Traumatic Experience

[Warpigs]

Wednesday night I went through something that I won't soon forget. Hollywood could never make a movie scary enough to trump experiencing my 17-month old daughter going through a "fever seizure".

We noticed she had a fairly high fever around 7pm that night. We kept a close eye on her and followed instructions from two calls to the oncall doctors -- who kept saying that it was nothing that we had to run to the ER over unless she really started showing other concern signs (change in breathing, etc.) or her temp was 105 to 106 or so. I missed the second half of the Cafe Challenge draft while checking her (I'm not complaining. I'm amazed I was able to focus on the first half at all). After my wife went to work (third shift), I had my daughter sleeping in our living room on a mattress. At 1:45 in the morning she had a fever of 103.5 (high-average for the night so far). At 2:45am, she started convulsing, eyes rolled back in her head and she was non-responsive. Then her lips turned a shade of blue-gray and she became limp a couple of times. She snapped out of it about a minute to 90 seconds later. It felt like an eternity. I had already placed a call into 911 and we all went to the ER (my wife was home by the time the ambulance came -- Richard Petty would have been proud). Her temp at the ER was 104.5 -- but that was after an hour of being cooled in the ambulance on the way, so hard telling how high it officially got.

She is fine now. We were home by 7am Thursday morning. Her fever broke around that time and she has been getting more and more active since then. In reading about 20 articles about "fever seizures" or "febrile seizures" since then, it is fairly common when a temperature dramatically increases in a short amount of time -- the body can't handle it. Supposedly these seizures are harmless to the child since the body has natural regulators that keep it from getting too high to cause brain damage, etc.

However, I know I won't be recovering anytime soon. The image of her in that state keeps popping into my mind, and me walking throughout the house trying to talk/sing to her so she would come around. To all those "macho guys" out there -- you probably haven't experienced too much stuff like this. I kept calm enough to keep my daughter from freaking out any more than she was when she snapped out of the seizure. I kept calm enough (I hope) for my wife. But it all broke down on the drive to the hospital and I'm still sick to my stomach when thinking about it. Anyone with a baby or a toddler, I suggest your read up on this stuff just in case. I pray none of you have to endure something like this.

[UTLonghorns]

That is very scary.
My parents recall a seizure I had when I was 2. Same thing, high fever, eyes rolled, lips blue.


Were here for ya man, sorry to hear that, good to know everythings all right.

Best of luck to you, the mrs. and your daughter.

[mutantseabass]

Man WP, i got a sinking feeling in my stomach just reading that. I am so happy that your daughter is ok now.That is a very traumatic experience for both you and your wife to go through. I do understand what you mean when you say that it keeps popping back in your head. When my oldest son was about 1 and a 1/2 he was eating and the food got lodged in his throat. Me and my wife were sitting right there luckily. He turned blue from lack of oxygen, i had to reach down his throat to clear his airway. That 2 minutes seemed like an eternity. After that i took some courses on lifesaving and CPR. I couldnt imagine having to go through what you went though for the amount of time you did. Im really glad your daughter is better Warpigs!

[awwchrist]

hang in there wp.

[Warpigs]

hang in there wp.

I'll be fine. This type of stuff definitely helps put things in perspective. I just really wanted to alert any other young fathers or soon-to-be fathers that they may want to read up on this stuff. This isn't something that they teach in the parenting/birthing classes, but the articles I read said that these can occur as early as 6 months.

[catch22]

I have three boys and have dealt with the late night fever several times. Never could have imagined them having a seizure. I always hated going to the hospital for a high fever......after a 2 hour wait the give them some motrin and send you home. After reading that I wont hesitate to be safe....

[Omaha Red Sox]

That's scary. Glad to see she's ok now and I hope you all can get some sleep again someday.

[Guru13]

that's very scary man, but i'm glad to hear she's ok. good luck to you guys.

[moonhead]

wow. dude. glad you kept it together. not sure how i would have handled that. glad everything is ok. i hope you can get some sleep or quality rest after that. best of luck to you and yours.

[flotsamnjetsam]

I can't even imagine how scary that was for you. I hope that your daughter is better and that nothing like that ever happens again.