Family ER trip number... whatever
I truly have lost track at this point, I'm quite sure we are in the double digits and may even be into the twenties. Who knows? I stopped counting quite a few years ago. Today it was R.'s turn. Again.
She has been a little off for the past couple of days, so J. took her with him on some errands he had to run since I had to teach a lesson. They managed, but J. felt as though things were starting to fall apart near the end of the errands. But they get home about the same time I am finishing up with my lesson. As I'm standing in our parking area chatting with my friend whose daughter had a lesson, I realize that R. has fallen face first on the gravel and is having a seizure.
I call for J. and he gets her turned around and her face is pretty beat up. My first question is, "Does she have all her teeth?" Eventually we saw that this time she had not knocked any teeth out, but there was one cut that we looked at and both realized needed stitches. (We're rather pros at this determination at this point in life.) We get her sort of cleaned up, though there is a lot of gravel, and J. bundles her back into the car. I go inside to get P., because we've learned that an extra pair of hands is critical to sanity, and off they go.
In the great scheme of ER visits, this one was short... just two a half hours. They cleaned her up, gave her some swag, and determined that they could glue the cut closed and not have to do stitches. This was fantastic news as stitches are more traumatizing and then have to be removed. I am now at a point in my parenting journey where I remove the stitches as home, but I have to be honest and say I wasn't particularly looking forward to that procedure. I'm glad she was able to avoid the whole thing.
As you might imagine, she is not in the most calm state of mind at the moment. Pain is a PTSD trigger and her face is very scratched up and must hurt like crazy. She was already on edge as I mentioned from the holidays arriving and D. coming home tomorrow. We'll see how this week goes. At least I am nearly done with all preparations which require me to leave the house.
It's not really how we envisioned the day going.
Comments
So glad R has such experienced calm reliable parents. Feel better soon kiddo.
I took 3 of the standard trainings from the epilepsy foundation.
Basic seizure first aid, school nurse seizure first aid and psychogenic seizure.
The did not really cover this: What are the signs you see to know when a seizure might be coming?
Are these epileptic seizures?
As far as we know our daughter (in China) does not have epilepsy.
Some of our friends kids do, her friends from China might, and medical information for our daughter is scarce (centers do what they can).
Nobody would likely prevent a sudden faceplant onto gravel but we might know ahead of time that, for example, today is not a good swim day.
Warmly
Colin
R. has both epileptic and psychogenic non-epileptic seizures. Sometimes she has an aura, sometimes she doesn't. Most seizures in most people do not announce their pending arrival.
As far as the difference between the two, one is caused by a malfunction in the neural cells of the brain, the other is caused by overwhelming emotions. In practicality, the cause doesn't really matter because they are both seizures which affect the body. You try to not have them face plant on the gravel, make sure they are in a safe place, look at a watch to know how long it is lasting, and ride it out.
Swimming for my girls will always require a dedicated person watching them at all times because of this. You just never know.
e
I was suspected that was the answer.
It sounded like you could anticipate it, but its more just experience with signs of fatigue or stress than one specific indicator.
Thank you
Merry Christmas to you all!