I looked true terror in the face today
Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 1:16 am
This isn't really commentary or rant material. Just something I need to get off of my chest.
As most of you know, I have a two-year-old daughter. Well, her, Mrs. Dedman, and I were in San Francisco over the long weekend to get together with my Dad, Aunt, and bother to scatter my Mom's ashes.
As you can imagine, emotions were already running a bit high. We scattered the ashes on Saturday, went back to the house, had a drink, cried a little, and then went on with our weekend.
Today (Sunday) we decided to go to Pier 39 so my daughter could watch the sea lions that have taken over the marina. Anyway, she woke up Sunday morning with a fever. No big deal, she's a two-year-old; they do that from time to time. We gave her some Childrenâ??s Tylenol, kept monitoring the fever, and went about our day.
We were driving back from watching the seals when my wife noticed that our daughter was seizing. This was cause for concern, but not panic. Little kids do this sometimes when they have a high fever. She has done this to us before when it lasted about 20 seconds. The Doc said it's their brains way of rebooting due to the fever.
I started to time the seizure and tried to remain calm (with much success I might add). Mrs. Dedman started to panic when the seizing didnâ??t stop after a few seconds. We told my Aunt, who was driving, to get us to the nearest emergency room. She started driving like she just stole the car.
At some point a few seconds later, several things happened at once. We got stuck in traffic, Mrs. Dedman started screaming, and I looked at my daughter, who after 45 seconds was still seizing. What I saw was the most terrifying thing I have ever seen on my 40 years on this planet. Her hands were cramped into claws, her eyes were rolled back into her head, her whole body was stiff and spasming, and her hands and lips were turning blue.
I jumped out of the back seat of the car, ran around to the other side, jerked open the door, pulled her out of her car seat, and laid her down on the sidewalk. I began trying to assess whether she was breathing or not.
Out of nowhere these two women materialized by my side and started helping me. They told me they had a lot of experience with this type of thing in kids and that everything would be all right. One of the women and I, got my daughter rolled over onto her side, started to comfort her, made sure she was breathing and didnâ??t hurt herself. After 90 seconds of seizing, she finally stopped. She was still unresponsive however and the woman told me that was normal after a seizure like this.
At some point during all of this, my Brother called 911 and directed the San Francisco Fire Department to where we were. It only took them about 3 minutes to get to us. This whole time Mrs. Dedman was screaming and crying right behind me. She was understandably on the verge of hysteria. I somehow managed to keep calm and collected during the whole incident, trying not to panic my daughter (although I am not sure how aware she was of what was going on) or Mrs. Dedman anymore than they already were.
I kept it together until the paramedics had complete control of the situation and had loaded Mrs. Dedman and our daughter into the ambulance. At this point I completely lost it. I sunk down to the ground and started to sob. I couldnâ??t even stand up for the better part of a minute. I finally got calmed down enough to get into the ambulance with the Mrs. Dedman and our daughter.
By the time we got to the emergency room (6 minutes) everyone had calmed down to the point that we could think and talk somewhat clearly. My daughter was responsive but freaked out. She was hooked up to the heart monitor and was breathing O2 and was just kind of staring around not making any noise but obviously scared.
Long story short, she had a Febrile Seizure. These are brought on by high fever and are in and of them selves, relatively harmless. She recovered fully, although she is probably a bit sore. Mrs. Dedman and I however, are still trying to get over the terror of seeing our only child seize up and turn blue before our eyes. That is a level of scared I never knew existed. Even as I write this, some 7 hours after the incident, my heart rate must be in the 80â??s. Adrenaline is a hell of a drug.
I wanted to thank those two women that helped me out. They left just as fast as they appeared. It was all very strange. I also give much props to the SFFD. They were awesome.
Itâ??s 11:56 pm on Sunday night right now. I am going to go to bed and try to sleep for a week.
I hope every oneâ??s weekend was better than mine.
As most of you know, I have a two-year-old daughter. Well, her, Mrs. Dedman, and I were in San Francisco over the long weekend to get together with my Dad, Aunt, and bother to scatter my Mom's ashes.
As you can imagine, emotions were already running a bit high. We scattered the ashes on Saturday, went back to the house, had a drink, cried a little, and then went on with our weekend.
Today (Sunday) we decided to go to Pier 39 so my daughter could watch the sea lions that have taken over the marina. Anyway, she woke up Sunday morning with a fever. No big deal, she's a two-year-old; they do that from time to time. We gave her some Childrenâ??s Tylenol, kept monitoring the fever, and went about our day.
We were driving back from watching the seals when my wife noticed that our daughter was seizing. This was cause for concern, but not panic. Little kids do this sometimes when they have a high fever. She has done this to us before when it lasted about 20 seconds. The Doc said it's their brains way of rebooting due to the fever.
I started to time the seizure and tried to remain calm (with much success I might add). Mrs. Dedman started to panic when the seizing didnâ??t stop after a few seconds. We told my Aunt, who was driving, to get us to the nearest emergency room. She started driving like she just stole the car.
At some point a few seconds later, several things happened at once. We got stuck in traffic, Mrs. Dedman started screaming, and I looked at my daughter, who after 45 seconds was still seizing. What I saw was the most terrifying thing I have ever seen on my 40 years on this planet. Her hands were cramped into claws, her eyes were rolled back into her head, her whole body was stiff and spasming, and her hands and lips were turning blue.
I jumped out of the back seat of the car, ran around to the other side, jerked open the door, pulled her out of her car seat, and laid her down on the sidewalk. I began trying to assess whether she was breathing or not.
Out of nowhere these two women materialized by my side and started helping me. They told me they had a lot of experience with this type of thing in kids and that everything would be all right. One of the women and I, got my daughter rolled over onto her side, started to comfort her, made sure she was breathing and didnâ??t hurt herself. After 90 seconds of seizing, she finally stopped. She was still unresponsive however and the woman told me that was normal after a seizure like this.
At some point during all of this, my Brother called 911 and directed the San Francisco Fire Department to where we were. It only took them about 3 minutes to get to us. This whole time Mrs. Dedman was screaming and crying right behind me. She was understandably on the verge of hysteria. I somehow managed to keep calm and collected during the whole incident, trying not to panic my daughter (although I am not sure how aware she was of what was going on) or Mrs. Dedman anymore than they already were.
I kept it together until the paramedics had complete control of the situation and had loaded Mrs. Dedman and our daughter into the ambulance. At this point I completely lost it. I sunk down to the ground and started to sob. I couldnâ??t even stand up for the better part of a minute. I finally got calmed down enough to get into the ambulance with the Mrs. Dedman and our daughter.
By the time we got to the emergency room (6 minutes) everyone had calmed down to the point that we could think and talk somewhat clearly. My daughter was responsive but freaked out. She was hooked up to the heart monitor and was breathing O2 and was just kind of staring around not making any noise but obviously scared.
Long story short, she had a Febrile Seizure. These are brought on by high fever and are in and of them selves, relatively harmless. She recovered fully, although she is probably a bit sore. Mrs. Dedman and I however, are still trying to get over the terror of seeing our only child seize up and turn blue before our eyes. That is a level of scared I never knew existed. Even as I write this, some 7 hours after the incident, my heart rate must be in the 80â??s. Adrenaline is a hell of a drug.
I wanted to thank those two women that helped me out. They left just as fast as they appeared. It was all very strange. I also give much props to the SFFD. They were awesome.
Itâ??s 11:56 pm on Sunday night right now. I am going to go to bed and try to sleep for a week.
I hope every oneâ??s weekend was better than mine.
I've had a couple of these instances happen over the course of my life. the circumstances are never pleasant when they do occur, but I'm always thankful when they do.
Glad to hear everything worked out for the best. It'll be a great story to tell at her wedding. 