A Second Febrile Convulsion

In the paediatric assessment unit 

I started to write this back in June, I always planned to complete it. Now Eliot has suffered his third febrile convulsion it has encouraged me to get on with this one so I can start the next. By sharing our experiences I hope in some way they can be helpful to others, even if it's helpful to just one person, my job is done.

It's been over a month since Eliot suffered a second febrile convulsion.

He had been suffering from a cough for the previous two weeks, and I'd made a couple of out of hours appointments whilst staying at my parents as he'd become under the weather. The out of hours GP's diagnosed him with a sore throat. Within a couple of days he seemed to be as right as rain apart from the cough.

Our trip to Alton Towers was the following weekend. We had driven up to Rugeley to stay the night, so that we would have a shorter journey to the theme park. I was really looking forward to taking Eliot to CBeebies as a bank holiday treat.
When we arrived we checked in to a Travelodge and headed out for a walk. Later we went out for dinner before returning to the Travelodge. Eliot had been absolutely fine, his usual self. He went down to sleep no problems.

During the night he awoke crying, I assumed it might have been a bad dream and went over to put his dummy in. When I felt him he felt quite hot, (stupidly) I hadn't bought the thermometer with us so couldn't check his temperature. The room was quite warm and stuffy so at first I wasn't sure if that was the reason he seemed hot. For the rest of the night he slept next to me, although he was unsettled to begin with. The next morning he awoke still feeling warm, so I went over to the petrol station to buy some calpol (as I'd stupidly forgot to bring any of that too!)
Getting Eliot to take medicine is a nightmare but we managed to get some in. Within half an hour he seemed a bit perkier and ate some food.
We needed to make the decision whether or not to head to Alton Towers or home. In the end we decided to head to the park and if Eliot was unwell we would leave.
On route we stopped off to get some food. As I was driving out of the car park I turned to check on Eliot and was met by the sight of him convulsing. I literally stopped the car where it was, jumped out and ran round to get Eliot out his car seat. I was really conscious that there was a risk of  Elot swallowing his tongue so I wanted to get him on his side. The OH called an ambulance and that was when we realised we had no idea where we were. We had just pulled in to a retail park but didn't know where. Further down a man was crossing the road, the OH stopped him and he told the 999 operator where we were. I held Eliot on his side in my arms where he continued to convulse, making rasping noises and frothing at the mouth. A terrifying sight that I'd really hoped I wouldn't see ever again.
A single paramedic in a car arrived first, took all the information while checking Eliot's stats and giving him oxygen. It was then Eliot started to come round from the fit and began to cry.

The paramedic asked us what happened and Eliot's history with convulsions. Shortly after another ambulance arrived, after further talking Eliot was taken in the ambulance to Stafford hospital with the OH. I followed in my car and cried.

When we arrived at the hospital I needed to park the car so I wasn't with Eliot when he was taken through to A&E. I had to check in with the A&E reception and give them all our details before I was taken through to Eliot and the OH. 

After a wait, a doctor came and checked him over, he had a sore throat, she then asked her colleague to check his ear as well. 
We were then told that his left ear drum was perforated but it was an old perforation. This information came as a bit of a shock as Eliot had never suffered with any ear problems.

We were then sent to the paediatric assessment unit so Eliot could be assessed by the doctors there.

Eliot spent most of the afternoon asleep on my lap, his temperature and other stats taken regularly. He was also given some paracetamol and had some numbing spray sprayed on to his throat.

When he was seen by the first paediatric doctor he agreed there was a perforation in his ear drum. We then had another wait before we were seen by the senior doctor (who was rather interesting to say the  least!) he couldn't agree that Eliot did have an ear perforation. He wanted us to come back the following day and see the ear nose and throat team but we couldn't do that as we were in Stafford without anywhere to stay for another night. So we were told to take him to A&E at our local hospital so they could do a quick referral to the ENT team.

Whilst waiting Eliot's temperature started to creep back up, one of the nurses gave him some ibuprofen. Within half an hour he was running round the ward! It's amazing how quickly he felt much better, such a relief!

 

At around 7pm we were given discharge letter along with some throat spray. The OH & I were nervous about the journey home in case Eliot had another febrile convulsion and we would be in the car on a motorway. Fortunately he slept most of the way home.

The next day I took Eliot to A&E as advised. The doctor we saw said he could see a perforation and called up to the ENT to get us an appointment.

A couple of days later we saw the ENT doctor who had a look in Eliot's ears and confirmed he could see the perforation. He went to have a chat with the senior doctor. Next yet another doctor had a look in Eliot's ear but he wasn't convinced that he could see a perforation. So overall four doctors said they could see a perforation and two couldn't. It seemed strange especially as it was the senior doctors who couldn't see/confirm a perforation. I was told even if it was they wouldn't do anything unless it was causing Eliot problems. I was just told to protect it from soapy water with cotton wool and to go to our GP if I had concerns in the future. Thankfully his ears don't seem to be a problem and his hearing appears normal.

 

I really hoped that would be the last febrile convulsion I would see but as he had a third one last week it's more likely they will be a common occurrence.

 

 

Have your children suffered with febrile convulsions or a perforated ear drum?

I'm really interested to hear your experiences!

A Febrile Convulsion...Our Experience

I'm sure all fellow mamas and dads will agree that seeing your son or daughter unwell is one of worst things a parent will experience. Probably more so when they are babies/toddlers as they can't verbalise how they're feeling and working out what's wrong can become a bit of a guessing game as it's not always easy to spot. I'm so thankful when Eliot is better and  back to his usual self.

Obviously there are different degrees to how children can be ill, from minor childhood diseases to life threatening illnesses/accidents. I do so hope we never experience the latter. 

Apart from Eliot's Pyloric stenosis, he wasn't really unwell during his first year, just a cough & cold. It was January  this year when he was first hit by a nasty cold bug which literally stopped him in his tracks. The boy usually can't keep still but he was lethargic and just wanted cuddles. It was awful seeing him like that as it was clear how poorly he felt from his behaviour.

Just over two weeks ago we went through the worst thing we've experienced as parents so far. The most terrifying event of my life.

Eliot and I were in Tescos with my mum when he started to become cranky, when I felt his head he seemed quite hot. When we arrived back at my mums I checked his temperature with our thermometer and it was up. I battled with him to get some calpol in  to bring his temperature back down, he sat and cuddled up with me. A big indicator he was not 100%. An hour or so later he was up playing with toys so I took his temperature which had come down. I put him to bed and he slept through, which led me to assume he felt better in the morning. However he still wasn't quite right and had a slight temperature so I gave him some more medicine. I left him with my mum as I had an appointment and a couple of errands to do. When I returned with the OH Eliot had become worse. He had a high temperature and hadn't moved. Another battle commenced of trying to get him to take some medicine. I'd also noticed a rash on his wrist which didn't disappear with the glass test. This made me quite panicky so we immediately got in the car and went to A&E. 

We were called in to see a nurse who checked Eliot over, he said he couldn't t see anything that particularly worried him so we were sent back out to wait and see a doctor. Eliot was sat on my lap, he dozed off. All of a sudden I felt him jolt, I thought he was just jolting awake. You know how you do sometimes when your drifting off. But he jolted again, his whole body then continued. He was having a fit. I panicked and shouted to the OH to get help, a nurse took him off me. In the blur of it all I heard her say 'crash team'. Not something anyone wants to ever hear, especially when it's in regards to your child. We were stood in a room, Eliot was still fitting on a bed with an oxygen mask on. I don't know how many doctors came in to the room but I was asked to relay the details of him being poorly, leading up to where we were. We were told it was common for febrile convulsions to happen when a temperature rose rapidly. We were asked if we wanted to leave the room or stay. I couldn't look at Eliot convulsing or the medical staff surrounding him. It was frightening, it was too difficult to witness but there was no way we were going to leave him. After a few minutes, I'm not sure how long it stopped and Eliot become semi conscious. We were back by his side, next a long struggle began to find a a vein to take some blood and get an IV line in for antibiotics. This was also incredibly distressing as took a long time. I for one have my own phobia of blood tests as its difficult to find a vein on me so hearing my son, my baby crying was awful. He had pin pricks all over his hands and feet before they eventually got one in his wrist. All the time we were being reassured that it was good he was crying and fighting because if his illness was something more serious he would be unresponsive.

                                      

Once the line was in and everything was sorted we were put out on the child's A&E ward and waited for adoctor to come and see us. Eliot wanted to be held and cuddled which I was terrified about, terrified he would get a high temperature again and have a convulsion. It was very warm in the kids A&E department, I had felt very hot when Eliot was sitting on me so I felt responsible for Eliot's temperature rising as I had been a source of heat.

Eventually a doctor got round to speaking with us and checking Eliot over. When he looked at Eliot's throat he said it was very sore and it was likely it was just a virus causing him to be unwell. He talked

 over febrile convulsions, how common there were in babies, toddlers and young children. Our main

worry was how likely was it for Eliot to experience convulsions again. We were informed febrile convulsions could happen just once or they could happen again. It was unlikely it could be epilepsy which was another big concern.

Eliot was kept in overnight as a precaution to be monitored and to await the results of his blood test, which we were told they had the lost the next day (but that's another story!) We were sent home but had to return to hospital for antibiotic injections for five days as they were unsure of whether he had an infection. Thankfully the next day his blood results were located and came back clear so we didn't need to return for any more antibiotic injections. Eliot recovered within a couple of days and is now very much back to his 'usual self'.

                                          

I am so thankful we were at hospital when Eliot had the convulsion, I panicked and don't know what we would have done if we were at home. But I worry about the next time he gets a temperature, if it will happen again. It's quite possible apparently, a 50/50 possibility. If it happens I know I need to lie him on his side, I know he needs to be somewhere safe where he can't injure himself and I will call an ambulance. 

If your  son/ daughter have experienced febrile convulsions I'd be really keen to hear about whether it happened again or if it was a one off.