Blind

These are my two lovely daughters a week and a half ago, all dressed up for the spring performance of the ballet company.  Don't they look beautiful?

You all know the cutie on the left, that's my Bug.  Well a couple of days before this picture was taken she nearly scared me into an early grave.  It was Thursday morning and each of the Girlies were getting special hair-dos for "crazy hair day" at school.  I had already done really wacky things to Bitty's hair and was about a 1/4 of the way into a fauxhawk for Bug when things got weird.

Bug was standing in front of me, with her back to me, both of us facing the mirror.  You know, hair fixing style.  I was looking at her head when she said, "Mommy, I can't see."  I started to tell her that she needed to be patient, I would have the hair out of her face soon when I looked up at her in the mirror.  I could see the color draining from the top of her face down as if a spigot at her feet were creating a Bug color pool beneath me.  She said, "Mommy, I think I'm blind" just as her eyes rolled back in her head.  I reached down to scoop her up and her body went stiff as a board.  Not like that light as a feather stiff as a board thing teenage girls play at slumber parties, more like something JJ Abrams might think up.

I carried her to the couch and by the time we got there she was limp as a colorless kid rag and starting to come around.  She told me that she still couldn't see but that her ears had also started to buzz and her skin was starting to feel hot.  I checked her face for a fever (I do this by pressing my cheek to her head, I'm pretty dang accurate this way too) and she was a touch on the cool side.  Then I had the standard reaction for my house, I got her some chocolate and looked for the Blood Glucose Monitor.  It wasn't home so I called the Buster who was around the corner having breakfast with his brother.  He later told me that I didn't even tell him which child had a problem, I just told him, "there's something wrong with the kid, come home NOW!"

When he got home we tested her blood sugar and it was 97.  For those of you who don't live with a Type 1 diabetic, that's a perfect score.  Once I knew it wasn't low blood sugar, and had sat the sweet kid in Daddy's lap to recover I got the other kid ready and took her (and her crazy hair) to school.  Bug missed crazy hair day, it was her first day of school to miss this year.

In college I took an EMS course and became a certified EMT.  I never did much with it, but that training was enough to make me feel pretty confident that my daughter had had a seizure.  I made her an appointment to see the pediatrician and we headed to the mall.  Ok, so you're wondering how I can say she had a seizure and then say we headed off to the mall.  You have to understand, this is the healthiest kid in the world.  That means she never stays home from school.  We have very little time alone, just the two of us.  What do mommies and daughters do when they have some free time?  What do they do when they are stressed out and need some time without the use of their brains?  They go to the mall.  While we were relaxing at the Justice store (as much as you can relax when the sales lady is following you around telling you the sale price of each thing you touch, I nearly had to tell her we had a case of the seizures and it was contagious) we were able to talk about what had happened and Bug was able to tell me how it felt from the inside.  She explained that she had lost her vision several minutes before she mentioned it to me because she thought it would come back.  It had the last time.  Surprisingly I was able to stay calm when she told me this had happened before, when I wasn't around.

At lunch time we went to the pediatrician who is always surprised to see us (like I said, I've got healthy kids) and he confirmed my suspicion that we had a Bug seizure at our house.  He said that it could be a one time thing or it could happen again and that he would like us to see a pediatric neurologist.  He said we were clear to go to Disney World (yes this happened 4 days before we were supposed to leave for Spring Break) but that she probably shouldn't drive.  She thought that was probably ok since she is 9 and can't really even reach the pedals.  He told us we should probably see the doctor in the next two weeks.  Obviously since then we have been given an appointment in mid April.

It's amazing how many people we know have had similar stories that we didn't know about until Bug started telling everyone what had happened to her (and I mean EVERYONE).  April 14 we get to have a sleep deprived EEG.  I say we because I am betting it will freak me out way more than it will bother the Bug.  Thankfully Disney went off without a hitch.  Wish me luck that everything else will too.

Comments

[Nana]

Please tell Bug that I shall require an extra big hug and kiss the next time I see her, thank you very much! I really can't imagine how scary that must have been for you. I can only say it was wayyyy scary for me, and I wasn't even there. Certainly, I will be hoping for the best possible report from the pediatric neuro.

[P-la]

I would have totally freaked out!!! Thank goodness you were able to be so brave and calm.

[Kristi aka FiberFool]

Oh my, what a scare that must have been! I'm amazed at your ability to stay cool when you found out it had happened before. I'll be sending you positive vibes for the neuro visit!