On Friday of the first week of summer camp, I dropped off the boys at 9am as I had done each day that week. Both boys seemed happy and ready for the day. At 10 I got a call from school saying that Dylan was crying and very upset – it seemed like he was getting sick – and that I should pick him up. I decided to leave Sean so he could enjoy the last day of camp and had Dylan home by 10:30. He felt really warm so I put him on the sofa and took his temperature. It read 104.3… I’ve never seen a temperature so high before. I gave him medicine right away and sat with him to watch cartoons. He was talking gibberish and was clearly not well. I decided that I would give him 20 minutes and then call the doctor if the temperature wasn’t down.
At 10:50 I went to get the thermometer to recheck him and as I walked back to the sofa I heard him yell “Mom! Mom!!” and then he stopped breathing, turned blue, eyes rolled back in his head and started convulsing. Time stood still. I yelled for John (thank God his was working at home) and told him to call 911. We tried to remain calm but it was almost impossible for me to even give the 911 operator our address, I just couldn’t think straight. We weren't even sure what was really going on – at first I thought he might be chocking since his whole face was blue. But the more I talked to the 911 operator the more it looked like he was having a seizure. He finally stopped seizing and got some color back but was completely unconscious. In a matter of minutes we had firefighters and EMT in our house assessing Dylan’s condition. While they strapped his car seat on the gurney, a big firefighter was holding him in the garage while he was hooked up to oxygen. He was still unresponsive. I have a hard time even typing that last sentence because it was one of the worst sights I’ve even seen and something I will never forget. I rode with Dylan to the hospital while John raced to get Sean from school and coordinate to have him go home with his friend Michael. While in the ambulance, Dylan started to wake up which was such a relief.
Basically what happened is that he had a “fever seizure,” something not terribly uncommon for young children. When they have such a significant spike in temperature in such a short period of time, their bodies respond by seizing to release some of the heat. We were released from the hospital a few hours later and Dylan seemed much better. I told John on the way home that we earned another parent badge that day.
Over the next week Dylan was extremely sick with an ear infection and blisters in his throat and mouth. No doubt he was licking everything in the classroom that week to get so sick. But in true toddler fashion, he only let it affect him for a few days. For us, however, we kept him in a bubble for the next month. You never know when something like this might happen but when it does it truly reminds you just how precious life really is, and how the love for your family is utterly indescribable. I’m so thankful.
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