Huge Scare...Thankfully All Is Well

Why haven't I written in a while?....Well, for a week or so I felt like I had nothing at all to write about...almost feeling like I was living out the Groundhog Day movie myself. Be careful what you complain about, because then you will be so overwhelmed with things that you could write about, but then you just don't have the time to write about them! That is what happened to me last Friday 13th (not that I'm superstitious):

My oldest daughter, M, has had what we called "night terrors" for about 2 years now. They do not happen often, but when they do it is unsettling for sure. You will be right in the middle of a great slumber when you awaken to blood curdling screams from your daughter's bedroom. I remember the first time it ever happened my first thought was that someone was stabbing her (that is how bad the screams are) and I tried to get there as quick as I could, but my socks met the hard wood floor and I looked like someone trying to skate for the first time. I always try to hug her, calm her down, let her know it was just a dream, and eventually the screams and the shaking stops and she looks very glassy eyed, not really aware of what is going on. She then goes back to bed and rests peacefully.

Around 4 am on Friday morning I heard a noise from M's room and for some reason I thought to myself, "This is a night terror and the screams are about to start. Go ahead in there," but when I walked in her room, I noticed her moving in her bed strangely. As I got to her, looked at her, and felt her body, I knew that she was having a seizure. It was very obvious and scary, yet I was completely calm about it, knowing that it would eventually end, which it did about a minute later. That one minute seems so long, though, when you are watching your 8 year old healthy daughter having a seizure in her bed. I waited for the seizure to stop as I stroked her head, telling her everything would be ok. After it was over, she was completely "out of it", couldn't tell us her name, sit up, squeeze my hand...nothing and her eyes were going in two different directions. We decided to call the ambulance to transport her to the hospital and get some answers to why my healthy daughter had a seizure.

It was actually a great decision to take the ambulance because everybody was waiting on our arrival and the moment we got there, they were on top of the situation. At this point, M is aware of everything and if finally like herself, although she could remember nothing up until the paramedics were in her bedroom. The next 2 hours went by very quickly. Sugar test, blood pressure, temperature, blood work, and a CT scan all done by 6 am and by 7 am we knew that everything looked good. Praise the Lord! We were then released with an order for an EEG later that morning.

Twenty-six probes put all over my little girls head and amongst her curly ringlets for the EEG test. An hour later, we were walking out still not knowing anything, but were promised that we would hear from someone by the end of the day. By 5pm we had a preliminary diagnosis from the neurologist that read her EEG. He seems to think that she has some form of adolescent epilepsy, something that she will outgrow around age 14 or so. He also believes that hers are nocturnal, happening only when she is asleep. The next step will be us being referred to a pediatric neurologist to confirm the diagnosis and decide how to treat her for it, if at all. In doing my research on-line, after the guy that performed the EEG mentioned it to me, I have discovered that those night terrors were some form of small seizures.

We have a long road ahead of us, with doctor referrals, insurance phone calls, doctor appointments, and more, but I CAN HANDLE THAT! Just praising the good Lord that my daughter is ok and hoping that this diagnosis is correct. Keep us in your prayers.