Well...yesterday was not exactly fun for me. David neither for that matter. In the last week....I have noticed David has been grinding his teeth a great deal. I have learned over the years that this tends to be an indicator that seizures are on the horizon. But hope always springs eternal and I always pray that he is just wearing his teeth to nubs because of his CP and NOT because of seizures. Once again my hopes were dashed!
In all fairness....I have gotten so much better about David's seizures and I don't tend to panic like I used to. (
Used to as in last summer!) But yesterday did kind of make my pulse race a little faster. The teeth grinding started about two weeks ago. Then last week....we had a couple of nights were we had bedtime mini seizures. They were short lived and he seemed to be aware the whole 20 or 30 seconds they lasted. Then Monday night he had a little more intense mini seizure which lasted maybe 45 seconds...but again....he was with it the whole way through. I just continued to watch wondering if these were in the process of building to something much bigger and trying to figure out if anything was different in his life right now. He was under no undo stress (that I know of), no fever, no new meds and puberty I can do nothing about. All the things I can control.....were controlled. So I wasn't sure what was going on.
Yesterday we got up...got ready....and David wanted to stay in bed after he got dressed and watch....what else....
Spongebob. So I was trying to get myself ready and I decided him watching
Spongebob worked for both of us. I had my back to him as I was picking something up and suddenly I heard the fierce grinding of his teeth. I knew before I turned around that he was having a seizure. I walked over to him and he began making his seizure face (that is what I call it) pursing his lips and making an "ooooo" noise. This time though....he wasn't aware and his eyes were darting. I stood there saying
"David....can you hear me?" He was not responding and between trying to get him to respond to my questions and wondering if this was going to turn into something much bigger...I began watching the clock. At 2 minutes I was prepared to give him Diastat. Fifteen seconds past, then twenty, twenty-five, thirty and then finally at forty-five after saying
"David....can you hear me?" he
signed YES to me
. He then started coming out of it.
While this was not a long seizure it appeared to be a
deeper seizure for lack of a better word. I don't believe he was aware during this seizure and when he came out of it....you could tell he was scared. I held him for a few minutes and then he seemed to be back to normal. My instinct was to keep him home and hold him all day. The calmer side of me though....realized this was just a speed bump in our daily road and that both of us needed to continue forward. So I sent him to school, but not without first calling his teacher and letting her know about the mornings activities.
I called the neurologist as soon as his office opened and told the nurse what had transpired. She said she would talk to the dr. and then call me back. Before she could.....the school called saying that he had had another one lasting about 30 seconds. Again....my pulse was hitting about 150 bpm, but I calmly told them to give him 1/2 a diastat and to let me know if anything else occurred. I then called the dr. back with the new info. When the dr. called me back....they just said it was time for a med change (which is what I figured....
darn that puberty)!
David had no more seizures at school yesterday and by the afternoon he was back to his old self. Of course...he couldn't let the day end without a grand finale.....so just as he was going to sleep.....he had one more mini....but it wasn't really a pulse racer.
He is now on a gradual increase in meds and this morning he woke up full of fire and ready to burn. The minute he was dressed he was on the floor and playing with his toys. Oh and yes....there was
Spongebob too. His eyes were bright and as I put him on the bus....the whole neighborhood new that David was off to school. It looks as if another seizure episode has come and is in the process of leaving us. While I didn't lose my cool and neither of us missed a day of productivity.....I still will be glad when the day comes that seizures are no longer a part of David's life. And I have every faith that....that day will indeed come!
