile seizure in the family.

The next day, we dropped off the stool for testing and went to our pediatrician’s office. Though our regular doctor was on vacation, her associate was very helpful. The pediatrician reinforced everything that the emergency room staff said, but also offered another possible explanation for Sophie’s illness and seizure: rotavirus. He told us that rotavirus is a very common stomach virus that we could have picked up from anywhere. He called the lab to make sure the stool was being tested for this as well.

The doctor then reassured me that we were doing everything right in preventing febrile seizures, treating the diarrhea, and minimizing dehydration. He disagreed with the ER staff and feels that Sophie had a “non-febrile seizure associated with intestinal infection.” He believed that whatever caused Sophie (and Sammy) to have fevers, vomiting, and diarrhea, also caused Sophie’s seizure. I asked him if dehydration alone could have caused the seizure, but he felt that was very unlikely, since Sophie’s case was very mild.

Two long days later (on a Saturday!), the pediatrician called us back with the results. Preliminary results were negative for the salmonella shigella, but positive for rotavirus. We need to call back on Monday for the final results, but it is very unlikely for Sophie to have both illnesses at the same time.

One week from when the kids started getting sick and three days from Sophie’s seizure, everyone seems to be back to normal. No more fevers, vomiting, or diarrhea. The kids have their appetite back and are eating like crazy. Most importantly, no more seizures! The pediatrician even cleared us for playgroup! He said that as long as Sophie did not have diarrhea anymore, she was not contagious.

We are relieved to have this all behind us. We learned a lot from this experience and hope that other parents can learn something as well. If you have anything to add or share, please post in the comments below.