So unfortunately Isla has followed in Bennett's pattern of febrile seizures. She's had two so far, both with fevers. Her first was EXACTLY the same as Bennett's first - the day after his 1 year shots right around lunch time. It was super scary because we were in the car driving home from Target (we had stopped for tylenol because she had a fever but we ran out at home). I saw her in my little backseat mirror and immediately knew what was happening and jumped into action. I knew we were too far to make it home, so we pulled into a parking lot, I unbuckled her belt and kind of put her on her side. It lasted about 2 minutes but still super scary. She was very very warm so I know it was brought on by her fever. We called Bennett's neurologist and set up an appointment with him, and we also went to our pediatrician for a check up. She prescribed the emergency seizure medicine we keep on hand for Ben just in case Isla would have a seizure lasting more than 10 minutes. We got so much help with the big kids, meals and check ins and feel so thankful for our wonderful community here!!!
We met with the neurologist two days later and did an EEG which was totally normal thankfully. Sometimes EEG's only show seizure activity if the patient has a seizure during the EEG which she did not. But it didn't show anything abnormal which is great news. We talked with Dr. Kovnar and decided to wait on Keppra to see if she would indeed have more seizures, since some kids will just have one or two and that's it. He said Bennett and Isla likely have familial febrile seizures, which means it's genetic and they will likely both outgrow it by about 5-6 years old. And with being on Keppra daily hopefully will have few to none by then.
Unfortunately only three weeks later Isla spiked a random fever one night, I gave her tylenol and sent her to bed. 3 hours later she woke up and was super warm already and I gave ibuprofen but not ten minutes later she started having a seizure in her crib which was super scary! What if I hadn't noticed it?! The worst part is Brad was out of the country for work in India, and I could not get ahold of ANYONE. Technically I didn't need anyone but when something happens you panic and just talking through it with someone is helpful. This seizure also lasted around 2 minutes. Thankfully I did get ahold of both Missy and Robert, and Kyle came and slept over because I was so nervous it may happen again. We called the neurologist and started Isla on daily Keppra, like Ben. Again, we were so blessed with an amazing community because my in laws came right away for two days, my sister in law and nephew came for the weekend, and Robert and Missy both came once to help with bedtime. It turned out Isla had a double ear infection (again!! Boo - ENT here we come)...so she was pretty crabby most of the week. Which was a long week with Brad gone for 10 days!!!
This is certainly not what we wanted for Isla (or Bennett), but we are thankful that God has provided what we need to manage this condition, and that the odds are good that both children will outgrow the tendency to have seizures when sick with a fever. We have an awesome neurologist and are blessed to live close to Children's. And we are thankful that both children are developing really well, meeting milestones, and in general happy and sweet! But please keep us in your prayers as we again begin to navigate this with Isla.
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