Lily's Brain

Early Sunday morning, Lily happened to be in our bed (not such a strange thing at 3 am) and woke up Tom with a seizure. We have since learned that it was a grand mal or tonic clonic seizure, both of which are pretty dumb names. The first translated from the French literally as BIG BAD seizure. Ingenious. She was pretty quiet but jerking around with her eyes rolled up in her head. It lasted between 1 and 2 minutes, depending on how long it took Tom to wake up and it's really hard to tell how much time passes in that state. It just seems to last forever. She finished and rolled over in a deep sleep. The paramedics came and gave a little oxygen trying to revive her because that state after a seizure is really deep and she needed about fifteen minutes or so to start getting some responses out of her.

The paramedics said they could bring her to the ER or we could drive her since she revived alright. We chose to drive her in to the Issaquah Swedish ER and got there around 4:30. She was still groggy, vomiting and saying that her head hurt. The ER was empty and really quick and helpful...in some ways. They did not do much to relieve any anxieties by telling us that she had to be tested for some really big fatal conditions and diseases right away because this was clearly not a febrile seizure (a seizure produced by the body to bring down a fever). Meningitis, massive brain tumors, take your pick.

The lumbar puncture (spinal tap) came first which was not fun. Three nurses had to hold her still pinned forward into a little ball. She was very good. They couldn't believe how little she squirmed or cried. She was certainly sad but she did not fight and scream. Childbirth should be a cinch after this.

Next came the cath and the blood draw. Again, more sadness and the quick realization that she did not like what was going on here.

The CT scan was like heaven after the others, just cold. She had to lay perfectly still to get some pictures of her brain. I stayed in there to help her but she didn't need it. She just had to know that nothing else was going to hurt her and she was good.

So a couple hours later the doctor tells us everything has come back normal. Good news. CT scan picked up a little thing that may just be an ear infection, not really sure. Here are some neurology and epilepsy specialists you need to call. Bad news.

Well, what do we do now? How should we feel? I don't know. Let's hope this is just a one time thing. There could have been a fever we didn't notice had spiked. Just how worried should we be? Are we just waiting around for the next one to happen? I don't know. Lots of questions, no answers, for now.