Joseph's Seizures

Just about a week and a half after we found out we were pregnant with Jonathan (September of 2012), Kevin left for about half a week to go to Arizona.  The day he came home, I woke up Joseph from a nap so he could see his daddy.  I knew he would be so excited.  I picked him up and kissed him on the forehead.  We walked into the hallway and he just started shaking.  I looked at him right away and called his name.  He wasn't responding, but was looking around like he had no clue where he was.  I walked up to Kevin and he was still shaking strangely.  He wouldn't look at me, even when I gave him to Kevin.  Then, about 30 seconds later, he was like "Daddy!"  He was shaky for about an hour afterwards, but okay.

Before being a mommy, I was an exceptional children's teacher.  I saw seizures every single day.  I feared the worse.

During that week, he would wake up screaming.  When I would go to him, he was just shaking all over.  One morning, I called Kevin into the room and he saw that he was still shaking.  We agreed it was time to call the doctor.  Our pediatric doctor sent him right to the neurologist.  We were fitted for an EEG (Electroencephalography).  He didn't sleep at all that night with it on his head.  It was a 24 hour test, and the results were negative.  However, we requested another test.  This one would take the entire weekend (it was a Friday).  He slept much better and sure enough...we learned he was having seizures throughout the night.  He was having complex partial and generalized seizures several times a night.  His seizures are in his frontal lobe in the right hemisphere.  They were very short, 10-20 seconds, but we were put on Keppra twice a day.  

The Keppra was an adjustment, to say the least.  It is an anti-seizure drug that the doctor recommended because it doesn't have as many side effects.  The most common side effect I read about in toddlers was "Keppra rage."  Joseph's temper did spike for a good month.  However, when he adjusted to the medicine, he went back to normal.  His temper is a little shorter than it was, but it is very manageable.  We gave the medicine a good try and we are so thankful it worked for us.

Joseph's seizures are very controlled on the Keppra.  He has only had one big seizure since September.  It was the night before he started running a fever with the croup.  I was feeding him dinner and he just turned his head to the side, drew his arms up to his chest (near his shoulders) and started shaking.  I tried to remain calm and reassure him that he was ok.  He wasn't responding to his name.  When he was out of the seizure, he started screaming like he was afraid or in pain.  I quickly took him in my arms and calmed him down.  He was shaky for about an hour.  We were unsure if the screaming was related to the seizures.  Now, we know they are.  I think it just terrifies him.

We are very blessed they are controlled.  I just pray that we can come off the medicine soon.