Hospitalization

Well unfortunately the New Year has had a rough start for our family. Kaitlyn woke up on Wednesday night with an ENORMOUS fever (106 F/ 41 C), which put her into a febrile seizure. It was a terrifying experience to witness. I am sure I will always have the image of that night in my head.

I put her down normally on Wednesday night, although I suspected she might be coming down with something because she was a bit overly clingy. She did feel slightly warm but not really 'feverish' so we put her to bed as usual....she made a few sounds in the night, but quickly went back to sleep so I just thought she was having a rough night. She had also been a bit restless for her nap that day, just tossing and turning so in hindsight, I should have suspected something.

Finally upon hearing her barely cry for a 3rd time at around 2 a.m., I went into her room...seconds later she was in a febrile seizure (convulsion) that lasted about 2 minutes. She was on her stomach, so I let her stay there because I know there is a risk of choking and during the convulsion and that is a safe position. I quickly striped her of her warm pajamas as I figured she must have a high fever--I was right. After the convulsions stopped (2 mintues) was the SCARIEST part. I knew about febrile seizures in young children so although I was terrified, I was armed with knowledge about what was happening. The post-seizure period was the scariest shocker for me by far!! It was awful. I did not know what to expect after a seizure so that is why it was so terrifying. According to the staff at the hospital, there is a post-seizure phase where the child will appear paralyzed. This is what I wished I had known about. Kaitlyn was lifeless. She had absolutely NO TONE whatsoever in her arms or legs. I was sure she was paralyzed. It was awful to witness...she could not move, she was limp and completely without any muscle tone. She seemed to weigh twice her weight when holding her....she was just totally flabby. This was where I was really scared. I knew that she had had a febrile seizure and that she must have a high fever, but not that she would be left without movement. It seemed like an eternity, but FINALLY after about 5 to 10 minutes SHE MOVED!!! I was so relieved!!!

As soon as she moved, Toomas ran to get the thermometer and I got the tylenol (paracetemol). I took her temperature and it was UNBELIEVABLE. She had a 105.9 F!! This is 41.05 C!! I thought I was under control until I saw the temperature, but then I flipped out again. I called an ambulance and they had the nerve to tell me to DRIVE to the hospital. Luckily I was feeling a bit more under control at that point and decided it would be fine for me to drive. We rushed off to the hospital and by the time we got there and got into the examination room her temperature was down to 101.5 (38.5) after about 1 hour on the tylenol. THANK GOODNESS!! They examined her, blood was drawn, a strep culture was taken and a urine sample bag was put in place. They stated that they would admit us for observation so within the hour we were taken to the 8th floor (Pediatric Care Unit).

In the PCU she was hooked up to a heart-rate monitor. They gave her a dose of Advil to get the fever totally down and she was put to bed. It was a rough night of temperature taking and giving tylenol and advil. I didn't sleep at all. The next morning we saw the doctor who examined her and said she had a throat infection, although the strep test was negative, he thought it was either viral or due to a different bacteria than strep. He sugested a second culture which was also negative. He said that they wanted to observe the fever for another day and would then decide about antibiotics.

Her fever was still strong at 102 (39.1) with advil and tylenol, so finally mid-day on Thursday she was given an antibiotic. After about 12 hours on the antibiotic her fever started dropping, and by 24 hours it was almost normal! Praise GOD that she is alright.

All in all we were there Wednesday night, all day Thursday and were finally released on Friday evening. They were a LONG few days and 2 nights in the hospital. I slept terribly and so did Kaitlyn. The doc said he would release us, but wanted us to keep her on advil and tylenol rotation for Friday and Saturday night which I WILLINGLY agreed to so that we could GET HOME.

Today, Sunday, is her first day "fever reducer" free and she is doing wonderfully! Thank God all is fine.. She is doing great on the antibiotic, so whatever she had appeared to be bacterial. We are thankful to be home and that Kaitlyn is alright! What a scare!!!