Oh well. While Barbara was busy finishing watching ROTK at 3:30 in the morning, Madeline and I were busy cleaning Izzy's vomit off her bed. Three times.
After succumbing to the flu bug (which I had acquired in Chicago), Izzy had seemingly already bounced back, only to get some sort of viral "stomach flu." So she had a negligible low-grade fever most of the day yesterday and was a little cranky and didn't want to eat or drink and had to stay at home. This was not usually a problem, as she could be usually counted on to eat a little something and drink her milk and fight off whatever bug she had. Until last night, that is.
As I was cooking dinner, I noticed that Izzy had apparently flopped over to one side in her booster seat. Thinking she was fiddling with something, I called out, "Are you up to no good, honey?" Then Madeline came over and realized, to her horror, that Izzy was having convulsions. We pulled her out and she was still shaking uncontrollably. Two or three minutes later (though it seemed like forever), her lips had turned a horrible shade of blue, and then she passed out. Madeline kept calling her name, but she lay limp in Madeline's arms.
By the time the paramedics came -- yes, Madeline and I were freaking out at this point -- Izzy was awake again, though barely, and throwing up. But at least she was conscious.
As it turned out, it was your garden-variety febrile seizure, the one Dr. Spock and the other infant care book authors tell you constantly not to panic about. Her temperature had spiked suddenly and caused the convulsions. "It doesn't cause brain damage," they say. "They can't swallow their tongues." "If it's your child's second or third febrile seizure ever, there's no need to call in." "Only start getting worried if the seizure is over ten minutes." (Ten minutes! I'd be hysterical by five minutes!) But we'd never seen it before, so we were scared to death.
In any case, we've resolved to stay with her all day tomorrow (or today. rather) -- maybe a little walk with her and Shelby in the morning, then (depending on how much sleep she gets tonight) some TV and a lot of PediaPops. We're not out of the woods yet -- we couldn't get a urine sample last night to check and see if her fever was bacterial -- but at least she's asleep now and her temperature's down. I'll be waking her up in a few minutes, at midnight, to give her infant Tylenol, and then hopefully she'll sleep all night. ROTK can wait -- Viggo ain't going nowhere for a little while.
Posted by the wily filipino at December 18, 2003 12:00 AMWow. All best for a speedy recovery!
eileen
Egads, Wily! All three of my girls had that viral stomach flu at the same time a few months back (no febrile seizures, though, thank God). Of course my spousal unit was out of town. During the worst night (it went on for about 5), they threw up a combined total of twelve times, and I had to put two of them into the shower at about 4 in the morning. It was horrible in so very many ways. So I'm feelin' ya.
Motrin (as opposed to Tylenol) has always worked better for me to bring their fevers down...
Hang in there.
Posted by: Veronica on December 18, 2003 10:57 AMOh my gosh! I hope Izzy is doing well. Poor thing. I would have been in hysterics if I had witnessed that.
Posted by: emmalyn on December 18, 2003 07:40 PMGumaling na sana si Izzy agad. Kung naaalala mo, my nephew Kalani, who is now 6 (or 7) has infantile epilepsy. Way of life niya na ito, he went pass the timeline that doctors gave my ate for him to outgrow it.
Not to scare you, pero don't take the seizures lightly.
Posted by: Romeo on December 18, 2003 07:43 PMPoooooor Izzy!!! Hope she gets better soon. You all hang in there.
Posted by: Happy on December 19, 2003 05:42 AMThanks everyone for the reassuring words. She's doing much better now -- no fevers or spitting up yesterday, so she's back to child care today while her parents suffer in grading hell.
Veronica: yeah, she was on a Tylenol/Motrin cocktail diet for a little while there.
Romeo: there is a very slightly bigger chance of susceptibility to epilepsy (4-5%) is one has had a febrile seizure before, especially if they're below a year old (but Izzy's obviously older). I'm not terribly worried. The real worry is if she has a seizure that isn/t accompanied by fever.
Posted by: the wily filipino on December 19, 2003 10:22 AM