Most of you know by now that Thursday was not a typical day in our lives. The day started off very normal. I did notice that Josiah was burning up, but I was in a hurry like always to get to work, so I could get there in plenty of time to be ready to answer the phones. When I got to Kim's I asked if we could get Josiah's temperature because I was sure he was running a fever, but didn't have a good thermometer at home (now I will buy a good one:). We took it and it was 100.5 under the arm. Something I didn't know before this whole experience was that you add 1 degree when using an arm or ear thermometer. Good to know. He is currently cutting all 4 canine teeth. So thought that might be the culprit (again I now know that a fever more than 99 is caused by something other than teeth). Again good to know.
So I left for work. Around 11:00am I called Kim to see how Josiah was doing and he had been sleeping most of the morning. She was giong to call me when he woke up. When he woke up his fever was 102.5, which I now know is actually 103.5. But I decided to wrap up what I was doing and come home and get him. He had no other symptoms other than the fever and he was ver lathargic and sleeping alot. OK, so he wasn't at all himself and wouldn't be put down. But he wasn't coughing or runny nose or whining. He was eating good and drinking fine. So again we thought that it was probably teething.
I got to Kim's around 1:30pm and Josiah ended up sleeping on me for an hour and a half. Heavy breathing and just really run down. He did take a bottle like only Josiah could and then we headed home. On the way home about 3 minutes into the drive I remember looking back at him and he appeared to be sleeping. I just thought he was whipped. (OK, lots of clues that things were really wrong, but never having dealt with a sick kid, I didn't pick up on any of them). By the time I pulled in our driveway 5 minutes later, I turned around and realized he was either not breathing or really struggling breathing, his lips were turning blue and his eyes were rolled up in the back of his head (probably one of THE most traumatic moments in my entire life and moment I will never forget and a moment I will have trouble dealing with for some time to come). I freaked out, like anyone who has ever experienced their child not breathing and seizing. But he was still in his car seat so I pulled back out of my driveway (almost hitting a white truck, because I had only one goal and that was to get JOsiah to the hospital). Luckily we only live a half a mile from the hospital. I did have the forethought to put my seatbelt on because I knew I was driving a little crazy.
Josiah still was not responding to anything I did. He finally starting to breath again when I took him out of his carseat at the hospital, but he was limp and not really coherant. I ran into the hospital in pure panic trying to get out what had happened. My head was so fuzzy and jumbled, I could barely get out what had happened. I tried to call Dan and he didn't answer...even more panic. Finally I called his work and they were able to get ahold of him. Once he knew that Josiah was in the hospital and was being taken care of, he said his panic went away. Mine however still remained. I was now by myself at the hospital while they were trying to put an IV in and hooking him up to all the monitors. I had to keep leaving because they couldn't find a vein and he was screaming. They were asking me all kinds of questions and preparing me for tests they might have to run like a spinal tap....OH MY GOODNESS! Not sure I could have handled that. But not knowing why he had such a high fever and he was extremely lathargic all day, they wanted to make sure he didn't have meningitis. Josiah was a real trooper through all this though. He didn't hardly move through any of the poking except for the IV. He just laid there playing with the oxygen hose which is normally in their nose, but he liked sucking on it, and pulling at all the cords.
I was so thankful when Dan arrived. Shortly after, Kim (our day care provider) arrived, in as much of a panic as we were. She had never experienced any kind of emergency with any of her day care kids like this before. I was just so glad not to be there alone any more.
Not to long after we had arrived, they discovered that he had strep throat and had informed us that Josiah most likely had a febrile seizure. These happen when a childs fever spikes in a short amount of time. I joked that the purpose of the febrile seizure was to say "Hey there mom, I'm really sick and your not doing anything about it...please take me to the hospital so they can fix me up" I just feel so ignorant about so many things. I had been giving him the wrong dosage of medicince, taking temperatures wrong, didn't have any idea about febrile seizures. So much this little guy is teaching us.
Since he had had such a high fever and the seizure, they wanted to admit us overnight for observation. So Dan and I headed home while Kim came back up to the hospital to stay with Josiah while we took a car home and I packed an overnight bag. Then Josiah and I headed up to the big hospital in an Ambulance. My first ambulance ride that I can remember anyway. Hard to believe that he had his first ride at 15 months.
His fever spiked one more time to 103 while at the hospital, but by the middle of hte night the fever was almost completely gone. He just hung out with us all evening in the hospital room relaxing and watching TV. Finallly around 11:00pm we both crashed. Dan had to go home because they would only allow one parent to stay. The nurse didn't come in until 4:00, and we both slept straight through. Then by morning Josiah was rearing to go. He ate a good breakfast and was trying to stand up, but couldn't becuase the IV was in his foot.
Dianne (Grammy) came to visit us around 9:30 and by noon she was taking us home. The doctor was sure the seizure was a febrile seizure and told us that 50% of children that have had one never have them again. He also said that if he has another one, to wait 5 minutes before calling the dr or going to hospital unless he is turning blue. I can't imagine just waiting there 5 minutes while he isn't responding. I just pray he never has another one. I am not sure I can handle it. He obviously has no lasting affects from the whole ordeal....me on the other hand will be a few weeks or months in recovery.
Until this morning I really had no idea how this whole thing truly affected me. I am very weapy whenever I think about what happened and about the "what if's" that went through my head on the way to the hospital. I am very afraid something bad is going to happen again even though I have tried to pray about it. Just have to pray harder I guess. But I have sanitized everything (which I haven't done in his whole 15 months here on this earth). And I keep jumping up at every little, from a cough to falling to a whine. I am panicked that he is going to stop breathing again. I know I need to let it all go. To know that God is watching out for him when we aren't there. But I am not quite there yet. I know that time will heal the fear, but mostly I just need to turn it over to God and let Him deal with it for me. In time I will!
We are just very thankful our little man is ok and has no lasting effects from the high temp or seizure. Today you would never know that only 2 days ago he was in the hospital. It is truly amazing how quickly children recover. If only the parents could recover from the same ordeal in the same amount of time. Thank you for all who were praying for Josiah foremost and for Dan and I.
So I left for work. Around 11:00am I called Kim to see how Josiah was doing and he had been sleeping most of the morning. She was giong to call me when he woke up. When he woke up his fever was 102.5, which I now know is actually 103.5. But I decided to wrap up what I was doing and come home and get him. He had no other symptoms other than the fever and he was ver lathargic and sleeping alot. OK, so he wasn't at all himself and wouldn't be put down. But he wasn't coughing or runny nose or whining. He was eating good and drinking fine. So again we thought that it was probably teething.
I got to Kim's around 1:30pm and Josiah ended up sleeping on me for an hour and a half. Heavy breathing and just really run down. He did take a bottle like only Josiah could and then we headed home. On the way home about 3 minutes into the drive I remember looking back at him and he appeared to be sleeping. I just thought he was whipped. (OK, lots of clues that things were really wrong, but never having dealt with a sick kid, I didn't pick up on any of them). By the time I pulled in our driveway 5 minutes later, I turned around and realized he was either not breathing or really struggling breathing, his lips were turning blue and his eyes were rolled up in the back of his head (probably one of THE most traumatic moments in my entire life and moment I will never forget and a moment I will have trouble dealing with for some time to come). I freaked out, like anyone who has ever experienced their child not breathing and seizing. But he was still in his car seat so I pulled back out of my driveway (almost hitting a white truck, because I had only one goal and that was to get JOsiah to the hospital). Luckily we only live a half a mile from the hospital. I did have the forethought to put my seatbelt on because I knew I was driving a little crazy.
Josiah still was not responding to anything I did. He finally starting to breath again when I took him out of his carseat at the hospital, but he was limp and not really coherant. I ran into the hospital in pure panic trying to get out what had happened. My head was so fuzzy and jumbled, I could barely get out what had happened. I tried to call Dan and he didn't answer...even more panic. Finally I called his work and they were able to get ahold of him. Once he knew that Josiah was in the hospital and was being taken care of, he said his panic went away. Mine however still remained. I was now by myself at the hospital while they were trying to put an IV in and hooking him up to all the monitors. I had to keep leaving because they couldn't find a vein and he was screaming. They were asking me all kinds of questions and preparing me for tests they might have to run like a spinal tap....OH MY GOODNESS! Not sure I could have handled that. But not knowing why he had such a high fever and he was extremely lathargic all day, they wanted to make sure he didn't have meningitis. Josiah was a real trooper through all this though. He didn't hardly move through any of the poking except for the IV. He just laid there playing with the oxygen hose which is normally in their nose, but he liked sucking on it, and pulling at all the cords.
I was so thankful when Dan arrived. Shortly after, Kim (our day care provider) arrived, in as much of a panic as we were. She had never experienced any kind of emergency with any of her day care kids like this before. I was just so glad not to be there alone any more.
Not to long after we had arrived, they discovered that he had strep throat and had informed us that Josiah most likely had a febrile seizure. These happen when a childs fever spikes in a short amount of time. I joked that the purpose of the febrile seizure was to say "Hey there mom, I'm really sick and your not doing anything about it...please take me to the hospital so they can fix me up" I just feel so ignorant about so many things. I had been giving him the wrong dosage of medicince, taking temperatures wrong, didn't have any idea about febrile seizures. So much this little guy is teaching us.
Since he had had such a high fever and the seizure, they wanted to admit us overnight for observation. So Dan and I headed home while Kim came back up to the hospital to stay with Josiah while we took a car home and I packed an overnight bag. Then Josiah and I headed up to the big hospital in an Ambulance. My first ambulance ride that I can remember anyway. Hard to believe that he had his first ride at 15 months.
His fever spiked one more time to 103 while at the hospital, but by the middle of hte night the fever was almost completely gone. He just hung out with us all evening in the hospital room relaxing and watching TV. Finallly around 11:00pm we both crashed. Dan had to go home because they would only allow one parent to stay. The nurse didn't come in until 4:00, and we both slept straight through. Then by morning Josiah was rearing to go. He ate a good breakfast and was trying to stand up, but couldn't becuase the IV was in his foot.
Dianne (Grammy) came to visit us around 9:30 and by noon she was taking us home. The doctor was sure the seizure was a febrile seizure and told us that 50% of children that have had one never have them again. He also said that if he has another one, to wait 5 minutes before calling the dr or going to hospital unless he is turning blue. I can't imagine just waiting there 5 minutes while he isn't responding. I just pray he never has another one. I am not sure I can handle it. He obviously has no lasting affects from the whole ordeal....me on the other hand will be a few weeks or months in recovery.
Until this morning I really had no idea how this whole thing truly affected me. I am very weapy whenever I think about what happened and about the "what if's" that went through my head on the way to the hospital. I am very afraid something bad is going to happen again even though I have tried to pray about it. Just have to pray harder I guess. But I have sanitized everything (which I haven't done in his whole 15 months here on this earth). And I keep jumping up at every little, from a cough to falling to a whine. I am panicked that he is going to stop breathing again. I know I need to let it all go. To know that God is watching out for him when we aren't there. But I am not quite there yet. I know that time will heal the fear, but mostly I just need to turn it over to God and let Him deal with it for me. In time I will!
We are just very thankful our little man is ok and has no lasting effects from the high temp or seizure. Today you would never know that only 2 days ago he was in the hospital. It is truly amazing how quickly children recover. If only the parents could recover from the same ordeal in the same amount of time. Thank you for all who were praying for Josiah foremost and for Dan and I.
5 comments:
I'm so glad that he is okay. I just can't imagine seeing your own child sick like that. Probably more traumatic for you than for him. I'll be praying that you are able to recover and be able to trust that God is taking care of your little guy. I'm sure that's a constant challenge in parenting, you're just learning a lot early on!
holy wow!! i'm glad he's ok. that just sounds way too scary. i'm praying that you all continue to heal and recover from the trauma.
We have been praying hard through this whole ordeal and give great thanks and praise to God for the outcome. No one can be fully prepared for all the crises in life; your quick actions got Josiah to the hospital in time. He is lucky to have such wonderful parents. Love to all!
HI Heather! I can't believe that had happened. I'm so sorry to hear about it. I havn't heard anything about it until your blog. I know you are still taking some time to heal but you will. he is a strong little man and has too much love and a loving family to let it go yet. Some times there are the kids that don't show symptoms that others are use to. I'm glad to hear everything is well now. hope you're feeling better too! love always,
Terra
wowza! sorry to hear the little fella and y'all had to go through that. you must have been so scared. I'm glad to hear all is better now!!
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