Big Bad Seizure

Luella had a seizure today. That ended a 12 day seizure free run. She actually had a seizure on Nov 3rd that I didn't blog about too. That one happened at the Water Park of America - we thought we'd take a quick weekend trip to the cities and have some fun. She only got in about 10 minutes of fun at the water park before that seizure. :( She did enjoy the Mall of America the next day, especially the Lego Store!

Today was the big bad seizure! Luella and I went to school (ECFE) this morning. She had a great time playing with the corn in the sand box! Afterwards we ran a couple errands and stopped to get groceries. I had noticed her being a little "off" all morning. Just a little spacey and quiet. Luella wanted to push her own little shopping cart and we proceeded to get the groceries. A special friend was getting her groceries too and Luella had fun seeking her out down the aisles. We got to the frozen food aisle and I looked at her clutching the handle of the cart and her head turned around looking backwards starting to have a seizure. I picked her up, grabbed her meds and rushed behind the customer service counter where I could lay her on a rug. I had to give her two doses of midazolam and some oxygen since her O2 was dropping. Finally within about 10 minutes the seizure appeared to be stopped. I called Jim so he could meet me at home and we headed home too.

At home Jim held her and she appeared to be breathing really strangely. I checked her O2 again and it was dropping again! We got some oxygen on her and just watched for awhile. I was so sure the seizure was done at the grocery store. She had all the signs of being done. She rubbed her nose and yawned. I was sure she was done! Now, we didn't know what we were seeing. She started getting blotchy (like she does often during a seizure), her breathing was getting more labored, heart rate was elevated. O2 wouldn't stay up on its own when we took the oxygen away. Her eyes opened a little and she wasn't "seeing" us, her hand started posturing and then we knew we needed the ER. Off we went!

At the ER things seemed to be a little better. She didn't need the oxygen but when they poked her to try to start an IV and she didn't even flinch we knew something was going on. At that point they just gave her some more midazolam IM (inter muscularly). She started looking so much better -  not flushed, breathing normally, normal heart rate. The ER doctor spoke to our neurologist. Our doctor suggested adding an additional dose of depakote (one of her usual daily anti-seizure meds) just to get her through the rest of the day since we weren't really sure why this had happened. Luella was so drugged and hard asleep she couldn't take an oral med so they decided to give via IV. They called the anesthesiologist to start the IV and he did great - got it the first try! Luella did cry hard during the IV placement but she went right back to sleep then. It took awhile for the meds to be ready to hook up to the IV and once it was ready, Luella was actually starting to wake up. The nurse started the IV. Luella was rustling around and wanted to roll to her tummy. I was trying so hard to keep her still but somehow she managed to escape and hit her hand on the bed and blood was everywhere! I had heard a "pop" and the IV was out. It was such a mess! So since Luella was more awake they cleaned her up and we just ended up giving the meds orally then.

The doctor was pleased with how well she was doing so after just 3 hours in the ER we were able to go home. She did pretty well for awhile at home but then got sleepy and cranky. We made it through supper and she got to bed. So far she's been very restless tonight and crying a few times. Hopefully she will sleep now and be ready for a better day tomorrow!!

Thank you all for your continued prayers. Please pray that this seizure was a fluke and we don't see another one like it!!

And sorry for the long post. I use this blog as kind of a diary about Luella's seizures - something I can look back on and read the details again later.