Counting Our Blessings

Last night Anders had a seizure. It was the scariest experience of our lives. I put him to bed and about 30 minutes later heard him throwing up. I went into his room and he was laying in his vomit unresponsive. His eyes were wide open but he wouldn't look at me or talk. He was like that for a few minutes, and I called Nils to come home from his EQ meeting. Anders threw up a few more times and was still unresponsive. As Nils left his meeting the EQ Pres. called our neighbor to come over and make sure everything was okay. I was on the phone with the nurse and after a few minutes Anders' lips and fingernails were blue. Our neighbor called 911, and as the paramedics were coming his face turned gray and was contorting. When the paramedics arrived, they took one look at him and strapped him onto the gurney and we were off to the hospital. I rode with him and Nils drove behind us. All I could do was sit there and watch as they worked on him, and I kept just praying that he wouldn't die. On the way to the hospital his whole body was seizing, and it didn't stop until we had been at the hospital for about 30 minutes.
In the ER he was given three doses of medicine to stop the seizing and his body finally relaxed. They did blood work and a CT scan, both of which came back normal. The doctor wanted him to stay the night because the seizure lasted so long- apparently they tend to last 10 minutes or so, and his lasted an hour.

Anders woke up at 3 a.m., finally conscious and talking and crying like he normally would. We were able to tell him he got sick and was in the hospital, and he was pretty excited that he got to eat a popsicle, drink Sprite and get all kinds of toys and goodies from the nurses in the middle of the night. We're home now, and he's acting as if nothing ever happened. He still can't believe there was a firetruck at our house. We'll go to Primary Children's next week for an EEG so they can tell if it will happen again.

We feel so blessed for many reasons. First of all, our boy is alive and well. I'm sure many of you know that helpless feeling of turning your child over to someone else. The first paramedic to our house was a friend from down the street. All the paramedics were great, but it was really nice to have a familiar face amid the chaos. Our neighbors were there in the blink of an eye to help with a blessing and stay with the girls so Nils and I could both go to the hospital. I keep thinking how lucky it was that I was upstairs. If I had been in the basement I wouldn't have heard him at all, and who knows how long it would have been until we found him. Both of us are especially grateful for our wonderful neighbors, who were all there not to just stand by and watch, but to truly offer help and support. I want to hug and kiss all of them. How great is it that in the middle of an emergency, worthy priesthood holders gave Anders a blessing and we felt the spirit comfort and calm us. We are truly blessed.

On a side note, a couple miles from the hospital they turned on the lights and sirens and floored it. It was awesome. In the words of Nils, "The one time I get to speed through stop signs and red lights, and I don't even get to enjoy it." Comic relief!