Nov/Dec happenings

We have had a lot going on lately!



My mom came to visit for 2 weeks in November during which time I had hernia repair surgery. The surgery itself was pretty quick and easy but I had a few minor complications and ended up in the ER, twice, in the 2-3 days after surgery and then needed to see an urologist the next week. Besides those hiccups surgery and recovery went, and is continuing to go, very well! My mom was a HUGE help while she was here and flew home, after 2 weeks, on November 29th.



I honestly don't remember a lot of early December. December had been a whirlwind of Christmas planning and holiday shopping! And we did have a few fun days of snow! It started snowing on Friday, Dec 8th before the kids got out of school. I braved the snow and potential ice (the roads never got very bad) and ran a few errands after school Friday afternoon and evening. On Saturday the kids played out in the snow for a while. Lily loved sitting in the snow and building a "ho-man". I ended up having to take her inside before she was ready because she wasn't wearing snow pants or waterproof gloves. I knew she was getting too cold. That afternoon (the 9th) Jasmine had a fever and felt pretty bad but by Sunday afternoon she was feeling fine. Sunday evening it seemed Cruz and Sophie were coming down with it and I could tell Lily wasn't feeling very well either. Monday morning we kept Cruz home from school. I could tell Lily was feeling worse as the morning went out. She went down for a nap after lunch and I rested next to her for most of her nap. I kept thinking she was feeling pretty warm and made a mental note to check her temp and give her meds as soon as she woke up. After a long nap she started waking up and even asked for a drink. She seemed like her normal little self until I carried her out my bedroom door. I was literally heading towards the stairs to get the thermometer when she leaned way over in my arms and starting having a seizure. I have never been so terrified in my life. My first though was... oh, it's a febrile seizure.. Arawyn (my cousin's child) had these when she was little. I expected it to be over very quickly. Then the panic set in as I carried her downstairs and she kept seizing! I started to call Javier at work, then decided to drive her to an Urgent Care. As she kept seizing I was thinking I couldn't buckle her in the carseat in her condition and realized I couldn't hold her while driving either. I quickly called 911 instead. They dispatched an ambulance right away and the 911 operator talked to me for over 6 mins. Lily was still having seizures for at least half the phone call. At this point I was sitting on the front porch step with her in my arms. She had foam coming out of her mouth. I've always heard of foam coming out of one's mouth during a seizure but never could imagine. This was saliva and spit just foaming up into bubbles and drooling out of her mouth. During the phone call I started to panic. I was thinking what if it wasn't just a simple febrile seizure? What if she was really dying? I had a vivid picture of my dad and other ones gone on before gathering around Heaven's gates ready to welcome her Home. It seemed so real and so possible in that moment. I really did think I was losing her for several moments. During this time Cruz and Sophie were hanging around looking scared. I had told them to run get their shoes when I was thinking of driving to Urgent Care. Sophie had her shoes on and was next to me asking me to tie her shoes while I was talking to the 911 operator ha! After I called 911 I told Cruz to run next door and ask the lady next door if he and Sophie could stay with her. She doesn't hear well and couldn't hear the doorbell. As soon as Lily's seizure stopped I carried her over and knocked and quickly told the lady what was going on. She was very sweet and had Cruz and Sophie come in right away. All this while I was still waiting for the ambulance. It seemed to take them forever. I finally saw them driving up the street and ran to the curb with Lily in my arms. After her seizure she went into a deep sleep with heavy breathing followed by.. what seemed like.. shallow breathing. I was still terrified but hopeful because the seizure was over and she was breathing. I handed her over to the EMTs and ran inside to go to the bathroom, brush my teeth, throw on some boots, grab my purse and lock the door. I felt super guilty leaving her but knew I needed shoes and my purse and needed to lock the door. I also figured they didn't need me in the way and they told me I could run inside for a moment. Once I got in the back of the ambulance I figured we would take off but no. The driver had apparently come around to the back and was working on Lily so they were left without a driver. It seemed like one girl in the back was newish. She stood off to the side and kind of watched everything while I helped the other two EMTs who were working on Lily. Thankfully I'm not too squimish and I've been around Lily in hospital situations (although not emergency situations) before. They cut off cut pajamas, put an oxygen mask over her face and poked her about a thousand times in each arm trying to draw blood. At the time I knew that previously she had had IVs in her hands.. not in her inner arms/inner elbow area but for whatever reason I figured they knew what they were doing. They didn't. They never did get an IV into her inner arm/inner elbow area but I set an watched while they poked a long needle around under her skin and drew way too much blood that was going every where. Ugh! Meanwhile we were still waiting for a driver to show. I swear we live in a very small town. What the heck? I glanced out the window and noticed more emergency vehicles pull up and I think a fireman or someone finally jumped in the drivers seat and we took off. Of course I was closely watching Lily. She seemed very, very sleepy but her eyes were open. I tried to talk to her while I held her oxygen mask in place but she seemed so out of it. I really got scared when she started staring at me but obviously wasn't seeing me. Her eyes were glazed over and unfocused. Meanwhile her hands were clenched up in an abnormal looking fist which immediately made me think of a boy I used to know who had severe brain damage. I was terrified that Lily would never be normal again or was even dying! The EMT next to me said she's having another seizure and at that point the ambulance sped up and the lights and sirens came on. I was scared to death inside. I thought I was losing her. I didn't expect another seizure. I didn't expect that blank look in her eyes or the clenched fists. Looking at her I didn't see how she would ever be the same little girl again. During all this... from the time of her first seizure until we got to the ER... time stood still. I have no idea how long it took from the beginning of the first seizure until we entered the ER. It was an unreal feeling to see my little 2 year old wheeled out of an ambulance surrounded by EMTs. We went into a large ER room (much larger that the ER rooms I had just been to myself a couple weeks prior) and I swear there had to be 10 to 12 people standing there. I awkwardly stood off to the side very conscious of the fact that I hadn't brushed my hair or put on make-up that day. The EMTs from the ambulance asked me a few questions and had me sign a few papers. During this time Lily had been moved from the stretcher to a hospital bed. I could hardly see her. She was surrounded by so many hospital workers. I kept my distance because I didn't want to be in their way. Within a few minutes it became apparent that she was stabilizing. Her fever was up to 103.5 when we arrived and she was given meds to help it go down. They also took blood and urine samples. Several nurses moved out of the room while two or three stayed for a few more minutes. I was able to go to Lily and stand near her head. I ran my fingers through her hair and talked to her in a calm, quiet voice. Not long after she started fussying and crying. I was able to pick her up and hold her while I set in the bed in a reclined position. I stayed that way for a few hours at least. I was even holding her while they brought an x-ray machine in and took a chest x-ray. The x-ray of her lungs also came back clear. For a while we weren't sure if she would be transferred to a children's hospital for the night or if we could go back home. There were a couple phone calls between the ER doctor and her pediatrician and they agreed to go ahead and send her home. Around 6 or 7 that evening her fever had gone done and she had stabilized enough that we were released to go. By this time she had started waking up and even drank a little water. I told her her daddy was coming to take us home. When Javier and the older kids walked in she was so excited and hugged each one tightly. It was the sweetest thing. By the time we got home she was walking around and even had a few snacks that evening. We kept her on a strict schedule of Tylenol, then Motrin every 4 hours. Thankfully she never had another seizure or scary episode! We had a follow up with the pediatrician the next morning and she confirmed these things are terrifying but fairly common. Lily looked great except one of her ear tubes... that she just got in March... seems to be falling out and she had an ear infection. Lovely. She was on a prescription for that for several days and seemed to get over her illness pretty quickly. It is Christmas Day now and she almost seems to be getting sick again! I'm a little nervous but plan to give her Tylenol before bed tonight just in case. And she has another follow up with the pediatrician on Wednesday. I'm really concerned that she made need her ear tubes replaced and I just hate the idea! I don't want her under anesthesia again and we don't even have the money for another surgery right now! Hopefully she won't need them replaced.