An Ambulance is on the Way

 Today I got the call every mother dreads.  

At 12:36 my phone rang. I was working on the craft I have planned for Wyatt's class pumpkin party next week and the phone said "Unknown".   I always answer the phone, though, during the day, just in case.

It was a staff member from the boys' school calling to tell me they had Logan, down, in the cafeteria. "We think he had a seizure," she said, "An ambulance is on the way."  She wasn't sure if he was coherent or responsive.

I flew down the hall, got Carly up from her nap, grabbed Logan's bubba (his favorite stuffed animal), along with my purse and the diaper bag and got Carly in her carseat.  That drive to the school was the longest three quarters of a mile I've ever traveled.  I arrived just after the ambulance and fast as I could, I got into the gym to see Logan.

He was a lump on the floor, unresponsive, but breathing.  Someone took the baby so I could get on my knees next to Logan.  His eyes slowly fluttered open, his pupils huge & black, and closed again a handful of times. Finally they opened and locked on my face. He gave half a smile. I asked him where he was, but he couldn't answer.  I asked what hurt and he clumsily touched his forehead.

Then he tried to get up on all fours, but his legs kept sliding out from under him.  The EMT's gently loaded him onto the stretcher and wheeled him out to the parking lot. The police officer who had arrived after the 911 call offered to drive my van to the hospital so I could ride with Logan in the ambulance.  I buckled Carly into one seat behind Logan and I sat by his side in another seat.  At that point he had begun talking, and the relief that washed over me was unlike any ever in my life.

He was able to tell me who his teacher was and that his head hurt. They put in an IV and checked his blood sugar.  Before we knew it, we had arrived at the hospital.  I had to go check him in while they wheeled him back.  Once I was done with the paperwork I met Logan in his room and Josh arrived. 

I had attempted to call him on the drive to the school, but it went to voicemail.  Thankfully our principal knows the superintendent at Josh's district and called him personally to make sure Josh got the message that one of the twins had had a seizure and was being ambulanced to the ER.

The boys' teachers both came out to the ambulance to check on me before we left and see how they could help.  Jack's teacher offered to keep him and Wyatt as long as necessary so Josh and I could both be with Logan.  The principal held the baby while I tended to Logan, and all the staff was doing, and had done, all they could to make a bad situation better.  The secretary I spoke with even stayed on the phone with me until I was leaving the house, reminding me kindly to breathe.

After his initial check up, Logan took a nap.  He had some idea of what had happened and was able to tell us that he'd had a headache just before lunch.  When he woke up from his nap, we were talking about the ambulance ride and he said he thought it was like a bus. "Speaking of buses," he said to me, "We got to practice bus evacuations today.  And when it was my turn, I forgot to duck and hit my head really hard."  My wheels started turning, asking Logan the questions necessary to try and piece together some type of timeline. 

So what I think happened is this: He did bus training, knocking his forehead on the shortened door frame.  Then he had reading group & a splitting headache. Then he went to wash up for lunch and felt dizzy upon standing and very shaky.  He made it to the cafeteria where he ate one thing from his lunch and was working on his chips when he had a grand mal seizure that they think lasted roughly four minutes.

I spoke with the ER doctor about this new development and she said that in many cases children with concussions can have seizures.  So for the foreseeable future, we have to watch Logan when he's swimming or in the bath tub, and he can't climb on anything higher than six feet, in case he has another seizure. We don't want him to suffer a secondary injury from a fall.  In terms of the concussion he may or may not have, we have to watch for worsening headache or vomiting. 

To be careful, we are keeping him home from school tomorrow, but from there, he will likely be back to his normal activity barring any climbing. With a single seizure, the protocol is to simply wait and see.  If there are more seizures, then you follow up with a neurologist and think about medication. But if this is a one time event, you just let time pass and pray it doesn't happen again.

Josh's cousin Januari brought us dinner and many people in the community have reached out to check on us.  We're so grateful.  Continued prayers for Logan's healing are welcome, as are prayers for Jack and other classmates who witnessed Logan's seizure.  A seizure is a very scary thing to witness (I've watched Josh suffer two seizures) and my heart goes out to Logan's friends (and brother) who were with him when it happened.  Tonight poor Jack was so exhausted after a long day worrying, but could not fall asleep.  He asked me to lay with him and as I snuggled in next to him on his pillow, he found my hand and grabbed it tight. He told me he didn't want to sleep cause he was worried Logan wasn't going to wake up in the morning. 

We prayed together and I assured him that if the doctor was worried we'd still be at the hospital.  And then I hugged him tight and thanked God for such a tender hearted brother.

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