On Thursday (a few weeks back) I got a call at work that Jack had lost consciousness at day care and was being taken to the hospital via ambulance. After rushing to the hospital and spending a few hours in the ER the doctor said that Jack had a breathe holding spell and sent us home with some antibiotics for a double ear infection that he found. (a little history, Twice before Jack had fallen or hurt himself and fallen asleep for a short period afterwards which his pediatrician told us was a breathe holding spell, so we figured that this was just an extension of that.) Then a few days later, on Sunday, Jack was playing outside with Ella, tripped and fell onto his hands and knees and passed out. We brought him inside and laid him down, he woke up quickly, cried, and with in a few minutes he had recovered and was up and running around. Again we thought this was just confirmation that breathe holding spells were about to become normal to us, if that is even possible.
Later that morning, we decided to venture out to see Santa. Ella was excited and Jack was in a good mood. Ella and I waited in line while Guy walked around with Jack so he wouldn't get antsy. It was finally our turn; we walked up and put both kids on Santa's lap. Jack started to cry and then almost instantly went into what we thought was a breathe holding spell. Guy grabbed him off Santa and laid him on the floor. Only this was nothing like the times before. He was stiff and appeared to be having a seizure. We called 911 and waited for what felt like forever for the paramedics to get there. When they finally arrived Jack was still completely unconsciousness. He was transported again to the hospital via ambulance where the ER doctor decided to admit him. Jack was in the hospital for three days while they ran a bunch of tests to rule out any type of seizure disorder: EKG, EEG, CAT Scan, and an echo cardiogram. Our pediatrician was visiting us in the hospital on a daily basis; he is confident that Jack is experiencing breathe holding spells because each episode has been triggered by an event whether is be him falling or the stress of sitting on Santa's lap.
Late on day three in the hospital, we were waiting for the results of the EEG; all of the other tests had some back normal. Our pediatrician called to let us know that he had talked to the neurologist and that the EEG showed slight seizure activity. He assured us that this was an excellent prognosis and that it was still likely that he would grow out of it. We were discharged from the hospital and sent to see the neurologist the next day. The neurologist said that it is highly likely Jack will grow out of it. He was prescribed medication that he will need to take twice a day. We follow up with the neurologist at 4 weeks and 8 weeks to make sure that he is adjusting well to the medication. At age two he will have another EEG; if there is no longer any seizure activity we can start to take him off the medication.
So far he has been on the medication for two weeks; he has had no break through seizures and the medication does not seem to affect him. We have pulled him out of day care until he has adjusted to the medication. For now he is spending time with Papa and Uncle Chadie during the day; hopefully in a few more weeks he will still be doing well on the medication and we can put him back in day care so he can see his friends. Ella has been doing good! She doesn't quite understand what happened. She thinks Jack fell down and had to go to the doctor.
The picture below is the moment right before everything happened. Santa's assistant ran over and just gave us the picture. I told Guy that as far as I'm concerned, Jack never has to see Santa again! Dealing with all of this has been scary, overwhelming, and stressful. We are so grateful that Jack is okay and hopeful that the medication will hold off any future seizures. Thank you everyone for your support!
