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Autism and Epilepsy

Thu, 10/20/2016 - 00:32
Hello everyone. I am new to this site. This past weekend was scary as my 5 year old almost died from a Partial Complex Seizure. This past Saturday I took my son (Noah) to a super hero party at his ABA therapy facility. He has moderate to severe autism and attends there 7 hours a day monday through friday, working hard to learn to speak and communicate effectively. At the party he was having so much fun, he was jumping and dancing and being super goofy with his class mates. About 15 minutes before we left the party (about an hour after), he began to giggle really hard like he was getting overstimulated. Like a light switch, his face went from excessively happy, to pale with a seemingly frightened look on his face. Instantly the frightened look went away and he looked at the floor with fixed wide eyes that look glazed over. No one seemed to notice but me because it was only 5 seconds long. It caused me a lot of concern inside because i've never seen that look in his eyes. I assumed he was just incredibly over-stimulated.So we went into the other room to calm down and relax for a moment. He was still pale and grabbed his belly a little and was pointing to the door that leads to the car. I new he wanted to leave and thought he was getting a cold.So we left. In my rear view mirror I could see him go into a fully glazed over mode again this time it lasted 10 minutes, which is the amount it takes to get from the facility to our house. He was alright but super quiet and not playing like usual. Again I though he was getting a cold. I didn't know these were seizures. I put his favorite, elmo on for him and to my husband who was out by Noah my concern with him possibly getting the cold or flu. I went out to the kitchen to make some food for dinner. 10 min later I could here my husband anxiously asking Noah if he is alright. I go out and see Noah eyes even wider than before and he was standing there puke falling out of his mouth and he wasn't reacting one bit. He slowly got down on his knees and began to lower his face to the floor with eyes still wide. In denial, I put him in the bath and got the puke off of him thinking it would help, but he lost all of his muscle tone and became a wet noodle in the tub. It was like he wasn't there. That is when I got clothes on him and rushed him to the E.R. (It was 4 blocks away, so I knew we were safe). The receptionist got a nurse to take us right back. Praise the Lord they didn't Make us wait because he lost conscientiousness as the doctor and nurses where assessing him. His oxygen diped to 50 then to 30 then he went into respiratory failure. They told me they had to intubate him or he would not live. I must have been shocked because the nurse walked me out slowly to a room and talked with me, but I can't remember what was said. All I could think about was Noah and his 40 minute seizure . Another nurse ran in and said they were flying him to another hospital because my local one doesn't have a pediatric ICU. I vaguely remember going up to the flight paramedics and begging them to let me ride, they said yes. The helicopter ride as crazy at it sounded calmed me. I hate planes. I was able to think for a moment. When we got there everything was so quick. And then it was just my son and I in the room together. Tears streamed down my face. I told him I love him and that Jesus loves him. I said that he didn't have to be afraid because mommy is there. I think I was internally preparing for him to die. I had no clue what had just happened. I made calls and my husband made it there to be with us. They had done a lot of blood testing and had the eeg monitoring and an mri done. We prayed and waited for answers. In the morning I woke up to a doctor saying that all of the testing was clean except for eeg. They gave him Keppra through an IV that is still taking. They said that they believe he has temporal lobe epilepsy. Noah had the tube taken out of his throat that same day because his strong will proved he could breathe on his own. I was so scared and thought I was going to loose him. We are home now and I notice he seems different. Like the seizure possibly enhanced his speech. His words sound more clear, he is saying words he never has before without us prompting him. He seems to be more calm than he used to be. I feel like this is a blessing in disguise. Is that possible? The down side is a new facial tic and a leg that gives out both on his left side. Has anyone gone through this where they have respiratory failure because of a seizure?

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