Back in the Hospital

Well, yesterday sure didn't turn out like I thought it would.  I had put Madi down for a nap and was making some calls.  I turned on the baby monitor and shortly after I heard Madi on it.  I thought she had started waking up so I went in to lay by her and put her back to sleep.  She kept fussing and I noticed she was jerking funny and her eyes were making funny movements.  That's when it clicked that she was having a seizure.  I called 911, who transferred me to a different unit.  They dispatched the paramedics and stayed on the line with me.  I was holding Madi against me in my arms and she just kept seizing, and then she threw up on me.  I had her sideways in my arms, so she didn't choke luckily, but I felt so bad for her.

Apparently the paramedics got lost or something, so it took them 17 minutes to get to us.  Poor Madi was seizing the entire time, and continued to until they gave her a shot that stopped it.  That 20 minutes was probably the longest 20 minutes of my entire life.  I did the only thing I could, I tried to keep myself together, held her and talked to her, and wiped her down with a wet washcloth.  After they got Madi stable, they loaded us in the ambulance and headed for Phoenix Children's Hospital.  She slept most of the way, then woke up a bit confused. 

The first thing they checked was her shunt, since shunt failure can cause seizures.  The cat scan and shunt series all came back normal.  After that they checked her blood and her urine.  Her urine came back that she had a yucky UTI (though she wasn't presenting with a fever or smelly urine, or any indication yet.  We did, though, have a hard time getting her prophylactic antibiotics filled (long story) so she was without antibiotics for a couple days over the weekend).  They were trying to figure out what could have caused the seizure, and such a long one at that, so I let them know Madi had the MMR vaccination on Monday (for India travel).  It was her first MMR shot, so I was worried it may be that.  I was expecting them to say it couldn't be, but so far everyone has agreed that the vaccine could be the cause.  It could also be, though, that a combo of the of the vaccination, the UTI, etc.... could have all worked together to contribute to it.  The admitted us and scheduled an EEG for the morning.  They also started Madi on a stronger antibiotic.  It took a while to get a room and get settled, and of course they bugged us all night, but it was nice to be out of the ER! 

This morning when we got up they took us down for the EEG.  It's now 3:00 and I'm just hearing back on the news from that.  Basically, Madi has some abnormalities in her brain, AKA, some misfirings.  They still really don't know what caused the seizure, but it seems like she does have an underlying tendency towards seizures, so that may have complicated things.  They said she could never have another one again, or she could have one every few years, or it could be something that starts happening often and that we will need to be seen and monitored for.  At this point, no one really knows.  She also developed a fever after the seizure, but didn't have one before, and now it's back up. Her heart rate is still up, though, so they are watching that to see what happens with that. 

Earlier they were saying they were keeping us overnight, but now they are saying that they might be letting us go home.  They are sending us home with something to treat the UTI and also something for me to give her rectally to stop the seizures if she is having them and they are lasting longer than 5 minutes. 

So, that's that.  Not fun, but it's life, and we all made it out safely, thank God.  A big "thank you" to everyone who has been praying for us and letting us know you are here and care.  It means a lot!