Checking In

[mommelisa]

Hey, ladies! I'm back! Thursday was the worst day! I was supposed to head to Toronto for a last minute meeting for work, and my flight was leaving around 1 pm. At 6:30 when I went into my dd's room, she was awake. She said her tummy had been bothering her all night. I asked her if she wanted to stay home and her reply was, "no, we're doing the high jump in PE today, I want to do it!" So, off to school we went. I told her if she didn't feel well, that she needed to call me before 11 because at that point, I'd be heading to the airport. 9:30 the phone rings, "mom, I'm not feeling good can you come get me?" No problem, I cancel my trip and go pick up my baby girl. She came home and I could tell she didn't feel well, so she laid down in bed and stayed in her room most of the day, just resting and watching tv. She had a little diarrhea, so I didn't push food/liquid on her (my mistake).

I figured she was just fighting a little bug. By the afternoon, she said she was feeling better, and her grandmother who was in town for a few days invited us up to her country club for dinner, so I asked her if she wanted to go and she said yes. We went up there, she had a little bit of dinner, not much and just seemed tired. She looked at me at one point and said, "mom, I want to go home, I’m tired". I said ok, give me 10 minutes to finish and we’ll head home. Well, she sat down next to her grandmother and all of a sudden she slumped forward and her face turned blue. I thought she was choking on something so we tried to stand her up. When we did, she vomited and then she kind of just slithered out of my arms, face down on the floor and started seizing. It was so scary, I can’t even put it into words. The seize lasted about 30 seconds and when she came to, she was extremely disoriented and her skin was grey. We called 911 and the fire department came, got her stabilized – she was awake and could talk - and then they transported us to Scottsdale North (local hospital). When we got there, they said she was very dehydrated, and they gave her an IV, and she started to “come around” if you know what I mean. Her color came back and then she started to be her silly self. It scared the sh*t out of all of us. I am so on both my kids about hydrating - you have to be in Arizona, especially when its dry and hot outside like it has been.

The thing about it is that she had a little fluid, but she wasn’t hungry or thirsty, so she didn’t drink enough for what she was losing. They said what probably happened is she had a little food and her body sent the blood to her stomach to try to digest the food and it caused her to faint and seize. They took blood at the hospital and said all looked good – her sugar, iron, all that stuff. They said her white blood count was high, but that could be caused by her body fighting off an infection (probably what caused the diarrhea), and they didn’t think we need to do a brain MRI or anything like that. They said just to watch her the next few days. I think she’s going to be fine, but of course she is just taking it really, really easy and I am babying the heck out of her. So, so, so scary, but you know what? She is tough, that little girl. She was scared but she didn’t freak out or anything. When they were poking her for the IV, she was afraid it would hurt, but I had her sing a song with me and she just completely controlled her fear and let them help her. It was amazing. I could see her 20 years from now, singing her way through an IM. Its so much a mental game! :-) Wishful thinking on mom's part, I guess.

Anyway! Moral of the story? HYDRATE, HYDRATE, it is so important!

[tprevost]

How SCARY!!! I'm so glad she is okay, you must have been out of your mind! Its amazing how quickly we go from 'okay' to dehydrated - especially kids. I'm glad it wasn't anything more serious; I bet (hope) she will be even more careful about drinking her fluids after that episode.

Is she feeling pretty 'back to normal' now?

Tracy

[Running Mommy]

OMG OMG OMG!!!! How scary! Has she ever had a seizure before? That is soo scary! And as a mom...I was out of my mind just READING that! How is she feeling today? It's scary to think that dehydration can do that to you! But I know about the desert+illness=dehydration in a hurry! I had rotavirus for pretty much the entire month of October. I had one heck of a case! My doctor has never seen it that bad. I chalk it up to one thing.. Las Vegas! UGH
Anyway I was mainlining powerade because that's all that would stay down. Well powerade and bananas. She warned me that I could end up in the hospital in a hurry if I didn't drink at least 3 32 oz bottles a day. That was bare minimum. I guess we get used to the dryness here and take it for granted.
Well, hope she's feeling better. Tell her your online friends are thinking of her. Bless her soul! And yeah, she sounds like one tough cookie! Hopefully I get to meet her in April.

[massbikebabe]

My youngest son was so very excited to start Junior High. Our kids usually go back to school on the last week of August to compensate for snow days. Needless to say it was still very hot and he dehydrated quickly. He had a grand mal seizure during the opening assembly. He was HORRIFIED, and I made it to the hospital before the ambulance when I got the call on my cell.
The worst part is being first day nobody knew who he was until one of his buddies came to the rescue. Now they ALL have to wear name tags for the first week of school.



karen

[Lise]

wow, how scary. I sometimes joke that I'm going to make up a button for my lab coat that says "Just Drink More Water", because that's my answer to so many problems. Maybe I should go ahead and do it! Best wishes--I'll bet she's the most pampered girl in Arizona this weekend. Lise

[Nanci]

I'm glad she's ok. I didn't know you could have seizures from dehydration. Is that a kid thing, like how they can have a seizure from a high temp, and scare the cr*p out of you, but really it's all right, or can adults get that too? I guess if you had heat exhaustion. Yikes!

I just drank Gatorade for breakfast because I still have a headache from my ride yesterday...

Nanci

[DirtDiva]

Totally scary! Hope she is fully recovered by now.

wow, how scary. I sometimes joke that I'm going to make up a button for my lab coat that says "Just Drink More Water", because that's my answer to so many problems. Maybe I should go ahead and do it! Best wishes--I'll bet she's the most pampered girl in Arizona this weekend. Lise

Heh. Unless they look truly awful, the first thing I say to any kid that tells me "Miss, I don't feel well" is "why don't you go get a drink of water..." Does the trick nine times out of ten.

[mommelisa]

Thanks, ladies, she was feeling much better yesterday and I'm hoping today will be even better. I will be sure to tell her you're all thinking about her. She'll get a big kick out of that!!

You know, we've gone something like 137 days without rain in Arizona, its hot already and they say the air quality is the same as when its the middle of the summer. We're in for a really crazy (fire filled) summer time. We just need to be really conscious about staying hydrated because like Running Mommy said, we kind of take the dryness for granted. You can bet that won't happen around here again! :-)

[Lise]

Thanks, ladies, she was feeling much better yesterday and I'm hoping today will be even better. I will be sure to tell her you're all thinking about her. She'll get a big kick out of that!!

You know, we've gone something like 137 days without rain in Arizona, its hot already and they say the air quality is the same as when its the middle of the summer. We're in for a really crazy (fire filled) summer time. We just need to be really conscious about staying hydrated because like Running Mommy said, we kind of take the dryness for granted. You can bet that won't happen around here again! :-)

The funny thing is that it's dangerous up here in the winter, too, because the air gets so dry. It's cold and dry, and then the heat dries it out more. Pregnant women "get it" more about summer heat, but winter is bad in its own way. Sorry to hear you guys are in such a dry spell down there.

[Trekhawk]

Thats terrible. Glad to hear your daughter is feeling better now.
From one mum to another I know how scary that must have been so give yourself one big hug from me.