Think long and hard about it....what is a parents worst nightmare? For us - it is losing the life of our child. Today we almost lost Zach.
Dustin left work a bit early and picked up Zach from our sitter. They went to go get a haircut. Then they drove home. The whole way home Zach was pointing out all the tractors and trucks (like he always does). The last tractor we see is as we enter our neighborhood. When Dustin got out of the car and went to get Zach out of his car seat - he was slumped over, like he was sleeping...but he was blue in the face and unconscious. Dustin quickly pulled Zach out of his car seat and was pounding on his back thinking that part of the sucker the haircutting place had given Zach was lodged in his throat. Then the sucker in his hand fell to the floor and there was no missing pieces out of it. Our child was not choking - but was not breathing.
Dustin ran to our next door neighbors and began pounding on the door. Our neighbor answered quickly (who wouldn't with a mad man pounding at the door) - and Dustin frantically was telling our neighbor that Zach wasn't breathing - which was quite apparent from his limp body and blue face. Our neighbor is a sheriff - fully police/EMT trained. He took Zach and immediately starting assessing the situation while his wife called 911. He noticed Zach was actually having a seizure, but since he was slumped over in his car seat when the seizure started his air way was cut off completely and it took a while to get Zach's airway back open. Zach finally took the breath of air his body so desperately needed. Once Dustin saw his son was going to live - he called Jen (who was walking out of the grocery store) and frantically said, "You need to get home NOW - Zach had a seizure and stopped breathing, Scott saved his life". Jen's reply - "get him to a hospital NOW". Dustin - "just get home FAST". Jen's first excuse ever to drive like a bat out of hell (and she did).
Jen arrives at our neighbors, where the fire department and ambulance have already arrived. She walks in and sees Dustin holding Zach. The pupils of Zach's eyes are huge and he is just in a daze. The paramedic pricks Zach's heel to do a blood sugar test and Zach doesn't even flinch. Blood sugar is normal, but Zach is running a 101.5 fever. The paramedics conclude Zach has had a febrile seizure - a seizure induced in children under the age of 5 when they have a sudden spike in their body temperature. Zach did not have a fever when he was picked up from the sitter only a hour earlier.
Dustin and Zach head to the hospital by ambulance - while Jen packs a diaper bag and heads up to the hospital.
The hospital has a set of tests they run when any kid has a seizure at this age - white blood counts, different bacterial tests, chest x-ray, etc. All this was taken within 30 minutes of arriving at the hospital. The nurse gives Zach some
Tylenol for his fever and headache (kids actually have
migraines after a seizure!). Then we wait....and wait...and wait....we were told the blood tests should only take 30 minutes...after 90 minutes Jen goes out to find the doctor - who apparently was on his way to "talk" to us already. Of the blood tests they had back (white blood count) things looked normal. Zach did have an ear infection and a touch of
bronchitis - so they decided to give Zach an IV
antibiotic and a prescription for us to take for the next 7 days for his ear. We are to give him
Tylenol/
Motrin for the next two days straight to prevent Zach from getting a high fever and having another seizure. We are also told to see our pediatrician on Friday (since tomorrow was Thanksgiving holiday) - the rest of the blood work would be "done" and Zach could be checked out again.
Two freaked out parents - oh yeah.
One hero for a father - oh yeah.
One spoiled child for the rest of his life - oh yeah.
A neighbor that we are forever indebted to - oh yeah.
