Addie's Seizure

Last Tuesday Miss Addie gave us a giant scare. After taking a shower Addie was sitting on my lap and I was combing her hair when she went limp. At first I thought she just fell asleep but after trying to wake her and looking at her eyes I realized that she was non-responsive. I yelled for Bill and we decided we needed to get her to the doctor. When laying her down to get a diaper and clothes on her she went opaque. We ended up calling 911.

Within minutes there was one first responder and the sheriff at my door. They couldn't get Addie to respond and the first responder wasn't sure that he could get a pulse. Her eyes were rolled so far back that they couldn't check her pupils. (I never lost a pulse although it was very weak at times) They called for the helicopter and the ambulance from the hospital. Once the rest of the first response team arrived they laid Addie flat on the floor. Approximately 8 to 10 minutes had passed since she went limp and she started to wake up. She just laid there while 6 men were huddled over her and looked zombie like. Once she came to the color in her cheeks came back and she seemed "normal".

We decided that she should still go to the hospital but didn't need the helicopter (which they decided to call off) or the ambulance (they followed behind us the entire way, just in case). Addie, Billy and I headed to the hospital ER while our awesome friends took Evie.

While in the ER Addie had an EKG and the sedation for a CT. Typically, the sedation didn't work so they gave her the maximum dose. It made her super hyper so they admitted her so she could be in a crib to relax. After about 3 hours of hyperness she crashed and we got a CT. It was explained to us that if there was bleeding on the brain or a fracture in the skull she would be airlifted to a different hospital in either Rochester or Des Moines. Luckily, it came back normal.

The next morning we met with the doctor again. They decided that they needed to do a bunch of tests to make sure she was okay. After an ECG they sedated Addison again for an EEG (brain scan). After hours of waiting we found out that Addie's brain is normal!! The neurologist felt like Addison still had a major seizure.


He explained to us that seizures aren't always jerky. That petit mal seizures are lack of movement. Typically, the person doesn't go non-responsive, yet they seem to be staring, zoned out or confused. That after the seizure they don't know they just had one. And that they are normally very short spells. The neurologist had two concerns with Addie: she was out for 8-10 minutes and my dad has a cousin with epilepsy. He decided to put her on a seizure medication called Keppra.

Addie left the hospital Thursday morning with a portable heart monitor and a seizure medication. She seemed normal, tired but normal, all weekend. Sunday afternoon she started getting a little irritable and was freaking out over everything. By Monday Bill and I were noticing some weird behaviors.

Addie is a doer. She loves to be outside playing. Monday and Tuesday we were struggling getting her to do anything. All she wanted to do was eat, drink or lay. Not my girl. We had a follow up with our amazing pediatrician on Monday and he agreed that she had a seizure but wasn't sure she needed to be on medicine.

So he referred us to Mayo in Rochester for a second opinion and marked her as Urgent. Later on Monday I received a phone call that her appointment was July 25, 36 days away. Personally, that isn't urgent enough to a mom who can't sleep and stares her 2 year old down constantly to make sure she is okay! I have made 25 phone calls in the last 24 hours and haven't really gotten anywhere. They have decided to lower her amount of seizure medication and want me to watch her.

If things don't get better by tomorrow we were advised to go to St. Mary's ER in Rochester and they will run the tests necessary.

So as of right now it is just a waiting game. It's torture watching Addie hold her head and say owie without her being able to tell you what hurts.

We would like to thank everyone for their prayers. Most importantly we would like to thank our friends Anna and Jake for "parenting" Evie for the 3 days we were in the hospital.

For Better and For Worse.

Tomorrow is my anniversary. Three years of married life, two kids and a few big life changes. I remember the day quite well. It was fun, really fun. It was filled with family and friends. Dancing, laughing and celebrating. A lot of people gave us advice and I wish we would have listened a little harder.

Marriage isn't what I thought it would be. I am not sure what I thought but it is harder then I ever thought. It isn't what you see in the movies. You don't have an argument and then laugh it off. You actually fight. Yell. Get mad. Cry. Say things you regret. And then you have to apologize. And again, unlike the movies, you don't forget. You remember the fight, the words and the pain.

Marriage takes work. It takes forgiveness. It takes patience. And it takes remembering that you are different people living in a house. You are going to have fights. You are going to hurt. You are going to say things you regret and hear things that hurt. You deal with real life issues: money, kids, jobs, stress, fears.

But you never face life alone. There is always someone at your side. You get through the hard times to face the good times. Where there is rain there is a rainbow. There is always going to be another storm but the nice thing about marriage is the longer you are together the better prepared you are to face it.

There is a reason that there is a vow that says, "for better/for worse" because there are going to be both times.