Thursday in Minnesota was beautiful afternoon full of sun and warm temperatures. Our daughter Cece loves to go on walks when the weather is nice out so this above normal day in January gave her an opportunity to do just that. Usually the personal care attendant (PCA) would take her for a walk by herself but since my wife decided to go with her since it was nice out and Cece has had two grand mal seizures in two weeks.

Cece loves her baby dolls so when she walks she will push one of her dolls in a wheelchair in front of her. The route they took was the normal route which means that they know many of the people from previous walks because they will talk to people if they are outside. At about 3:40 they noticed her hand would not stay on the handle and when they were asking her if she was ok she was not responding normally. Once they realized she was having a complex partial seizure they took her out of the wheelchair and placed her on the PCA’s lap who was by now sitting on the ground.

By 3:46 her seizure had progressed from a complex partial into a grand mal. The man whose yard they were sitting in was in the garage so they asked if they could bring Cece into his house and he said yes. Since Cece has a history of seizures we always carry her rescue medication called Diastat with us wherever we go just in case.  Once they administered the Diastat at 3:49 they called 911 to make sure the ambulance was there if the medicine did not stop the seizure.  The police arrived first and the ambulance arrived shortly thereafter and the seizure finally stopped at 4:00.

My wife decided to take Cece to urgent care to have her checked out but since they were on a walk the van was at home.  The female police officer was kind enough to take my wife home but she had to ride in the back seat of the police car.  She said she felt like a criminal back there and the police officer had to open the door for her when they arrived at our house.  My wife and son then had to take the van down the road to pick up Cece, the PCA and two wheelchairs to get her checked out at the hospital.  Since she has a history of seizures they will not assess her in urgent care so they ended up in the emergency room.  After the Dr. looked Cece over she was diagnosed with her third ear infection in three weeks (each ear infection was diagnosed by a different emergency room Dr. after she had a grand mal seizure).  They gave her a shot of antibiotics and prescribed three days of oral antibiotics and numbing drops for her ears.  We also received a referral for an ENT who we will be seeing on January 23rd to discuss tubes.  She had tubes in the past but they have since fallen out and we did not have more put in because she did not have any ear infections until recently.

We also have an 8:30 neurology appointment on Monday at Mayo Clinic to discuss putting her back on Depakote (Seizure medicine) which she has been off of since before her foot surgery she had in October.  The Dr. is suggesting this as she says it should increase her seizure threshold which would hopefully mean she would not have a grand mal if she gets an ear infection.  We really do not want her to be on more medicine but we also do not want her to have any more grand mal seizures.  This is one of the fun decisions that parents get to make regarding their children.  We are thankful that God is in control and the seizure happened in the yard of the man who helped Cece.  Please pray that we will be able to make the right decision for Cece.