Sierra's emergency

Sierra tried to scare the life out of me. She nearly succeeded! Here is the story of what happened to her.

Shortly after 3:00 (central time) yesterday my son came running inside telling me that Sierra was "laying on the grounding, kicking her legs weird and shaking all over". I ran out back, and she was curled up in the fetal position having a grand mal seizure. She had already vomited on herself and was thrashing around. The dog kept climbing on top of her. (Seeing how the dog acted later and then again when we brought Sierra home, I think she was trying to help her.) I picked her up and carried her to the front porch while my son ran inside to get the phone.

When I called 911 one of my neighbors who I only new by sight (who is the fire chief) heard the call go out and realized that the address was right around the corner. When they heard it was a 10 year old girl, they knew that it was Sierra (his wife is the school secretary) and they ran through our yards to get there and help me. I tried calling my MIL to come get DS but couldn't get through. Their line was busy so the cops went to get her and the neighbor (school secretary) stayed with my son until my mother-in-law could get here so I could go with Sierra in the ambulance. By this time she wasn't convulsing, but she was making this HORRIBLE gasping, choking type sound deep in the back of her throat. I was horrified, but I knew that when my brother had his seizure he could hear us, and knew what was going on, so I tried to stay as calm as possible. When we got to the hospital she had stopped making the noise, and she started trying to sit up but was obviously extremely disoriented. She was trying to speak, but all that came out was moaning.

After a while we could make out that she was saying "please help me mommy" and it broke my heart. I was holding her, and they were trying to get her vitals and such. She was so afraid, and she didn't know where she was or what was going on. We didn't realize it, but at that time she couldn't even see what was going on. She didn't regain her vision for 15 - 20 minutes. She told me that she couldn't see, and asked me "is this real?" and "I'm not dreaming?!?" I kept explaining things to her and reassuring her that I was there. Then she asked for DH and once I told her he would be there soon she asked for our minister. The she asked me the one thing that bothered me more than anything..... with tears streaming down her face she looked up and said, "Mommy, am I going to die?"   I promised her she wasn't and hoped I wasn't lying.

By the time the doctor got there she had completely regained her vision, speech and was able to stand and even take a few steps. He said that he was ordering a CT scan for the next morning and she would need an EEG in 6 weeks. Then we moved her to a room for the night, and a few hours later while they were checking her vitals again she said she felt dizzy. Then she told me her foot was tingling. Within seconds the whole left side of her body was seizing, but she stayed alert, we kept her calm, and it stayed on just the one side of her body and only last 45 seconds. We got very little sleep last night because we were both terrified that she would have another seizure.

This morning at around 9 am they came and got her at took her for her CT scan. Then we sat...and waited.....and waited....and waited. It was after 5 pm when they FINALLY came in and told us that the CT scan was normal, so no brain injuries that caused the seizure. They said they didn't want to medicate her unless they continue to happen, so they released her from the hospital with a long list of things that she cannot do without supervision. No bathing, no playing outside, no tv or video games.....basically nothing but sleeping unless she's being supervised. And ABSOLUTELY  NO tree climbing, no swimming without some sort of life preserver or within arms reach of someone, no bike riding. It's going to be a LONG summer.

She does have to have the EEG in six weeks, (which she'll have to get done while she is in Florida.....is someone going to be around to keep me sane for 8 weeks?!? I so DO NOT want tolet her go to Florida now!) and she will have to go see a pediatric neurologist in August if they don't have an opening in the next week. But as long as she doesn't have another one, she will be free and clear to do as she pleases in 6 weeks or so once they get the results from the follow up EEG. We have a family history of seizures that start between the ages of 10 -12 years old and then mysteriously end. Something to do with out of control hormones during puberty.Hopefully this is the same with Sierra and we don't have any more of these.

She is now feeling great, and other than being afraid that this will happen again, she is 100% feeling like the same girl she was BEFORE the seizure. We're camping in the living room together until she feels comfortable enough to go back to bed though. She leaves for Florida on the 17th (I'm flying down with them this year) and I have a feeling the couch will be my bed until then. If she feels more comfortable that way though, it's worth it.

I know this was really long, and thank you for reading this far. We would really appreciate it if everyone could pray that nothing else happens and that this turns out to just be a one time thing.
Thank you in advance for you prayers!