My most terrifying moment

What was your most terrifying moment in your life? I have had some scary experiences but nothing compares to this...

When Madelyn was 17 months old, we were on vacation in Cape Vincent, NY. We were staying in a house right along the St. Lawrence River. I knew that Madi was cutting her molars, all 4 of them. On June 26, she woke up from her nap with a fever of 102. I gave her some Tylenol, and checked her temp again around 5:30, about an hour before her next dose of Tylenol would be due. About a half hour after that, she was asleep in her daddy's arms when she started having a seizure. Gregg jumped up right away screaming and ran her into the shower. He stood there with her limp convulsing body in his arms trying to get her fever down. My parents and sister and her family were there with us, and we all just started screaming and crying. At some point I screamed, "Call 9-1-1!!!" Madelyn was turning blue, and all that was going through my mind was "How am I going to go home without her?" I honestly thought she was dying before my eyes. I was throwing my arms in the air reaching up to God screaming for Him to help us. She continued to seize for about a minute and a half, at which point she was very blue and not breathing effectively. Gregg laid her down on the floor in the bathroom and I just said "I have to do CPR!" In my mind I knew she had a pulse, but I was thinking about all the steps you have to take when doing CPR, and I put my hand on her arm to feel for her pulse, and she stopped seizing. Her breathing was still not good, she was definitely working hard to take in each breath.

While Gregg and I were in the bathroom with her, my mom was on the phone calling for the ambulance. Since we were on vacation, none of us knew the exact address of the place we were staying. My sister ran from one house to the next screaming trying to find out the address. Eventually, somehow the crew figured out where we were. It took about 35 minutes from the beginning of the seizure for them to get there. It took us another 30 minutes to get to the hospital.

To make this a little shorter, the doctor came and checked her out and explained febrile seizures to us. They happen to 1 in 20 kids. Supposedly they are harmless, do not cause brain damage or learning disabilities, and do not mean the child has epilepsy. They don't treat the child with medications or admit the child to the hospital. The only thing they do is find the source or reason for the fever. In this case, it was from teething. Hard to believe a child can get a high temp from teething. Madi always got a temp from teething. If the child has one febrile seizure, the chance is 50% that they will have another one, and is usually in the year after the first one. I thought we were in the clear after a year had passed...but then we basically replayed all of this again on Oct. 1 of this year.

She was at my mom's for the day while I was at home. I called my mom at 10:45am and she said that Madi had a fever and that she had just given her Motrin. Madi had cold symptoms the day before with a runny nose and cough. Well, my dad called at 11:10 and cried, "Lisa, come quick, she's having another seizure!" -- They told us the same thing this time too. Basically just made sure she didn't have an ear infection or strep, and sent her home. Their only instructions were if she gets a fever again, immediately alternate Tylenol and Motrin every 4 hours.

On Oct. 22, I was at work when someone came to me and said, "Lisa, they just paged you overhead. You have to call the emergency room." No one ever wants to hear that. Madi had another seizure when she was home with Gregg. This time, she had no cold symptoms, and no reason for us to believe she was sick or had a fever. Regardless, her temperature spiked, and she had another seizure. It was 101.9 when she came to the ER. They gave her Tylenol and as soon as her fever broke, she was back to normal running around, being a 2 year-old. They checked her for strep, did a chest x-ray, and urine sample and everything came back fine.

Our family doc said now that she has had 3, there is a chance that every time she gets a fever, she might have a seizure. That makes for two paranoid parents! We just have to alternate Tylenol and Motrin every time she gets a cold or anything, and even with doing that, she may still have a seizure.

Now that we are experienced with this, it's not quite as terrifying as the first time. But nothing compares to seeing your child convulsing on the floor and turning blue. Madelyn is such a precious gift to us, and a fun, beautiful little girl, and I couldn't imagine my life without her!

More updates to come!