the epilepsy demon is back

Last Tuesday was just another day in our household. We did laundry, washed dishes, played video games, and practiced reading. Then after dinner, we did our nightly routine of cleaning up, taking baths and putting the big kids to bed. My husband sat down at his computer to skype with his buddies, while I took a shower. The night was playing out like it normally did. Everything was going as planned. Everything was right. 

We had no idea what was about to happen.

I got out of the shower, slipped into my undergarments and pulled a shirt over my head. I squeezed the water out of my massive amount of hair before I wrapped it up in a towel and left the bathroom. In the living room, I sat on the couch a few feet from where my husband sat at his computer. I had planned on crocheting a bit before heading to bed, but something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. 

Handsome, who usually would be asleep in his swing and content, was shaking. His arms and legs jerked uncontrollably, as his head darted back and forth in an awkward motion. His eyes were open and wide... And my heart sank to my stomach. 

I rushed to him, calling for my husband. We laid him out on the floor to get a better look at him. We knew what his seizures looked like and we knew, even after seven months, that what we were witnessing was a generalized tonic clonic seizure, a grand mal seizure. 

I broke far too many traffic laws to list on my way to the closest emergency room and double parked my husband's truck in the parking lot. From that point on, everything sort of blurs together. It took an hour and ten minutes to stop the seizure, which resulted in Handsome being sedated. He had stopped breathing during the seizure and had to be intubated. It took almost three hours to stabilize him and then he was loaded into a helicopter and life flighted to a Children's Hospital an hour away.

I stood in the parking lot, one in the morning, watching a helicopter fly away with my son. (They don't let parents ride in the helicopter for some reason)

Once he got to the hospital, he was admitted in the pediatric intensive care unit and since then everything has spiraled down hill. He's been diagnosed with traecheitis and they have discovered that his feeds are leaking into his body tissue. As of right now, we don't know much. We don't know if the changes in his digestive system, his personality, and his tone are new stages in his disease. And we don't know if it's repairable. 

 We beat this demon before and I am determined to beat it again. It may be a bit more complex this time and the odds may not be in our favor, but I always put my money on the underdog. Handsome is stronger then his disease. He will overcome this hurdle.