FEBRILE CONVULSION : THE DAY OUR WORLD WAS SHAKEN

Our son had a febrile convulsion on the same evening my sister divulged that she had a brain tumour. Suffice to say, it was a really crappy day all around.

My sister’s tumour is her story to tell; in a nutshell, it was benign and safely removed. It was also traumatic and she was incredibly brave. She is now back to good health and it is a horrible memory safely tucked away in her past.

I, too, do not ever wish to see my child experience another convulsion and hope it will also be relegated to our ‘remember when’ bag.

In terms of possible childhood illnesses, I am sadly only too aware a convulsion is just a glitch; there are many kids out there who are truly sick and suffering and so very courageous. Even so, for us, at that moment in time, it felt like our world was imploding.

It began innocently.

We had returned to our home town in the country to visit family with our 1 ½ year old son. I was six months pregnant and already waddling and exhausted. I suppose I wasn’t on my A-game, and was tired and pretty focused on myself and the wriggler in my tummy. I was a little perplexed when my bubby boy wasn’t ‘performing’ for his grandparents and for the first time ever, refused his day sleep. But we were in a different house, there was lots going on and he was just a little ‘out of sorts’.

That evening, we took him to my sister’s house. It was steaming. She had a fantastic heater which was pumping. She has always felt the cold and likes the heat cranking. I immediately kicked off my shoes to relieve my hot, swollen feet and settled on the couch. My little man was grizzly and nuzzling in to my warm,incubator body. I assumed he was shattered after his big farm day, tucked his little flannel PJ’d body into a sleep bag and rocked him tightly against me. He settled and dozed.

At that point, my big sis dropped her bombshell. Tumour…benign…neuro-surgery…side effects…my mind was swimming….

And just like that, it began.

My son jerked awake, threw his head back and began convulsing in my arms.

I watched, momentarily stunned, processing my thoughts…What?…What’s happening? Is he…? I called Husband and he was there beside me. On thefloor…recovery position… Dammit; for the love of God I could not prise my
pregnant arse off that couch – I was wedged tight. Husband grabbed our baby and began to strip him down. We were three grown adults staring down at my helpless, twitching son. His eyes had rolled back and he was still convulsing.

Subconsciously, I ‘knew’ what it was. Sure; I had diligently attended the maternal health ‘First Aid for kids’ session. I remember my ears pricked up when it got to FEBRILE CONVULSIONS, as my Mum had often mentioned one of my sister’s had suffered from this as a child.

But the fear…oh God this was real…that intense hammer of fear struck and the air was sucked from my lungs. My sister rang 000 and I believed he was going blue. I irrationally begged my sister to begin CPR. I wanted to..no, I needed to crush him to my chest and will him to be OK, but I knew my body heat was the last thing he needed.

I truly thought…

I imagined terrible things…

I cannot even go there with you.

His body began to slow and he then began to sob and moan (my sister reassured me that this was good; he was back). The red and blue lights splashed through the glass door across his little body on the floor. The halos glowed around the ambos as their presence slowly and calmly normalised this nightmare. They continued to strip him down, take his sky high temperature (how did I miss that?) and he slowly began to come back to us. He was drowsy and only mildly responsive, but his terrifying spasms had stopped.

I never imagined my first ride in an ambulance would be cradling my precious son. One of the ambos happened to be a guy from Primary School whom I had not seen in forever; lovely things happen like this in the country. He grabbed my hand and had to pretty much drag me and my huge belly up the steps, and we were off on the short ride to the local hospital.

As it unfolded, our son had an ear infection which we had not picked up on. Over the course of the evening, his temperature began to rise, and when we hit a warm room, PJ’s, sleep bag and a hot mummy cuddle (temperature wise I’m afraid), his temp soared too quickly and his body convulsed.

I am now perhaps too cautious about overheating, and I watch like a hawk for temperatures and unexplained grumpiness (which, let’s face it, is a lot in little kids!). But we are lucky. They are fine. We are all fine.

This is simply going to be another memory to file away in the ‘remember when’ box.