little adventure last night

last night at dinner one of my daughters had a seizure. apperently, and this I only learned afterwards, there is a relativly common type of siezure that kids have as a result of a fast spike in fever. my wife had this 3 times at about the age my daughter is now (2). but at the time I was sure that she had something in her windpipe - being that she was eating at the time. I called 911 right away and then tried to clear her windpipe - but I was a little apprehensive of trying to heimlich her, as she is about 10% of my wieght. the ambulance was there about 90 seconds after I called in, and I met them dowstairs. I had actually thought that I would drive her to the hospital (which is about 3 minutes away) but they got to us before I could pull out.

at about 60-90 seconds after the siezure started, she stopped moving complety - she was totally unresponsive with eyes open, and I couldn't hear her breathing or really making any noise at all. I was pretty sure that we were going to loose her for a minute or two. I was still thinking that her airway was blocked, so I hit her on the back, held her upside down, and tried to get what ever it was out of her. I had her crying, slightly, just before I handed her over to the ambulance.

we rode in to the hospital with her, and she slept really well for about half an hour - apperently the ordeal exhasted her. within 30 minutes she was responsive again, and within an hour and a half she was back to herself.

anyway, she seems to be fine, there is a 30% chance that this will happen again, so I am not thrilled about that, but at least it isn't life threatening and I now know what happened.

got home, had a large shot of scotch. honestly, I don't think that I have ever been so scared.

I'm glad things worked out okay. I can't imagine seeing my child go through that ordeal.

Gosh. Terrifying. I'm glad she's OK. I would not have stopped at one shot.

wow Zach, awful story. Glad to hear it ended well.

Sounds absolutely terrifying, Zach. I would've need several large shots of Scotch.

oh holy cow. Glad it worked out but I hope you never have to go through that ever again.

Hey Zach, one of the RubeBabes had a very similar thing when she was a toddler. Scared the hell out of me.

Thankfully it never happened again.

I'm not looking forward to this aspect of parenthood

hope everything and everyone is okay. we had a health scare with my middle son last year and there's nothing worse. you never realize how much you love them until you're tested whether the test is big or small.

I'm really glad this worked out ok. My daughter is a few years older than yours but when she was 3 she had a high fever and while sleeping, kept shaking like in a small seizure. My wife told me this can happen with fevers and they get tremors but i was scared shitless. Luckily wife was right.

Have you thought about taking a CPR class? It would really help with knowing how to check if she is having difficulty breathing or her heart stopped, it at the very least might make you a little more comfortable if another situation like this arises.

thanks for all your kind words

Originally Posted by globetrotter

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last night at dinner one of my daughters had a seizure. apperently, and this I only learned afterwards, there is a relativly common type of siezure that kids have as a result of a fast spike in fever. my wife had this 3 times at about the age my daughter is now (2). but at the time I was sure that she had something in her windpipe - being that she was eating at the time. I called 911 right away and then tried to clear her windpipe - but I was a little apprehensive of trying to heimlich her, as she is about 10% of my wieght. the ambulance was there about 90 seconds after I called in, and I met them dowstairs. I had actually thought that I would drive her to the hospital (which is about 3 minutes away) but they got to us before I could pull out.

at about 60-90 seconds after the siezure started, she stopped moving complety - she was totally unresponsive with eyes open, and I couldn't hear her breathing or really making any noise at all. I was pretty sure that we were going to loose her for a minute or two. I was still thinking that her airway was blocked, so I hit her on the back, held her upside down, and tried to get what ever it was out of her. I had her crying, slightly, just before I handed her over to the ambulance.

we rode in to the hospital with her, and she slept really well for about half an hour - apperently the ordeal exhasted her. within 30 minutes she was responsive again, and within an hour and a half she was back to herself.

anyway, she seems to be fine, there is a 30% chance that this will happen again, so I am not thrilled about that, but at least it isn't life threatening and I now know what happened.

got home, had a large shot of scotch. honestly, I don't think that I have ever been so scared.

the ambulance was there about 90 seconds after I called in

Good they were there so quick. One of the few good parts of your story.

And think, there is a 70% chance this will not happen again.

Originally Posted by Bhowie

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Have you thought about taking a CPR class? It would really help with knowing how to check if she is having difficulty breathing or her heart stopped, it at the very least might make you a little more comfortable if another situation like this arises.

yeah, I've actually been looking into it this morning. I have taken adult CPR courses a few times, but they also have special course for kids - you can hurt an adult with CPR, I think that you really need to know what you are doing to do CPR to a 30 pound kid.

but, honestly, there were 3 (first aid) catastraphies that we planned for (in our house) - major bleeding, serious burn and blocked airway. we did exactly what we planned for in the case of blocked airway, just that wasn't the actual event. I am pretty happy with our reactions and the reaction time of the local first reposnders. part of why we chose our apartment is the extreme proximity to a trauma center and to the firehouse, and that paid off.

Originally Posted by rnoldh

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the ambulance was there about 90 seconds after I called in

Good they were there so quick. One of the few good parts of your story.

And think, there is a 70% chance this will not happen again.

exactly right - pretty good odds.

actually, the best part of the story is that the event wasn't life threatening. I thought that she wasn't breathing but she apperenlty was.