It had been an ordinary day; Jake had been off school due to
a vomiting episode the previous night. I’d spent most of the day scrubbing the
upstairs carpet and checking on the patient who was quite happy watching DVD’s
on the couch. He hadn’t vomited since but he had a slight fever according to my
dodgy Toy story thermometer which only records in Fahrenheit. The small child
had been collected from kinder, the dinner was prepared and it was only five o
clock. I was pretty proud of myself. Then it happened, the most terrifying four
minutes of my life.
I watched helplessly as Jake shook
uncontrollably on the couch. He
looked like he was choking as he gasped for air and he was turning a shade of
blue. I couldn’t understand why this was happening and I seriously thought I
was going to lose this child who I love more than life itself. I was now shaking with fear as I dragged
him over to the phone to call for help.
The paramedics believe my son had a febrile
convulsion, which is a common occurrence in children from the age of six months
to six years of age. This can
occur after a sudden spike in body temperature and in my son’s case his had
reached 40C. In hindsight being covered with a duvet with the heating on full
blast probably didn’t help!
On reaching the hospital I was given a ‘what to do in the
event of…’ fact sheet and I had failed miserably! If this should happen to you here is what (in bold) you
should do.
1
Don’t panic
Yeah right! I freaked out; when something
happens out of the blue you naturally assume the worst! My child was dying, his
father would never see him again and all I could think of was the UK emergency
services telephone number! Followed by the American emergency services number.
2
Do not force or put anything into the child’s mouth, including your
fingers.
Big fail! It
looked like my son was going to choke on his own tongue so in went my fingers.
I am now currently typing with one less finger due to nerve damage sustained
when he chomped down on said fingers at the end of his seizure! In that moment
when I thought he was choking I would have gladly lost my hand.
3
Ensure your child is safe by placing them on the floor and removing
any object they could hit against.
Umm didn’t have time to put the ironing board away in my
frenzied state while my left hand was stuck in my child’s mouth.
4 Note the
time the fit started and stopped, to tell the doctor.
Funnily enough I didn’t think to look at the time and
four or five minutes can seem like a lifetime.
5 Once the fit has stopped place your child on
their side and make
them comfortable.
Okay I got this bit right!
6 Do not shake or slap your child
to wake them up
You will be
relieved to hear that I got this bit right too! Once the seizure had finished,
Jake didn’t seem to recognize me, would not respond to my voice and had the
vacant stare of somebody who was not entirely at home.
About thirty minutes later he came to, the
relief was palpable and now I could just worry about whether we were covered
for the ambulance ride to hospital!
Luckily we were but should there be a next
time I feel that I will be more confident to handle the situation by myself.
The experience was more traumatic for me
than for him and I am happy to report that within two days he was back to his
normal self. The pediatrician
isn’t convinced Jake had a febrile convulsion so the next step for him will be
an EEG so in our case only time will tell.
Statistically about one in twenty children
will have a febrile convulsion at some point in their young lives. Be mindful when your child has a
fever, keep them cool and maybe don’t crank the heating up!
